POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Timaru Herald, Volume C, Issue 15309, 31 March 1914, Page 8

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

aiR W. NOSWORTHY AT GERALDINE.

Mr W. Nosworthy, M.P. for Ashburtun, gavo a pre-sessional address at Gcraldme last evening. There was a large attendance, the Volunteer Hall being well occupied. In the unavoidable absence of tlie Mayor, Mr J. Kennedy, Dr Patcrson presided. Mr Nosworthy on rising expressed regret that the cause of- the Mayor's absence -was a family bereavement. He _then proceeded to say that his object was to give an -account of his stewardship, which he had hesitated to do until the policy measures of the Massey Government had become law. He referred to the retirement of the Ward Administration, and to the "inglorious career" of the Mackenzie Government, the members of which in fourteen weeks spent £1466 iii electioneering travelling expenses, while the members of the Massey Government had spent only £ll6O in eight months. The only division taken by tlie Mackenzie Government resulted in its defeat, and Mr Massey then formed an Administration. They had heard a good deal about Mr Massey not having a maiidate from the peop-lp. They had tho mandate of a majority in the .House, and three members who were pledged to support the Ward Government were also pledged to the freehold, and they suphorted Mr Massey. He claimed tha.t Mr Massey had a mandate. STRONG AND HONEST GOVERNMENT. The new Government formed by Mr Massey was a strong one, apd : most honest tlio_ country had had for 21 ycinvs. Mr Russell" had alleged that tho Go •/1 ' 11nieiit had not kept its pledges, but the man who made that allegation wai ted to tax the small landowner and t» re''move the !28 per cant.quota in f;- tcu; <jf I'ural electors, while, although ho c"id not say it, he wished to tar,il ( the u'crernment of the country to f l-.a Rkl Fkls. So far the Government ha-1 been- ui able to deal with the tariff, ow/rjg to lack of time -arid changes in Australia. They had effected a valuable Teform >n substituting long-dated loans fcr slii/it-dat-ed ones, thereby making a sivirjg. of largo sums for each flotation was costly. They had also made a saving r,y charging tlie system of.'paying the n otiey rereived from the sale of Crown lams into tho Consolidated Fund, to the rew method of putting it aside to purchase further" lands for closer settlement. LAND QUESTION. Dealing with the land '(ju.-Mtion' Mr No-3worthy said tho first_ inst-i'ment of the freehold was given in IP]2, and

Crown settlers were now afforded every opportunity of acquiring the iieehol-l under the deferred paycauit sy torn. The native land question i, c d also been dealt Avith and the new system vrs working Avell, Mr - Herries, "\vlio was greatly interested in. the Native question, having 1 gone a long way to solve ci I 'Acuities. ' If UPPER HOUSE. - \4 ' The reform of tlie Legislative Cr-i ncil had been pledged, but so far iad i. <.t been carried out, owing \ o the notion of the. Council. However, the pledge would he fulfilled, and he prssu ned that appointments to the Council v. oul.i be made in order that i.be Bi!l migli:; be carried through the Upper House

THE PUBLIC SERViCE. The creation of Public Service Commissioners was tho result of., another pledge. Their .appoint nent had Lion fully justified, and had "nadc tl e Public Service absolutely free fiom p I'Meal influence. LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

The Liberal Government had pi '.n ised but shirked a reform of Lo--1 Gr>tuiment, and so. far tlie present Government liad been unable to deal wnh the subject, but he knew, for a liact that it would be dealt with. NAVAL DEFENCE. ■ v Speaking on the subject of JS s va( Defence Mr Nosworthy deplored tin; l'act that party spirit was i.eitig imported into this, question. In 1909 "Sir Joseph Ward made an agreement which 'he imperial Government was unable to c:<rry out, and if the present G'-overn nent Lad to take up the question, why, Jie asked, should it be made a party issue ? It was an Imperial question and should- be so treated. The Government row proposed to provide a cruiser of tho British type, and if the. Imperial Government did not like this, the arrangement made by Sir J. G. Ward could be carried out. The supreme thing was to secure the safety of the Dominion from foreign foes, but if the Imperial Government did not see fit to meet tlie agreement New Zealand would have to act. The •New Zealand, battlship had now been placed in the Home fleet. The Imperial Government, he said, was not doing what it .ought 'to do in the matter of naval armament. Once Britain dominated the seas, but it was not so now. The oversea Dominions were being left largely to _ themselves, and had to protect their own interests. FINANCIAL MATTERS. Mr Nosworthy declared that .Sir Joseph Ward was very wrong when he said that no Government ever found the financial affairs of a. country in better condition than did the Massey Government when it ca.rne into office. He quoted figures to show that in on© year the Ward and Mackenzie Governments turned a credit of £204,003 into a deficit of and that deficit was increased to the huge sum of £837,000. That was the position when the Massey Government took office, and it could be understood what a heavy burden Allen and Mr Fraser had. Heavy expense, too, had been necessary to place the superannuation funds upon a sound basis. • That this had beer, done showed that the Government was gradualy straightening affairs. The difficulty of the position was increased by the fact that' short-dated loans were falling due within three (years, £14,000,000 of loan moneys having to be arranged for between their talcing office and March 31. 1915. Sir Joseph Wa.rd sa.id they had borrowed tweJve millions but a great portion of their borowing was for the purpose of renewing short-dated loans, included in the £14,000,000 mentioned as coming due. FUTURE LEGISLATION. Mr Nosw-orthy expressed the opinion that the Licensing Bill should be put through as brought down. The Upper House- Reform Bill and the reform of the electoral system for the House of Representation as regards the boundaries of electorates, securing community of interests, should also be dealt with. He did not believe in proportional representation or any other fads, but he did want to see the districts divided up so that there might be community of interests. The Education Bill would be dealt with, so as to help the teachers; a Local Government "Reform Bill would have to be passed, and a Libel and Slander Amendment Bill should also bo introduced. < THE GENERAL ELECTION. He predicted that they would have a very strange election in November. There were ;iow three parties, but the Reform party was a solid one. Some I of the methods now adopted by politicians were disgraceful, and he condemned the action of the. Liberal speaker, who said "a Minister was a descendant of Ananias, and that all Reformers were liars." That was not the wa.y to raise the general' tone. The Social Democrats were not agreed upon anything, and Sir Joseph Ward could produce no policy. As a force the

Liberals were broken up, hut the Government was solid and knew what it wanted, and it would stand boldly upon its policy. IMPROVEMENTS. : Amengst improvements effected by the Government he included the steps taken to prevent the manufacture of shoddy, boots; the increasing of the allowance made for condemned stock and the increasing of pension allowances, • school teachers' salaries had been increased and would be -further dealt with in.the coming .session. Tlie Magistracy had been lifted above political influence, and land agents, had, by registration, been placed on a better footing. In spite of the talk about "land monopolies'' tho Government had increased the graduated,land tax in order to break up large estates, and this proved that t-hay wero desirous of .settling the land.- Greater allowances were now made for improvements, and '.water races were now allowed for. Tho Shearer:}' and Agricultural Labourers' Amendment Act was a good measure passed. The reciprocity treaty between Australia, and New . Zealand in relation to pensions was a valuable provision affecting about IO.COO people. Ho expressed pleasure that the Second Ballot had l been done 1 away with. THE STRIKE. Mr Nosworthy. gave tho Government credit for having settled the strike. Sir .Joseph 'Ward paid he could have settled it in two days—he would have settled it by giving in. The speech delivered by Sir Joseph after the charge in Post Office Square, Wellington, was a disgrace. The Leader «*' the Opposition had done nothing to help tlie Government. The Government had dono a fair thing, and had acted firmly. Agitators were no good to New Zealand, and la.w and order must bo maintained.. Tho new Bill did away with peaceful picketing and required six weeks' notice of an intended strike. The measure was a good one and should bo very beneficial. WORKERS' HOMES. He strongly approved the provisions of the Municipal Councils Amendment Act, which would greatly benefit the worker who desired to secure a home. THE NEXT' STRUGGLE. He condemned the rabid party spirit shown by the Opposition, and which was driving the Government members to take tho platform in order to refute

tho misrepresentations made. TliS coming election would bo . bitter and strenuous, but lis was confident that the result would be in favour cf Mr Massey's party". If, however, they were defeated, the people would have to acknowledge that they had not a "jelly fish" Government, but one composed of men ready to act up to their convictions. i BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS. " If it were shown that there were sufficient people 111 favour of it, ho would like to see a, Bill brought in providing for a referendum on tiie Biblc-in-Schoois question. He gave the Government credit for hav.ng extended the country telephone services, and for. having increased the graduated income tax on incomes over £2OOO, which the Liberals had neglected to do. Moreover, the income tax had been amended in favour of the man with a family. Where an income did not exceed £420, the taxpayer was allowed to deduct £2o, for each child up to live in number under 16 years of -age. The Massey party were not out to support the "big man, bilt to do fairly by all. Mr Nosworthy thanked Mr Witty for assisting to get water-races included in the improvements to be deducted from the valuations of rural lands. It had been said that the Massey Government would abolish old age pensions. They had not only not abolished them." but had improved them. FUTILITY OF STRIKES. The sooner the workers realised that the foreign agitator was no good, the better for them. It was precious little the workers had got from them. There was a statutory way of getting grievances redressed, and that was not„ by strikes. A MISREPRESENTATION. It had been said by the "Lyttelton Times" that he .had. called Sir Joseph Ward a "political harlot." He gave that statement an absolute denial. He " had been misreported. He had -always been friendly with Sir Joseph Ward personally; it was only politically that die differed from him ; there had been no bad feeling shown by either party, and there had been no I personalities. Mr Nosworthy concluded by saying that the future of the Dominion must be made still better than its past. They wanted men in Parliament who would strive for the betterment of the country. They might differ politically, but the aim of eacli and all should be to make things better than they found them. He- claimed . that his party were doing that, and seeking to make this a peaceful, pros- ' perous and contented Dominion. (Applause.) A number of questions were asked, including some by a lady who was prepared with a copy of the last Budget. but Mr Nosworthy said he would deal with recent finance when next he addressed them. VOTE OF THANKS CARRIED. WANT OF CONFIDENCE REJECTED Mr Brooker moved a vote of thanks to Mr Nosworthy for his address, but of want of confidence in him as a representative of the constituency. The chairman said he did not fhink it fair to propose such a motion, as Mr Nosworthy was not now electioneering. If he were he .would willingly put it to the .meeting, if it were seconded. Mr Brooker said Mr Nosworthy had not answered questions put to him, and lie insisted on his motion being accepted. It was then seconded by an elector.' , Mr Hughes moved as an amendment . "That the best thanks, of this meeting be giyen to Mr Ncsworthy for his address, - for his straightforward conduct, and for his services." They wanted, said Mr Hughes, a. plain straightforward man, for they wore a plain people. Mr Bruce seconded the amendment.

The chairman called for a show nF hands, and on a count declared the amendment carried. Mr Nosworthy thanked the audience for their hearing, and moved a vote of thanks to the chairman, which concluded the meeting.