POLITICAL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 143646, 14 November 1911, Page 4

POLITICAL.

THE TARANAKI SEAT. MR.'OKEY ADDRESSES THE ELECTORS. Mr. Harry Okey, M.P., who is again contesting die Taranaki seat as the Opposition candidate, addressed tho electors of New Plymouth last night, at tho Theatre Royal. Tho Mayor (Mr. G. W. Browne) presided. The Theatre was crowded by an enthusiastic audience. There were a number of interruptions, but they emanated mostly from, a few irresponsible young fellows at the back of the hall/ who appear to attend political meetings witii tho object of seeing how much fun they can get out of them. The Mayor briefly introduced the candidate. MR. OKEY’S ADDRESS. At the outset the candidate said tho time had arrived when the electors would bo called upon to elect some person to represent them in Parliament—the highest position they could bestow upon any man. He had had the distinction of holding that honour during five Parliaments, and had called ■ them together to give a short account of his-stewardship and to offer his services for a further term.—(Applause.) During the short time he had had the honour to represent them he had found that a member’s duties did not only consist of going to Wellington to assist in making laws for the but ho had, during the recess, to be continually acting as a go-between between his constituents and the Ministers. Possibly an old man or woman was applying for the old age pension. They may’nave been in the colonies 40 or 50 years, but could not produce certificate of birth or evidence sufficient to satisfy the registrar. The member for the district was applied to, and he had to render assistance in getting evidence to satisfy the authorities. Then possibly a working man or farmer had applied to one of the Government lending departments for a loan, and Through some little hitch the matter’, was delayed. Application was made to the member, and it was astonishing the lubricating effect a letter from the member, or, if he was in Wellington, a personal visit to the department had. Ho had always been pleased to assist any person coming to him whilst ho had held the position, and was glad to have been able to help in many cases. LOCAL BILLS. During his term of office Taranaki had produced a larger number of local Bills than any other district. The first measure placed in his charge was a Bill rtoc-validate a borough loan. Then there was a Bill from the Agricultural Society to enable them to lease a piece of ground originally granted for show purposes, but which was too small. They had power under this l Bill to lease it for building sites, the revenue to go into the funds of the society. The New Plymouth Harbour Empowering Bill was tho hardest fought local Bill that came before tho House during that session on account of Opunako having a Harbour Bill before the- House at the same time;, endeavouring to extend its ratine powers over lan<ls Tn tho New Plymouth* rating area. In this measure he had the support of tho Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet, but he would like to point out that all Bills with the Government at the back of them did not get ‘through, as was evidenced by tho Wanganui Harbour Empowering Bill. Another Bill put through for the New Plymouth Harbour Board was one empowering them to reclaim 20 acres of land at the root of the breakwater, a measure which would be very useful to them in the near future. A further .measure that would be of immense value in beautifying, New Plymouth, also helping the town, was the New Plymouth Recreation and Racecourse Reserves Amendment Bill, which was put through during the 1910 session. This was a measure he suggested to tho late Mayor (Mr. Tisch), who immediately entered into it. Ho (tho speaker) did not suppose there were half a dozen persons in the town who thought the measure would go through, as the House was very conservative in altering the tenure of a reserve granted to the people for recreation purposes. When this Bill was introduced it proposed to give to the Recreation Grounds £2OO out of the revenue received from the rents, tho balance to go into the borough fund. The late Mr. Tisch wont to Wellington to give evidence in favour of the Bill before the Local Bills Committee, and they soon found that there would bo little chance of tho committee reporting favourably. When the committee’s report came down to the House it was in the direction that the Bill be not allowed to proceed, which virtually killed tho Bill. He immediately got up, however, and moved an amendment to the effect that it be referred back to tho Local Bills Committee with a view to taking the evidence of the Hon. T. Kelly and tho Hon. O. Sjamuel on the Bill. After two hours’ discussion on tho floor of the House, the amendment was agreed to, and the Bill was referred back. The evidence of these gentlemen was taken in the direction of all the revenue going to tho upkeep of the other reserves in the borough, and the Bill came from the Local Bills Committee with a favourable report. As tho Bill was passed, £2OO of the revenue went to the upkeep of the Recreation Grounds, and tho balance towards improving other reserves in the town of New Plymouth. This measure must eventually benefit the borough as it turned 44 sections, which at present paid no rate, into rateable property, ami Buildings would in time be erected there that would contribute towards the town, drainage, electric light and water systems. There were a few measures he had to deal with, and which considerably affected tho town of New Plymouth. HIS CANDIDATURE. . He was elected to support the Opposition Party in the House, and this he had done on all important party divisions, but in any measp'res that ho could not see eye to eye with the party ho had voted as ho thought beet in the interests of the district and the people be was sent to represent.—(Applause.) And he was there that night prepared bo explain and uphold every vote he had given.—(Applause.) Mr. Bellringer said bo had deceived them, because he stated at Fitzroy that he was not anxious to s*ee the Government go out of power, and yet on every crucial divi-

sioii wont into tbo division against tins Government. What would they havo f thought of him it, being returned to) support tho Opposition, ho had voted' for die Government on those occasions? Would ho not then have deceived them, or those who supported him Mr. Bell* j ringer said he did not suppose he would max© the same statement now. .No, ho did not, but ho would make this states ment: t-hat if his vote would put tho!, Government out of office he would give] that vote. He did not want them to; be deceived, and he would later give; reasons why. He considered the conn-' try would be better with a change of Government. \ HUMANITARIAN LEGISLATION. Mr. Bellringer gave him credit for supporting the humanitarian legislation brought clown by the Government, but ho did nob tell them that he urged upon tho Government (which Hansard would show) the bringing down of legislation to amend the Old Age Pensions Act, so as to allow old people to have a home without having tneir pension reduced. What wan the use of a pension of 10s to a person if he had to pay 8s away in rent They wanted to encourage people to got homes for themselves in their younger days, whilst they wore able, and not for it to debar them getting tho pension when they were entitled to it. That amendment, he was pleased to say, was passed, and a person could now have a home valued at about £6OO and still draw the lull pension. Mr. Bellringer suggested that if Mr. Massey was m power there would be no further humanitarian legislation. Ho could not have read the platform of the Reform Party. Plank 9 of tho reform dealt with the Old Ago Pensions Act, and proposed making tho qualifying ago for the pension tor women 60 years instead of 65, as at present.— (Applause.) Plank 10 dealt with the reform of the industrial system of the Dominion by promoting legislation in favour of compulsory insurance against sickness and unemployment. Plank 11 dealt with the reform of the economic system of the Dominion in the direction of promoting industrial peace and restoring public confidence in order to encourage local industries. He maintained that these were Liberal measures, and they were measures that would have his hearty support if the electors did him the honour of again returning him as their representative.-—(Applause.) Continuing, tho candidate said a party could be in power too long, and he thought they would all admit that the present party had been in power too long. The country wanted a change. The present Government bad too many friends—friends that stuck to them closer than a brother. He went on to say that tho Chief Justice had a salary of £2OOO per year and £2 a day travelling expenses. This should be sufficient for any one man for any. work ho might do. >ot the Chief Justice was placed upon a Native Land Commission, for which he received £4015 in addition to hjs salary.—(Shame.) The Hon. Mr. Ngata, who at that time was a member of tho House, received. £1945 for being associated with him (the Chief Justice) on that commission. There wore a lot of commissions nowadays, and, of course, they were mostly comprised of men from the Government side of the House. Ho only remembered one Opposition member being appointed, and he happened to be an expert on the question before the commission. A member of tho House was allowed £1 Is a day whilst engaged on a commission, in addition to his ordinary honorarium, but they were not satisfied with this. When the Estimates came before the House they found amounts sot down giving them a further £1 Is a day. Tho Opposition objected, but still ‘it went through. On tho Supplementary Estimates this year was a sum of £155 for Messrs. Stallworthy and Heed, two members of the House who sat on a commission set up in connection with tho North Auckland Railway. They had already had their guinea a dav. This was extra, and he considered 'it was not right that tho people’s money should' be spent in this way.—(Applause.) Tho Opposition entered its protest and divided tho House, but, of course, lost. He did not believe in members of the House acting on these commissions afall.—(Applause.) An independent commission should be’’appointed and report, to the House. A member must- bo influenced. He then showed other directions in which money was paid out by the Government. Take Captain Scddon’s case. His salary for the position he held in the Defence Force was £27 10s per month, but for a few months lai,t year ho. acted as Adjutant-General during that person’s absence, and on, the Supplementary Estimates a vote for £IOO appeared in addition to his salary. A lady member of the same family, who received £3OO a year from the Treasury Department, was now in London and had been for some time. It was all very nice, but he would remind them that it was their money. These were some of the friends that should be shaken off, and hn hoped tho electors of Taranaki would do their share to shako them'off. He paid a tribute to Mr. Massey, and said he was a man they could trust to look after their affairs.

THE LAND QUESTION. One of the principal questions a country had to deal with was that of land, but the present Government had got into that state that they could not put a land Bill before the House, They had brought down two Bills and deserted them. There was the one that Mr. M‘Nab brought down when he was in the House. Ho went round the country explaining it, but when ho cam© back dropped it like'a hot potato.— (Laughter.) Then tho session before last the Prime Minister brought down a Bill which had a clause in it giving anyone the freehold. The leaseholders on the Government side would not have the Bill, and when it was reported from tho Lands Committee, and the motion was that it be laid upon the table of the House, up would jump one of the Government Party and talk the motion out. This happened on several occasions until the Government dropped the Bill, thus showing that it would be impossible for tho Government to get a freehold Bill through tho House without tire assistance of the Opposition Party, and this assistance they refused to accept. The continual changing of •the tenure of land he held to be a mistake. The tenure upon which a person could take up land should bo one of tho best advertisements a young country could have, but at the present time he believed if people inquired of the High Commissioner m London as to what form of laud tenure tney could obtain he would not bo able to tell them, and ho also believed that if a sorson5 orson had mot. the Right Hon. Sir . G. Ward, Minister for Lands, in London, and said to him that he wished to go out to New Zealand and take up land, arid asked him what tenure he could take it up on, unless he had the Under-Secretary of Lanjls at his elbow, ho could not tell him. If Mr.

Massey was Prime Minister, and was met by a young man and was asked the. question, he would say: “Young man, if you go out to New Zealand you can take the land up on whatever tcims you like—leasehold, deferred payl ment. or any other liberal terms, and when you are ready and it suits, you Can make the land Ireehold. We give the leasehold as a stepping-stone to the; freehold.”—(Applause.) What better -policy of encouraging the settlement of the lands they have than that ? That was the best advertisement they could give any country. Whilst it was unwise to be continually tampering with| the tenure, the question of administra-i ticn of our lands must bo altered as! the country progressed. Thirty or J forty years ago there was no need to; limit the amount of land one person* might take up. The main cry was to get the people on the land, allowing them to take up any areas tney might think they could hol'd, but as the country progressed and population increased, both sides of the House agreed that there must bo a limit to the area any one person might hold. They not only said they must limit the area, but that they must resume possession of some of the larger areas of land people were allowed to take up in the past, by paying them market value for it, ana so they passed the Lands for Settlement Act, giving tho Government power to borrow £5(K),00() a year for the purpose of purchasing these’ estates. In dealing with the limitation of area they had to be very careful they did not injure those who had taken up land and had mortgaged it to tho different lending destitutions, as some provision must he made for their being able to hold the land should any of it fall into their hands during a time of depression, or it would affect those to whom advances were made. As far as the Lands for Settlement Act was concerned, complaint had been made by southern members that the Government was not taking advantage of the power they had by expending tho amount authorised by Parliament. Although they had power to expend £500,000 a year, they last year only expended £158,000. The arguments used were that the settlers’ sons are coming up north on account of not having land provided for them. These settlers now held their lands on the l.i.p. tenure, paying 5 per cent, on the cost, and appeared to be dissatisfied, and wanted the right to make their laud freehold. One of the Reform Party’s planks was that they should be allowed this right, the funds derived from the sale of these lands to be used ’ for tho purpose purchasing other lands, and so reduce tho amount of borrowing for that purpose. The excuse tho Government gave for not expending the amount allowed was that they could not get the land at a price that would pay for cutting up, but there was no doubt that in the past they had passed over many estates that would nave paid them well to, buy. Ho would quote them one of many that had come to his knowledge. , Some few years ago the late Mr. W. Bayly, who was in ill-health, offered the department his Warea estate, comprising about 2000 acres at £l2 per acre. ’They were advised not to buy, as it was too dear. Shortly after it was sold for £l2 10s to a local buyer, who farmed it for about three years and then sold, it to another gentleman for £ls 10s per acre. This gentleman worked it for about three years and a few months ago sold it by public auction at an average of about £23 per acre, and most of it was bought - by farmers and farmers’ sons who had been reared in the district and , should know the value 'of the land. Hero the Government allowed private persons to make thousands of pounds out of the land before it got into tho hands of the small farmers. He did riot blame the' persons who made the profit, but he did blame the Government. Still dealing with the land, question, the speaker went on to say that despite all our boasted liberal land legislation there was no way that a man with a large family and no capital could get on tno land and be helped to remain there. The Prime Minister proposed to help such persons up in the King Country, but it was'not part of their policy, and had never been brought before : the House. Ho had mentioned on other occasions that something must be done to keej) tho people on the land after they got him there, and he would be willing to support any liberal legislation brought down to assist such cases.—(Applause.) And whilst provision was being made to assist persons on improved farms they must not forget those pioneers who go into the back blocks to how 'out* homes for themselves. He could not find words to express the conditions that many of the women and children who, with brave hearts, have gone away from tho different centres o'f civilisation into tho back blocks, had had to, contend with, in hopes of bettering their position, and after 10, 15 or 20 and 30 years of toiling and self-denial, when there was a prospect of taking life a little easier, found their health broken down through the hardships they had had to encounter. Only last week he heard of a family that had gone back. Children had been born there and were now up to 17 years of ago, and had never been into a town and never seen a railway train. Three years ago he had hopes that they were going to relievo these people by giving them access to their Holdings, as tho Minister of Public Works brought down a measure to borrow £1,000,000, to bo expended at the i rato of £250,000 a year, for tho purpose of helping these ’ settlers. This measure had the unanimous support of the Opposition, and the Bill was passed. But, like many other measures, the Governor had not taken full advantage of their power, but only expended little over half tho amount they were authorised to do. Could they wonder the settlers in the back blocks were getting tired of such treatment?

WORKMEN’S HOMES. After spending a considerable amount of money on erecting homes for working men on the leasehold system, the Government had come around to the policy of the Opposition, to erect tho homes and to enable the working men to have the right to make them freehold. Under the-Workers’ Dwellings Act, 1910, the Government was empowered to purchase-tho land and erect the house* for the worker, the workmen to deposit the sum of £lO, and pay 5 per cent, interest on the cost and 2 per cent, sinking fund, the whole amount being paid off under this scheme in 25J- years. Application had been received from a member of working men at the harbour to have homes erected in the vicinity. They had deposited their £lO, but up to the present the Government had not obtained the land for them for the purpose, tie had tried to get tho first batch of six houses erected on the high ground belonging to the prison reserve, but the departments had not agreed to the change of the reserve, although ho had a promise from tho Minister of Justice to favourably consider the matter.

BORROWING. Dealing with the question of borrowing, Mr. Okey said he was satisfied that if they were to progress by opening up their back country they would have to continue a certain amount of borrowing. This district wanted the Stratford Main Trunk line pushed on to completion, the Opunake-Stratford (branch lino built, tho Mokau Bridge erected, besides many smaller amounts : for roads and bridges, and knowing these works could not bo carried on iwithout borrowed money ho had supported every loan proposal of tho Government, as he felt ho could not consistently urge those works bo be executed and on the other hand cut off the means to carry on those works. —(Applause.) The greatest fault he had was with the way the work was carried on, the administration of tho funds after they wore borrowed, and the way the cost of the work was estimated. In this connection he instanced the duplication of tho Wellington-Hutt railway, estimated to cost £IOO,OOO, but which had cost £325,000, and tho duplication of the Auckland-Penros© line, the Christchurch-Rolieston line, and tho Duncdin-Mosgicl line, estimated to cost £250,000, but which when completed had cost £700,000. Either the House had been misled or there had been a huge mistake made in the estimate, which ho.very much doubted. He did not think the House would have agreed to these duplications if a true estimate had been put before them, whilst there were so many unfinished lines that would have benefited their back settlers. The whole system of,carrying on •their public works needed inquiring into, He had urged this upon the Minister more than once without avail. The only way to amend it was to put it into other hands, who would see that value was got for the money spent.

DEFENCE. The new defence scheme was no doubt the outcome of the Imperial Conference. There was no party in' defence matters, and so the Opposition was just as responsible for this measure as the Government. When the Bill was before the House he, with others, supported a clause to cease the compulsory system at the ago of 21, but was defeated. The scheme would be put on its trial at once, and the only fear he had was that it would break down with its own weight. The people would not be taxed to keep a lot of officers going about with gold lace on them, and a lot of tact would be required in carrying out the scheme. General Godley, who Ijad been chosen to carry out the scheme, was, he was sure, the right man. He had already made several desirable alterations in the carrying out of the scheme. For instance, the • first proposal was to have two camps, one in the Soutli Island and one along the Main Trunk line in the north. This had been done away with and the camps would bo in districts, and where it could be shown that it would considerably inconvenience employers and parents if their boys went to camp, this, too, would be clone away with, and the boy would merely have to do his drills at night at places not more than about six miles from his home. Tho measure should have a fair trial.

LICENSINGThe question of licensing legislation was now considerably mixed up with politics, so much so that a candidate had to declare where he stood at these times. During the 1910 Parliament a Bill was passed making a number of important amendments in the licensing laws, one of the main being the doing away with tho reduction vote, and putting in its place a Dominion vote. Dealing with the majority question, he said whilst the three-fifths may be a large hurdle to get over, he was satisfied that in the interests of the reform there should be a substantial majority. He could not persuade himself that a bare majority vote was in the interests of tho reform, and therefore could not support it, but if a Bill was introduced making the majority 55 per cent., as was done in the 1910 session, lie would be found supporting it if ho was returned.

MILITARY PENSIONS. - An effort has been made to get the Dominion to recognise the services of those veterans who fought and (many of them) bled for the colony during the Maori war, by the granting of a military pension similar to what has been done m other places. The cost to the country would bo very small, not over £4OOO or £SOOO for a few years, as these old veterans were fast failing away. The Prime Minister was urged by members on both sides of the House tj do something during the session, and he brought down, a Bill which he (the speaker) considered an insult to every veteran ; i.e., that if lie was in a position to receive the old age pension he may change it into a military pension, but it is to bo subject to all the provisions of the old age pension. On speaking on tho measure, he told the Prime Minister the old veterans would not thank him for the measure, and he hoped the last had not been heard of it yet, but that something would be done to recognise the services the old veterans had done for the country.—(Applause.)

CIVIL SERVICE. One of the planks of the Reform Party was the reform of the Civil Service by improving the conditions governing tho employment of civil servants, by eliminating political influence and patronage, by providing that all appointments and promotions be made and regulated by a board responsible directly to Parliament and absolutely free from Ministerial control, and by granting to the civil servants the right to appeal to a competent tribunal from a decision of the board. At the present time there was a considerable amount of dissatisfaction’ in the service, especially among the! railway servants. This should not be, as a contented service was in the best interests of the State. Ho briefly referred to the recent increases that had been made in tho salaries in several branches of the Railway Department, and said a rise had not been given to brandies iu which the men had most claim to it.

LOCAL MATTERS. There wore several matters that his time would not allow him to rcter to, such as West Coast leases, local government, Mokau inquiry, Hinc inquiry, Stale note issue, export of butter, and several others, but bo would deal with them when ho spoke at Fitzroy. He could not close, however, without referring to a few matters of local interest, He did not think there was ever a brighter outlook for this district than there was at the present time, and from the knowledge he had gained he was satisfied that the eyes of the outside world were upon this province, and that there was every nrosnect of

a tremendous inflow of foreign capital, which must materially aliect the progress of the district during the next lew years. It was the duty of those who had the interests of the district at heart to so© that this prosperity was built upon a sound foundation. They must render all assistance possible in tUo iorward policy that was being carried on by the Harbour Board. There was no doubt but that within the next eighteen months they would have Homo boats lying at the wharf, bringing iu our imports and taking away our produce. There was uo reason why this port should not servo the whole of the country between Wanganui on tho south and Kawhia on the north. To do this provision must bo made for accommodating small craft. He knew it had been said tho Northern Shipping Company was prepared to put on steamers to do this trade immediately it was her© to do; but was it wise that they should be dependent upon this company, which was owned to a large extent by Auckland merchants, wno must be their greatest competitors for the trade they wish to do at tho port? This ho would leave to the merchants to deal with. What he was concerned with was the opening up of tho different arteries leading to the port by road and railway. The first of importance was the Stratford-Main Trunk line. When he was first returned to Parliament £20,000 was voted for expenditure on this lino, and £12,000 spent. He had on several occasions, with, the different members representing the district, urged upon the authorities the importance of pushing on with this line, with the result that last year £IOO,OOO wits voted for the li/io and £78,000 spent, and £IOO,OOO had been voted again this year. During tho session they had had in the lobby of tho House, placed there by tho Hon. Jhomas Kelly, a splendid sample of coal procured and sent down to him from along where the railway will go, about -12 to 20 miles from Whangamoraona. It was impossible to estimate the benefit, the carrying on of the lino to these coalfields would be to the different dairy factories and local consumers. Ho had urged this matter upon the Minister, and believed he was in lull sympathy with the suggestion. Tho authorising of tho Opu-nakc-Stratford line he had on many occasions urged upon the Government, and considering that the terminus of tho Stratlord-ilTain Trunk line will be at Stratford, it should als obe the terminus of this line. The bridging of the Mokau was another matter that was in the interests of this district. The country on tho northern side of this river was being vastly improved and was carrying large flocks and herds, tlie increase from which should come this way. On account of tho difficulty at this river a considerable amount of this trade was finding its way northward. When discussing the Estimates late in the session, in reply to a question from Mr. Jennings, member representing that district, The Hon. R. M'Kenzie stated that it was his intention to erect a steam ferry at the Mokau that would carry 1000 sheep or 150 head of cattle. He (the speaker) pointed out that this would not meet with the wishes of the settlers, as it would be a continuous expense to them, and urged that it would bo better to face the expenditure on a bridge, estimated to cost '£20,000, than to expend money on a, temporary concern. After being further urged by Mr. Jennings, the Minister promised to subsidise such a work £ for £ up to £IO,OOO.

PETROLEUM INDUSTRY. Another matter he had tried to push along, and ho was pleased to say successlully, was the petroleum industry. For forty years tho people of Taranald had been endeavouring to develop this industry. They appeared to be able to get so far and no further, and their only chance seemed to bo to get the Government to take it over or to get English capital into tho industry. Having been a director of tho chjef company lor some rime, and knowing that the time had arrived when a fillip was required, he decided to bring the matter before the Government and the outside public. His first move was to get the Minister of Mines to have a geological survey made of the district from an oil point of view. This matter was brought before him by Mr. "Watkins, of Messrs. "Watkins and Fox, who, he maintained, had done more tor the oil industry in New Zealand than any other person. Dr. Bell was eventually sent into the district to make a survey and to report upon the prospects of the industry. Tneso reports had been sent to interested oil people in London, with tho result that considerable interest was taken in the industry. He also got the Government, at its expense, to send 20 barrels of crude' petroleum Home to tho naval authorities, so as to bring the matter before them from an oil fuel point of view. The result of this had been that considerable interest had been taken in tho field by tho naval authorities. The Government had for some time been offering a bonus of £SOO for a certain amount of refined oil. He pointed out to the Minister that when a company had arrived at the stage of having that quantity of refined oil they were usually over their financial difficulties, and besides, he might be paying the bonus to a company that was formed for the purpose of purchasing the oil from the prospecting company and refining same, and therefore he would be paying the bonus to a company that had not spent any money in prospecting. He also pointed out that there was only about 30 per cent, of kerosene in the oil, and there was a largo percentage of benzine, lubricating oil, wax and pitch, that were more valuable than the kerosene, and to encourage tho prospector the bonus should be paid on the crude oil. This view was also urged by Mr. Berry and the chairman of the company, Mr. C. Carter, when they were in Wellington on oil business, and the result was that tho bonus had been amended by offering a sum of £IO,OOO, to be paid in four instalments.—(Applause.) As they all knew, the Taranaki Company had won t and received the first bonus of £2500. ; This session ho had urged tho Govern- : mont to allow all machinery used for oil boring and refining same, to come in duty free. The Prime Minister, in his Financial Statement, had promi/cd to amend the Customs tariff to allow this to bo done, or to place a sum on the Estimates to refund any duty paid. He was urging the Government to pay a subsidy of £ for £ for deep boring on the cost over 2000 ft. Up to the present this had not been granted. They must admit the Government was assisting the industry, and he was pleased that ho had been able to assist in bringing tho matter before them.

CONCLUSION. Ho had now represented them for five sessions. During tho whole of that time he had never left tho House while it had been sitting, never going home once until tho House rose. He had tried to ha a true representative of the nco.

pie, keeping all sections posted up with proposed legislation which would affoct their business, and if they were satisfied with tho way ho had represented them ho would be pleased to have their assistance on December 7 next, lie felt satisfied the knowledge he had .gained during the last five years, at considerable sacrifice to himself, \yould be useful to the district. As tho whole of his interests were in this district, and his interests were their interests, he was satisfied to leave the matter in their hands. —(Applause.)

QUESTIONS. At the close of Mr. Okey’s address questions were invited. In reply, he said ho was not in favour of any legislation that would interfere with the sports of the people. Ho would, if returned, urge any Government in power to introduce in its first session a comprehensive Local Government Bill. He would not, if returned, nor would the Reform Party, repeal any legislation that had been' enacted by the present administration that was beneficial to the people, but he would not hold back State advances from deserving workers to lend it to men like Mr. Richard Cock, who took part in Mr. Bellringer’s meeting.—(Applause.) He would support tho graduated land tax, and was in favour or reducing the limit of the amount at which it would become payable. If his party had changed its name it had never changed its coat. His reason for voting for the totalisator in face of his election statement three years ago was that had he voted for the abolition of both the bookmaker and the totalisator they would have got rid of neither. He considered that the whole cost of clearing noxious weeds should bo borne by the owners of the land. He considered a tenant at Spotswood had been most unfairly treated by the Advances Office, which promised to lend him £250 on security of £405 and then withheld £SO. One oFtli© causes of the increased cost of living was tho heavy cost of administration of the affairs of this country, and he considered a tremendous saving:, coultLbe; affected without discharging one man from the service. He did not favour the State entering into competition with private enterprise for the necessaries of life, Tho Racing Commission, he thought, had dealt unfairly with the country racing clubs. He favoured the present law in respect to the period allowed before, national prohibition took effect if carried. He had voted for-the Maoris to decide the lipensing question on the bare majority. Ho desired a free hand in dealing with any alteration of the majority basis iu national prohibition. He had not opposed the Kaitake County Bill. To force all farmers to clear their sections of noxious weeds would bring about the ruin of many of them. A move was made, with a Government supporter as a go-between, to effect a union of the Opposition and Government parties, and.in that case Mr. Massey, he felt sure, would have had a seat in the Cabinet. He looked upon their contributions to naval defence as an insurance fund to insure their produce reaching its destination in the Old World.

A hearty vote of thanks was passed to the speaker and also of confidence in him on the motion of Mr. J. AV. Boon and Mr. S. W. Shaw, and a veto of thanks to the Mayor concluded tho meeting.