A Damning Indictment

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 13, 5 December 1914, Page 9

A Damning Indictment

From the " New Zealand Times," Saturday, November Slst, 1914.

THE Tory candidates on the public platform are making the most of the things that the Government have done that they ought to have done. But these are few and far between. On the other hand, they are significantly silent concerning the things that have been done during the last three years that ought not to have been done. This is a very formidable list. It constitutes an indictment against the Massey Government that is absolutely unanswerable. There is no mention whatever by them of the promise to reduce the cost of living, to lessen the administrative expenditure, to lighten the burden of taxation, to taper off the alleged excessive borrowing, to give a square deal to Labour, to reform the railway system, to promote settlement, to assure industrial peace, and to startle the country with pigeon-hole disclosures. All these solemn undertakings have been flagrantly ignored. On the other hand, the Masseyites evidently hope to frighten the people into support of their cause by a persistent rattling of the dry bones of Red Fedism. But the people are becoming tired of this transparent device. The bogey is not so terrifying to them as the prospect of a further period of squatter administration in the interests of the classes. They are disposed to examine the record of the Massey Government, with a view to discover the things that have been done that ought not to have been done, and this is a record; that is damning to Toryism. Let us recall from memory some of the achievements of the Massey party concerning which their candidates are silent, but which, nevertheless, vitally concern the people ,and the interests of the democracy. Here are some instructive examples taken at random from the record of two and a half years of Tory administration: — Trapping of the Liberal "rats" by which a Tory minority was converted into a majority. Luring of the leaseholder Fisher into a Freehold Cabinet at the sacrifice of his platform pledges. Political conspiracy by which the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie was transferred from the leadership of the Liberal party to the High Commissionership. . Stoppage of the construction ot main trunk railways at Napier, Gisborne, Waihi, and Motueka. Wholesale dismissals of railway construction workers in the endeavour to destroy the co-operative system. Appointment of Tory rejects to the Legislative Council, and eventual flooding of the Upper House with a Conservative majority. Transfer of the Civil Service from the control of the Parliament and the people and placing it under the domination of an irresponsible triumvirate. Unsuccessful search of the pigeonholes for proof of alleged Liberal corruption. Establishment of a special Immigration Department with the object of flooding the country with cheap labour. Importation of men of twenty, thirteen stone weight, six feet high, with six years' farming experience, at six shillings per week, under the pretence that they were boys. Purchase of a section of land at Stratford for railway purposes. Price £1200. Government valuation £300. . , Substantial reduction m the number of free places in the secondary schools available to successful pupils from the primary schools. Announcement by Mr Fisher at Auckland that old age pensions would be confined to the thrifty. Diminished number of land ballots. For 23 sections at Taumarunui, 365 applicants. . Conspiracy with the Religion-m-Schools party to throw the public schools open to religious teaching.

Land aggregation, which the Government pledged itself to stop, hut which has eventually become a public scandal. Attack on the State fire insurance system. Borrowers under the advances system allowed to insure in private offices. Elective local bodies to be abolished, vide Mr Fisher at Auckland, and a system of government by experts to be substituted. Railway system handed over to an imported expert at £3000 to the disadvantage of well qualified men who had been trained in the country. Southland land scandal. Mr Wilson, possessing 400 acres, allowed to compete successfully against Mr Horan, who was landless. Liberals removed from the Bank ot New Zealand directorate and replaced by Masseyites and Conservatives. Brighton lease scandal. Mineral rights conserved to the State through exposure by the Liberals. Attempt of the Public Service Commissioners to compel old and experienced civil servants to submit themselves to test examinations. _ Abandonment of the navy subsidy as a preliminary to the establishment of a separate Navy of "mosquito' warships. . Hon. James Allen raises his loan (and subsequent loans) on the •strength of twenty years of Liberal surpluses which he had previously declared to be bogus. Visit of H.M.S. New Zealand, and conspiracy of silence amongst Ministers not to mention the name of Sir Joseph Ward. Broken by Captain Halsey and Mr Rhodes at Kaiapoi. People of Invercargill and other parts of Southland denied the opportunity of seeing H.M.S. New Zealand. Mr Herdman refuses increased: pay to the police on the ground that the expenditure would be too great. Increase since conceded under Liberal pressure. Attack on the Public Trust Office in the interests of the legal profession and its profits. Suppression of the "crude" report of the Public Trust Office. Report published in "Times" in defiance of the Government. Mr Fisher promises to- settle the landless on the reclaimed swamps of Hokitika. Swamps still unreclaimed. Maori land sacrifice to the avaricious designs of the land-sharks. Wholesale trading by speculators. Unsuccessful attempt to silence the New Zealand "Times" by the prosecution of its Editor for seditious libel under a law that had been obsolete for 100 years. Agreement by Hon. James Allen to maintain a standing army of 8000 men in times of peace Mr Massey promises titles of some kind to members of local bodies of long service. Promise not kept. The Square Deal. Labour promised a place in the sun, and given a place in gaol. Scarcity of public money. Government pleads "commitments," though it entered upon office with a sum of £750,000 in hand. Squatter Campbell moves for the reduction of the duty on champagne in the interests of the workers. Mr Massey declares that he does not care whether a man holds five or five thousand acres of land so long as he makes millions of blades of grass to grow. Allegations of flogging of boys on the Amokura, and Hon. H. D. Bell persists in a star chamber inquiry with closed doors. Suspension of the Noxious Weeds Act in the Rangitikei and other districts in the interests of large landowners. Refusal to the police of the right of forming an Association. "If you don't like your wages and hours o*f employment, get out, and I shall find others who will." Banishment of Constable Smyth from Auckland to Greymouth be-

cause of the part he had taken in forming a Police Association for. the protection of the interests of the force. Constable Smyth summarily dismissed from the police force a month later for alleged dereliction of duty, the offence being one usually met by caution or fine. Substantial drop in the amount of the annual surplus. Government pleads the small-pox epidemic. Price of State coal raised by two shillings per ton, under the pretence that the system did not pay sufficiently Loans from the State advances departments curtailed, and interest forced up to seven, eight, and ten per cent. Hillesden estate, of 166,000 acres, on the snow-clad ranges of Marlborough, purchased for closer settlement. No land available to settlers adjacent to railways or good roads. Demand for increased graduated land tax,staved off with a show-win-dow device under which the squatters escape more lightly than heretofore. Westport Harbour Board scandal. Seven police convictions should not necessarily be a bar to appointments to public positions. Sir Walter Buchanan knighted on the recommendation of a party opposed to titles for his services to the Conservative cause. Second ballot repealed without providing the satisfactory substitute to which the Government had solemnly pledged itself. Wholesale dismissals of elderly messengers immediately after the death of the Speaker (Sir Arthur Guinness )and their replacement by Government supporters. Troubles in the Cook Islands, bush beer drinking scandals, and persistent reports of dissatisfaction with the administration. Reciprocal tariff with the Commonwealth turned down because of the change of Government, but never resurrected after the Australian Labour Government returned to power. New Lynn (Hetana Hamlet) leaseholders allowed to make £30,000 profit at the cost of the country by securing the freehold and selling as suburban sections. Sacrifice of the national estate and destruction of the leasehold system by the gift of the right to the freehold. . „ ~, Ohakune settlers given the right to the freehold of endowment lands, which they alleged had been promised to them if they supported the Government. Attempt to give income tax concessions to men receiving salaries from £6 to £14 per week. Maximum reduced owing to Liberal opposition. Higher salaries refused to teachers in 1913, but an improved scale adopted in. 1914, though conceding only a minimum of the claims. Sum of £200,000 borrowed from the State advances departments for ordinary purposes of Government while loans to settlers and workers were being refused. Right to freedom of speech refused in Parliament by the application of the "gag." Liberals maintain that Estimates should not be forced through without fair discussion. Unauthorised expenditure for 1913 the highest on record —£191,000. Unsuccessful attempt to re-estab-lish the plural property vote far local elections. Unsuccessful attempt to convey away the freehold of the mining area, and close the Hauraki goldfields to prospecting. Exposure and defeat of the Rhodes clause giving the mover, Rhodes, and other owners of goldfields lands, the right to mining royalties . Royd Garlick scandal. Appointment of a physical' instructor at a higher salary £600) than is paid to any headmaster of the public schools. Set by the Public Service Commis-

sioners against girls in the Civil Service. No more to offer themselves for examination. Pledge to reduce Customs taxation to lighten the cost of living broken, but special legislation surreptitiously passed to admit the Governor's wines, spirits, cigars, and other goods free of duty. Starting of eight branch railways, while trunk railway construction was stopped, and while backblocks settlers were unable to get decent roads to their holdings. Victimisation at the Huntly mine tolerated by the Government (October, 1913), and 85 families driven from the district. Inaction of the Government in the face of a waterside strike, involving violence and bloodshed, notwithstanding the offer of the Liberals to assist in compelling a settlement. Ernest A. James circular, inviting "Reform" stalwarts in country districts to hold meetings, pass resolutions censuring Sir Joseph Ward, and telegraph them to the "Dominion" for publication, thus poisoning the public mind against Sir Joseph. Official report of the chief of the Labour Department that industrial unrest and discontent had never been so great as since the "Reform" Government came into power. Valuations of city and suburban lands forced up to the maximum level, while the squatters continue to escape their fair share of taxation. Offer of a seat in the Legislative Council to Mr Wilkinson if he would retire and assist Mr Vernon Reed's candidature for Bay of Islands. Increase of the administrative expenditure in two years by nearly two millions sterling notwithstanding the "Reform" statement that the expendiure of the Liberals was excessive. Now greatest on record. Borrowing of fifteen millions in two years, with proposals authorised for further loans amounting to £12,450,000 this year, which is also a record. Steady increase in the cost of living notwithstanding the promise of the Massey Government that immediate steps would be taken to reduce it. Taxation increased by more than 10s per head since the Liberals went out of power on every man, woman and child in New Zealand. Net earnings of the railways fallen from 4.06 when the Liberals left office to 3.62 per cent, under Masseyite control iwth the aid of Mr Hiley as expert. Capital cost of railway construction increased from £10,723 per mile under Liberal administration to £11,309 under the Tory Government. , „ , , r . Neglect to pass the Coal Mines Bill, or to listen to the warnings or the Government inspectors, and loss of 43 lives by the Huntly disaster. The canteen scandals, by which the soldiers of the expeditionary army were being exploited for the profit of army contractors. Boots and saddles contract scandals in connection with the expeditionary army. Soles fell off the boots of the men on the first march out. Greatest achievement of all in the interests of the people: The construction of the Waiuku railway through Mr Massey's ostrich farm at a cost of £150,000, but Mr Massey does not hope to benefit to the extent of a single farthing. But our space is exhausted. If we were to recite the whole of the things that the Massey Government has done that it ought not to have done, we would require a special edition, and even then there would be much to tell. However, Masseyism pleaded for an opportunity to show what it could do. It has had its opportunity. What it has done has been in the interests of the land monopolists and the wealthy classes. It has done little or nothing m the interests of legislative progress and the cause of the people.