THE PRIME MINISTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10304, 8 November 1911, Page 4

THE PRIME MINISTER.

——» gIR JOSEPH WARD BEFORE HIS CONSTITUENTS. SPEECH AT WINTON. FIVE YEARS OF PROGRESS. THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE, n • [Fbom Our Cobresi'ondent.] WINTON, November 7. The Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, opened his campaign as a candidate for the Awarua seat to-night with an address at Winton. Sir Joseph, accompanied by Lady Ward, yeafched Winton at 7.30 p.m., and was received by the Mayor, Mr J. P. M'William, and a large gathering of residents of the district, some of whom had travelled miles to attend the meeting. The Winton Brass iiand played the Prime Minister from the station to Moore's Hall. It was at once apparent that this building was too small ior the crowd, notwjfhstanding that the evening was wot, and an adjournment was made to the Skating Rink, which, spacious as it is, was packet! in all parts. The Prime Minister, on jnakng his appearance, was accorded an t tinthusiastio ovation. The chair was Occupied by the Mayor. -. Sir Joseph Ward said that he was fleeply grateful for the kind manner Jn which they had received him and that he was pleased to meet his constituents in Winton once more. They pad always been'most considerate to aim and had consistently shown their confidence in him. He had done his duty by them and to tho country, )md any honour or advancement lie had deceived in the public life of the dominion he had felt proud to realise was tm much a recognition to thein as it was to him. He had, as they all knew, led a particularly active political life and had not been able to visit his electorate and meet his friends as often as he w<juld have desired. He knew, however, that this was understood. He •wished ,to thank one and all, which he did most' sincerely, for their uniform support in the past, and to say that though his position would necessitate his being absent during a great portion of the time before the general election, he left himself with the utmost 'sonfidence in the hands of his friends 'and would greatly appreciate their generous and cordial help. (Applause.) He was sure they all regretted that death had entered the house of Mr Massey,, the leader of the Opposition, whose aged father had just passed away. He had already tendered to Mr Massey his sincere sympathy, and he Was sure one and all, irrespective of politics, would share with him the deep regret they all felt at the ' loss Mr Massey and his family had sustained. 'POLICY 01? MISREPRESENTATION.

•' Ha regretted to say that for the j )asb twenty years the stock-in-trade )f the> Opposition had been gross mis- ... Representation and in many instances personal abuse of their opponents. The mbds had been especially to attack the " .Prime Minister and to do all in their -, ".-power, .to depreciate the holder of that ■' ittffice. • This tjio New Zealand public, jljrith' its sense of fairplay, had always resented, and it'had shorrn its disapproval of such methods by keeping , the Conservative Party in the cold ; ihades of opposition. (Applause.) ■There had been a series of inquiries costmg the country many thousands of pounds for the purpose of investigating charges the Opposition had made at various times, and in no single instance -was one of the charges found to apply to any member of the Government. In confirmation of the baselessness of the Innuendoes about Tammanyisra and corruption, he quoted what the Hon G, Fowlds had said when retiring from the Ministry recently. There'was also i the confirmation of tho late Mr T. E. Taylor and that of Mr L. M. Isitt in the House of Representatives, both Independent members, that the charges of Tammanyism and corruption were°bascless, and that not one word of proof h-aa forthcoming; yet thoy found that tome of the supporters of the Opposition, who were standing for the present election, were so devoid of fairness ns not to be able to deal with' public questions on their merits, mid so incapable of looking into matters for themselves that they accepted the machine-mado speeches from the Conservative manufactory suggestive of every kind of evil that it ■ was ■ possible for the most debased imagination to conceive. There was an old saying, "Evil be to those-; who.evil think." That was descriptive of the diseased imagination of some of these critics who, unable io give a single piece of constructive policy, wero basely engaged in detracting from the efforts of the Government that had placed on, record the most 'humane, the most advanced and the jriofit valuable legislation for the people of the country that any Government in , tho world had ever produced. (Ap- • platise.) . This fact was recognised by the Governments of yther countries, some of whom had copied the dominion's legislation whilst others were making inquiries ijoncerning the more, recent statutes chat had been passed by the Parliament of New Zealand. Even the present Opposition had been impressed ■ with the futility of its past attitude ■ Wards the valuable legislation originating with, the Government, and it jlow in desperatiou declared that it was not against the legislation itself, , but the administration of it. Some of the Conservatives even now claimed , -credit for some of the legislation they jio desperately opposed. Take as examples the Advances to Settlers, the Old Age Pensions, the Land for Settlements and the Advances to Workers 'Acts,, which the Opposition had consistently opposed. As to the Advances to Workers Act, the leader of the Opposi- _ tion said he was responsible for it, but that was nob correct.. Anyone who • looked up the records would find that jhe Government stated in the Governor's Speech that it proposed to submit legislation for advances to workers. After the intention of the Government had been clearly stated, the Reader of the Opposition moved an intendment to include workers to tho Extent of £250,000 on an Advances to Settlers Bill. The result if* he (Sir i Joseph) had accepted it would have 1 been that the settlers would have got £260,000 less, and the total amount Without this deduction was not sufficient tq' meet the farmers' require- ' jnents. -The late Mr Flatman, and Mr Buddo were the first two members to . > fcuggest it _ before the Governor's Speech was introduced, and the leader pP the Opposition did so after the Government announced its intention in the governor's Speech. The fact remained that 'he (Sir Joseph) introduced the legislation, and under it the workers had received £1,803,695, and he took authority last session to increase the , amount to £750,000 a year for advances to workers. (Applause.)

j INCREASE IN PUBLIC DEBT. ■ On this subject Sir Joseph said:— , .U The increase in the public indebtedEess since I have been Prime Minister i £18,887,082. Of that amount £15,429,114 is reproductive directly or Jndiroctly, and £3,457,968 is non-repro-duotive. Let us for a moment examine ,what these men call extravagance on toy part. Of the total amount of borrowed money I have referred to £4,529,700 was loaned to settlers and "Workers upon the security of their farms and homes. The whole of the interest upon it was payable by them and not by the general taxpayers. £2,318,900 was advanced to local public bodies, interest upon which was paid by these public bodies, not one penny

piece being raised by wav of taxation for the purpose. £1,600,000 was for the purchasing of lands to put fresh people upon, and the whole of the interest upon that money was paid by the settlers themselves who went upon those lands, in the shape of rents. Not one penny piece was added to the taxation thereby. £4,815,688 was spent upon railways, the interest upon which amount was paid by the users of the railways in return for services rendered. Not one penny piece of taxation was imposed in order to provide the interest upon these loans. £455,344 was spent upon telegraph and telephone construction, providing facilities largely for the peoplo in country districts, and the revenue produced by these departments in return for services rendered, provided the whole of the interest upon that sum. Not one penny piece of taxation was imposed for these purchases. (Hear, hear.) £BOO,OOO was utilised in the purchase of Reserve Fund securities in London. This sum was invested in gilt-edged securities, upon which the Government received in interest an amount practically equal to the interest upon the money borrowed for the purpose, only a few thousands a year being required to make up the difference. For the information of those who may not understand this matter. T may say I provided this fund solely for the purpose of strengthening the financial position of the country in England. The £BOO,OOO invested in gilt-edged securities has not been spent upon any work of any kind, but the whole amount exists intact. It is used for deposits if required to carry on the financial operations of this country, and is regarded by financial experts in the Old Land as being one of the strongest things ever done by New Zealand, yet this is deliberately'referred to by some of our critics, although of course I fully recognise that they do not understand what they are talking about, as part of the extravagance of Sir Joseph Ward. £909,482 of the loan moneys borrowed during the time I am dealing with was expended upon public buildings. The dullest intelligence will recognise that we would require to pay rental for public oiSces if wo did not have buildings of our own, and thus indirectly the expenditure upon them is interest-bearing. These figures make up a total of £i5,429,114, that any fair-minded person will agree should be classed as 'reproductive' expenditure. During the same period we spent £1,218,030 *on roads and bridges. This my critics cannot take any exception to, because their hollow cry against me has always been that there has not been sufficient expenditure upon roads and bridges. The next item of importance on the list is one of £1,145,727 on defence. This includes a portion of the payment that has been made for the Dreadnought, as well as for providing for a modern system of internal defence, and here I have the strongest cause for complaint against the double-barrelled methods of the Opposition and some of their candidates. They have professed great loyalty to the Empire. The leader of their party declares that there is no one more loyal than they are, and in the House of Representatives_ the Opposition agrees with me that' defence matters should be kept clear of party. And yet look at the way in which they have since acted in keeping it clear of party, by sending out from the machine-made speech manufactory in Wellington notos to their candidates to cry out extravagance in connection with the defence expenditure. They should be the last to do this sort of thing. If one was to believe the utterance of the member for Bruce., delivered in the House, he was prepared to go on the platform with me throughout New Zealand in the advocacy of what I was doing in regard to internal defence, yet to-day he and hij leader and other members of the Opposition Party are as silent as the grave in defence of what has been done, and they are silent in order to try and catch votes, allowing the rank and file of their party to take their cue from the machine-made speech notes in decrying what every right-thinking man and woman in this country must realise is one of the essentials of raodom'times for the preservation of New Zealand as a part of the British Empire. The remainder of tho increase of indebtedness is made up as f0110wa:—£37.970 on lighthouses and harbours, £55,904 on goldfield development, £4,317 on immigration, £89,742 on tourist and health resorts, and a miscellaneous expenditure for public purposes of all kinds of £8(56,278. It has to be remembered that since I became your representative the population of New Zealand has risen from 600.000 odd to over a million, and the. critics of to-day, who are* declaring that what was required even in 189!?, when the population was 672.000,. will meet the needs of the largely-increased population of to-day, must either be wilfully blind to the progress and development that has gone on and to the public expenditure necessary to provide for the increased population, or else their ignorance of economic law simply amounts to an acknowledgment of complete incapacity on their part." (Applause.)

FIVE YEARS' PROGRESS. Sir Joseph Ward quoted figures showing the progress of the dominion during the past five years. Its critics would say that the Government had had nothing at all tp do with this. He answered that in that time 33,000 people had been put upon the land, that £4,529,000 had been borrowed by the Government for advancing to these settlers, and that £1,600,000 had been expended in the purchase of lands for closer settlement purposes. Not in one of the instances he had referred to could these magnificent results have been achieved without tho active profressive policy that had been pursued y the Government. These critics said that the increase in the amount of borrowed money was due to his extravagance. The absolutely ignored the unanswerable, magnificent and solid results. Their form of criticism was the more despicable for the reason that they forgot the increase of population, the increase of settlement, the increaee of imports and exports, and the increased public facilities that were necessary to meet the expansion that called for an active use of the moneys they were now condemning him for having borrowed, thouqh they supported the loans at the time. (Applause.) OPPOSITION BELLOWING.

"You have," continued Sir Joseph, " only to read the speeches of some of the members of the Opposition, including these of the member for Bruce, to realise the hollow inconsistency and tho political hypocrisy that characterise thoir actions as against their utterances. They are bellowing out at the present time for a reduction in borrowing. Every session in Parliament they are tapping at the door of the Minister of Public Works for new railways' in their districts, for further expenditure upon bridges, for further expenditure on roads, for further expenditure upon public buildings. They bellowed loudly three years ago, during the time of the tightness of the money market, and said everywhere that the Government was short of money, yet they did not cease to ask for further expenditure out of borrowed moneys during that time. Contrast their actions and their utterances. (Hear, hear.) They are now going from end to end of the country proclaiming against the increase in the amount of borrowed money. I can find no words in the English language that can correctly describe such absolutely unjustifiable conduct, on tho part of men who were consistently loud in clamouring, not for a few thousands of pounds, but for millions to be expended in thoir combined districts, "and who were at tho same time acting the part of hypocritical economists. They were misleading their constituents by making them believe that they were not desirous of money being borrowed for the general development of the country, while when at headquarters during the session they were lite'ally stealing to tho door of the Minister and moving heaven and Qiirth. to have tha amount of Joan

money increased by asking for works that would cost millions if the Government were to yield to their' applications. They tell tho electors that the borrowing of the Government has been excessive and their expenditure extravagant. And these are tho men who declare they have nothing to say against the legislation of the Government but that is is their administration thoy find fault with ! They can have nothing to say against the legislation of the Government, because in the matter of Conservative legislation they have shown themselves to be as barren as the desert of Sahara, .(Applause.) What they have a plentiful supply of is an arrogant defiance of the rules of the game. They seem to have adopted the execrable policy that the end justifies the means. They take all they can get and, like Oliver Twist, they cry for more. At the same time they cry out, ' Reduce borrowing, reduce borrowing, ieduce borrowing,' and when asked to explain their unaccountable conduct in applying for large amounts of loan money they say coolly and without shame, '' When there is plunder money we want our share for our constituents,' and the way they help m practice to reduce borrowing is to exercise all the pressure they can to hare amounts borrowed far beyond that which the country now borrows. Can any rational being wonder at my terming this political hypocrisy, when they go over the country and with an utter disregard of their own actions in having voted for every loan—except one small one for nationalising the water powers cry out against the amount of money borrowed and send manufactured speech notes to tho poor misinformed and hopeless candidates to the same ettectf What a feeling of contempt must the fair-minded men and women of New Zealand have for men whose actions and utterances are so opposite. today they are posing as the friend ot the small farmer and worker. Ie gods I What a miracle must have taken place. They would have us believe that the leopard has changed jts spots. The men who attacked and at the time opposed every proposal of vital importance to the welfare of the settler and tho aged worker, who never said a word in support or defence ot proposals that made for tho comfort and the happiness of these people, the same men who opposed the policy ot the Government to break up largo estates, the party who are to-day posing as the friends of the worker and are at the same time supporting a candidate who it is well known has publicly declared that if work had to be found for working men out of employment, in his opinion they should be paid just sufficient wages to keep themselves arid families in ' tucker ' 1 These are the publiclv-declared sentiments of a member of "the Opposition, a candidate for Parliament standing at the present election, and who is perfectly indifferent as to whether provision should be made or not for & man out of employment for the keeping of his wife and children. All this Opposition candidate considers that man is entitled to receive is just sufficient wages to keep him in 'tucker.' " SOCIAL AND HUMANITARIAN.

The measures passed by the last Parliament which could be termed humanitarian in character showed that the Government was quite alive to the tendency of the age to extend their form of social reform in a most active manner. There was at present in nearly every civilised country a forward movement to adopt measures that would make financially sound, ample and certain provision for the accidents and contingencies common to modern industrial life. Referring to the National Provident Fund, Sir Joseph said that recently some remarks were passed that the scheme was only being availed of by the .wealthy, but that was quite erroneous.' He found on examination that of the persons who up to some time ago had joined, the proportions were as follows: —Industrial workers 30 per cent, clerks 25 per cent, farm workers 7 per cent, domestics 7 per cent, labourers 6 per cent, other workers (including teachers, engineers, attendants, salesmen, newsmen, fishmongers, warders, etc.) 25 per cent. These facts spoke for themselves, and should any wealthy persons or employers be enrolling their dependents, then so much the bettor if it meant that those young persons were thus early introduced into habits of economy and thrift. He had indicated in the Budget the lines on which tho opsra,tion of the scheme might be extended, in the direction of considering terms for the co-operation of local bodies in connection with their superannuation difficulties, and also the question of a mutual understanding between tho State and the friendly The humanitarian and social legislative programme of the Government also comprised important extensions of the Old Age Pensions Act and the Widows Pension Act, which was passed last session, aLso operated in assisting widows with children who had the misfortune to be inadequately provided for. (Applause.)

LAND. " The same section of tlio community whom the policy of the Government has affected in the past are to-day to be fouml actively supporting the Opposition," said Sir Joseph. " I have in my hand a list of large land-owners, whose properties represent in value, £10,500,000, who are to-day actively helping the Opposition. I have nothing but the most kindly feeling for those men personally. Our policy of obtaining land for the people naturally is against their interests, therefore they are opposed to the Government, hut the significance of it is that they have all along been supporters of the Opposition Party. Why? (Applause.) Respecting tho statement that the Government had no land policy. Sir Joseph said the Government policy was continued in the Land Act, 1908, and the Land for Settlements Act, 1903, and the amendment of 1910. Under the Land Act of 1908 a would-bo settler had the choice of eight tenures, viz., cash, occupation with right of purchase, renewable lease, a mining district occupation lease, a mining district pastoral lease with.the right of exchanging into a renewable lease, small grazing ran lease, pastoral run license and miscellaneous lease. The records showed that lands had been selected on eight different tenures under existing acts, while four tenures now repealed as regards new selections, were also availed of in past years. Every inducement had, therefore, been given to applicants to take up Grown lands on tenures that 6uited their respective requirements. Under the tenures indicated land would be obtained undor the leasehold system or under the optional system. This was the law now. Every facility for acquiring the freehold was given, and even where the land was held under renewable lease the right to pay off 90 per cent was given. All ordinary Crown land might bo acquired in fee-simple unless it was pastoral land or formed part of the National endowment. If town, suburban or village land it might be purchased at auction for cash. Tf village settlement land it might be purchased on application for cash, except in the case of village homestead allotments, which were available for selection under renewable lease only. If rural land it might either be purchased on application for cash, or selected on occupation with right of puifr chase license, which gave the selector the right to acquire the freehold between the tenth and twenty-fifth year of his license. If land had been selected under lease-in-perpetuity between 1892 and 1907 the lessee might acquire the fee simple by paying the value of the land at the date of his application to purchase, and evou if the land was held under renewable lease, although ho might not purchase the freehold, he mitjht pay up to 90 per cent of the capital value of his land

at any time and he was freed from all the covenants and conditions of his lease, except tho condition as to payment of rent on the unpaid balance and tho condition as to residing on the land, after he had paid 3S per cent of tho capital value. In dealing with the charge that the Government had kept back or had not opened tho Crown lands for selection, Sir Joseph quoted figures to show that during the past ten years nearly five million acres of Clown lands had been taken up by over 16,715 selectors. The average for the five years that he had been Prime Minister was 528,440 acres per annum, whilst during the preceding five years the average was 430,532 acres. Under his administration in five years 33,000 souls had been placed upon 2,(392,282 acres of land. That was to say, a greater population, exclusive of the towns, than that contained in the wholo provincial district of Southland had been put upon the land by the Government within that period, a record of which anyone in the world might be justly proud. But the miserable, fault-finding Opposition in this country would not givo credit to any man for the good he did. (Applause.) The Land for Settlements Act and its good work were too well known to need enlarging upon. Up to March 31, 1911, 1,266,000 acres had been acquired and opened for selection. Nearly the whole of this area was at present under lease, subdivided into 4834 holdings, exclusive of workers' dwellings, carrying a population of 17,503 souls and paying an annual rental of £231,100. (Applause.) Tho Government had also been accused in the Press of not giving would-be settlers the opportunity of acquiring the Crown lands. The answer was given in the following facts:—Area opened since March 31, 1911, or will be opened before December, 1911—-Ordinary Crown lands 344.260 acres, national endowment 76,834 acres, land for settlements 17,215 acres, total 438,309 acres.

The difference between the Opposition and the Government was that the Opposition wanted to sell the acquired estates at cost price plus one per cent, which meant giving away land for nothing to the value of over five and a half millions sterling. The Opposition also wanted to sell nine million acres of national endowment land, which were held for education and old age pension purposes, and they said they would buy areas either in or near towns. He preferred to hold the nine million acres. (Applause.)

THE ADVANCES DEPARTMENTS

Under the State Guaranteed Advances Act the amount authorised to date was £13,201,585, and tho total sum actually paid over to applicants up to the end of last month amounted to £11,648,000. This amount was advanced to 81,713 settlers. The repayments to date totalled £4,958,865, the actual balance of principal owing by 17,038 mortgagors on mortgage of property being £6,831,270. The total amount borrowed to date for the purpose of carrying on this hugjo scheme ,of advances was £7 ; 094,930. The-repayments made from time to time had enabled the Department to advance in round figures £5,000,000 more to the settlers than it had borrowed money for. To 6954 workers amounts totalling £1,930,195 had been authorised, and up to the end of last month the actual advances accepted by 6487 workers amounted to £1,803,095. Of this sum £136,810 had already been repaid. There was in addition ah internal sinking fund standing to the credit of these departments of £192,909. Advances to settlers were now being made at the rate of over £2,400,000 per annum and to the workers at tho rate of over £525,000 per annum. * The passing of tho Act in 1894 immediately brought about a distinct fall in the rates of interest, and in this direction a low estimate showed that the sum saved by mortgagors in the dominion exceeded £11,000,000. (Applause.) To this enormous amount must be added tho large sum saved through the wiping out of that charge called procuration fee, estimated at £BOO,OOO. Further savings had been effected in legal charges by reason of the very low rates fixed under the Act, the amount being estimated at £300,000, whilst a considerable sum had also been saved in tho cost of obtaining valuations of proferred securities. This work, which was invaluable to settlers and workers, and which* was being provided for by the Government at a low rate of interest, was made one of the charges of extravagance that wero levelled against him. The Opposition candidate in Awarua and the Opposition candidates throughout the dominion were busy referring to it as his extravagance and making contrasts of the total amounts borrowed by him as against the amount borrowed for the same purpose by the late Mr Seddon. In the teeth of such vilo misrepresentation ho proposed to continue to find cheap money for the settlers and the workers, to help thorn to make homes for themselves and to assist them in the tilling of their lands.

MOKAU. The- Opposition tried to put the Mokau land transaction in the worst possible form, but the finding of tho committee on important points showed that the statements of the leader of the Opposition were disproved, and on that committee were three leading members of the Opposition, who supported that report. Mr Herries, the member for Tauranga, who sat upon the committee that took evidence, stated that in his opinion tho Maoris had received a fair price for the estate. (Applause.) GAMING LAWS. Sir Joseph Ward, after detailing the amendments made to the gaming laws, said that he was not ana never had been against horse racing. He believed that it was a sport which, if carried out under proper auspices, should not bo discouraged. It gave pleasure not only to a large section of the community but it enabled. those who were engaged in horse breeding to undertake to provide a class of horse that was of great advantage to tho country. He was of the opinion that the sport having been placed upon a sensible basis was now in an entirely different position from what it was in before and that public men could now support the law as it stood without feeling, as was previously the case, that there was a deplorable system in operation, most hurtful to the community at large and especially to tho youth of the country, who in the majority of cases were so little able to afford the cost or to resist the temptation placed in their way. As one- who took an active part in removing tho abuses that were doing so much harm to the community and to sport he was prepared to give the law as it now stood a full trial. The responsibility was on the shoulders of those who were concerned in the carrying on of this great sport throughout the dominion to see that it was maintained in a way that would not outrage public sentiment, and this he had every confidence would be the case. (Applause.) LICENSING LAWS. " You are aware," said Sir Joseph, " that in the session of 1910 tho law regulating the sale of liquor was amended, and among other things it was provided that a dominion poll was to bo taken in addition to. the local option poll, on the basis of a threefifths majority. The question of both local and dominion option is now, therefore, in the hands of the people to decide tor themselves at this general election. Tho law is an advanced one, and New Zealand to-day is, I believe, the only country in the world that provides for a national jdoil on tho liquor question, as well as a district option poll. Since this amendment has been effected a demand has been made that the principle of the bare majority shall apply to both polls. The question is not a party one. Men in tho ranks of both parties hold the most diverse views on various issues connected with this important subject. I, therefore, feel it necessary to say that the question being a non-party one, 1 express my individual opinion and not that of +.l>e members of my Government or of

my party. I have, since my return, received a number of letters asking me if I am prepared to support a bare majority and to put additional taxation on the lands of the people to make up for the necessary extra taxation, should the people declaro for prohibition. I have considered the matter carefully, and. to the best of my ability, and my opiuion is that the advancod law as now amended should have a fair trial, and should any fresh proportions as to voting be considered desirable it should Iw on the lines of 55 per cent for dominion and three-fiftlis for local option. (Hear, hear.) I have already said in the House that in the event of national prohibition being carried the Mnister of Finance would have to look round carefully to see how he would make up the revenue. Ido not think it should all bo put upon land, and certainly not upon the small land-owners. The country, as a whole, would require to contribute. It will be time enough to consider the question in detail should the occasion arise." (Applause.)

THE RAILWAYMEN

Sir Joseph Ward, after dealing with the death duties law, referred to tho question of increase- of salaries to the railway employees and to tho public service. Ho said that in his time, for five years from 1901 to 1906, the increases amounted to iC570,182, and since he had been Prime Minister the railway staff had benefited under classification to the amount of £563,500. .Of the total increases that the Government made, the rank and file of the service had received the greatest proportion. His colleague, the Minister of Railways, was at present going into the question -'of reclassifying and improving the position of the members of the First Division. PROFITABLE DEPARTMENTS.

In reply to the cry about unsatisfactory administration, the Prime Minister mentioned that the Advances to Settlers Department, which the Opposition declared was going to be ruinous, had lent since its establishment tho sum of £11,648,000 and. had earned £456,455. The Advances to Workers Department for the four years it had been in existence had earned £11,355. The State Fire Insurance during tho six years it had been in existence had earned £12,753. The Bank of New Zealand shares had earned £136,600, the Land for Settlements had earned £377,716, the Cheviot Estate had earned. £63,152, National Endowment lands had earned £189,153, State oyster fisheries had earned £IBO3, tho Public Trust Office £130,094 and the* State Coal Mines Department, after providing £13,200 for a sinking fund and £10,226 placed to the reserve, had earned £50,552. That was a total net earning from those ten departments of £1,429,033, or nearly a million and a half of money that had been paid into the Public Account. (Applause.)

THE £5,000,000 LOAN

Ho wanted to say a few words upon the raising of the £5,000,000 loan. The loan was successfully raised and upon terms much better than those obtained by an 3' other country raising loans at that time. A wretched system was growing up in this country' of adding the discount that all countries provided for on the raising of loans when the interest was low, and which was charged to the Government obtaining a loan. Such an unfair method was not adopted to his knowledge by any other country in the world, yet some of the Opposition, though not all of thorn, were doing this deliberately throughout the country. This was not only misleading, but it was grossly unfair and incorrect. (Applause.) There were some striking sentences in the published utterances of one member of the Opposition, the member for Wakatipu, Mr Fraser, when he spoke on November 3, that he desired to quote:—" There had been much criticism lately regarding the manner in which their loans were raised. He had not spoken publicly on this matter during the year and ho had not raised his voice in condemnation of the amount realised as the result of the flotation of the £5,000,000 loan. He thought that, considering the circumstances at the time, which were somewhat adverse country raising money, the price paid for the loan was not excessive at all. That, at any rate, was his opinion." (Applause.) That was the expression of an opinion publicly delivered by an opponent. It not only put the position fairly, but accurately. Jnst after the loan was underwritten there was a crisis in the political life of England and an appeal to the country. There was a run on two banks, one an important one, and tho fact that New Zealand came out better than any other country at tho time ought to have been a sour en of gratification to the people of nil classes. Then again, look at the result of the return of expenses upon loans. The full details of three loans that were laid upon the table of the House prior to the flotation of the £5.000,000 loan proved to be so satisfactory that oven the Opposition, after they q;ot them dropped all criticism, and they ought to do so in connection with the £5,000,000 loan until the particulars were available. The Hi<di Commissioner was cabled to on July 22 in tho following terms: "When may I expect details of cost of raising loan of £5,000 000? What ha.s been" done to bring loan moneys up to full amount authorised?" .The following reply was received: " In answer to your telesrram of July 22, loan account can be closed as soon as further stock .-nnounting to £142.200 has been disposed of, but at present no market. dp to present loan receipts £-1,973.859. expenses £110,408, nett return £96.6. Sales of stock when effected can only vary this nett return slightly." It would thus l)e seen that although the Opposition knew that it was ihrpoßsible for him to give details, they v.-ct(y adding now from £120.000 to £150,000 on to the supposed cost. There was no sense in this; indeed, it was worse than senseless. Tn the ordinary course, as soon as the information was received regarding loans, it was placed on the table of the House.

RUAPEHU TRIP. An instance of the form of misrepresentation as to iiis extravagance was to bo found in a statement publicly made by four different candidates standing in support of the Opposition, in which they declared that the country paid £2400, the cost of the canal dues on the steamer he recently came out in. This was a deliberate and wilful misstatement of the most unwarrantable character. The general manager of the company, in reply to an inquiry, wrote: "I beg to state that the New Zealand Government did not pay either directly or .indirectly, nor is it liable for any payments for Suez Canal dues upon this company's steamer Ruapehu, by which you wero a passenger, arriving in the dominion on August 25 last." THE FERRY SERVICE.

The importance of a daily connection between, the two islands, joining up with the last train at Lyttelton or Wellington as the case might ho, was generally recognised. For some time past he had discussed with Sir James Mills, the managing director of the Union Company the importance of another steamer of the Maori class being put on this run, and he was very glad to s»y that ho was within the last few days advised by the Union Company that it had given orders to build a steamer of the Maori class, but larger and faster, to take the place of the Mara rem. With these two fine steamers there would be a (.connected service by the last express from the South Island and tho last express from tho North Island, and the advantages to the people would be very great inALLEGED NO POLICY. Sir Joseph Ward continued: " 1 havealready dealt with the land, the policy measures of 1910, dealt with waterpower, irrigation, wireless telegraphy,

post audit, defence, Native townships, land settlement finance, State guaranteed advances, loans to local authorities, extinction of public debt, national annuities, maternity, anti-trust legislation, and a number of other matters. Such, a record any Government could without boasting ask their fellow countrymen and women to acknowledge as prolific in usefulness to the people. Again, take the measures passed during the session just completed. The improved treatment provided for mental defectives, the old age pensions, the Education Reserves Act Amendment, the Tramways Act Amendment, the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Act, the Act providing for the remissions of rent to Crown ten a uts, tho Military Pensions Act, the Mining Amendment Act, the Industrial and Conciliation Act Amendment providing for the protection of domestics against accidents, tho Workers' Compensation Act Amendment, the Shipping and Seamen's Act Amendment, the Bill to provide for farmers' banks, the Bill to establish State notes, the Bill to provide for a million acres of land annually, the proposal to acquire Native lands compulsorily, the* provision for railway, road and other public works, all these measures go to show that the deliberate and designedly inaccurate statement of our opponents that the Government has no policy will not stand examination. (Applause.) Why, in the face of what the Government has done and is doing to help the best interests of the people, in the _ light of its activity and alertness in this direction, to go on crying out that the Government has no policy, reflects on those who deliberately state what they know is contrary to fact. They cannot, however, mislead a discerning and intelligent public. (Applause). WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING.

" We aro helping the settlers with cheap money and cheap railway carriage, helping the small farmers by providing a complete system of co-oper-ative banks, helping the workers with cheap money to obtain good homes, helping the future settlers, including the sons and daughters of our workers and farmers, to obtain further land for settlement, helping the public service, giving increased, pay and providing its members with retiring allowances for their old age, helping the widows with children by giving them a pension, helping the old age pensioners with children by reducing the age for pensions, helping the mothers by giving them a maternity fee of £6 for medical assistance, helping the general public by providing a national annuity fund to keep them in their old age, helping the infant life by giving assistance to enable good women to preserve such life at its most tender age, helping local public bodies so that they can carry out local works for the comfort and benefit of their people, helping the citizens and settlers to have cheap telephones ; helping the back block setters by providing the essentials to their existence, namely, good roads and bridges, helping the .development of the country by pushing on a vigorous but prudent railway policy, helping isolated people in our country by giving them increased postal facilities, helping to hand down our country to posterity as a British possession by providing an efficient and economical system of internal defence, helping to keep the ocean trades free for the transport of our produce by standing by tho old British Navy, helping to promote the well-being of our future manhood and womanhood by spreading the blessings of a good education, helping our people by giving them cheap and a plentiful supply of water-power, helping'our industries by giving them practical assistance, helping our financial institutions, timber industries, traders and all classes by carrying on a practical development policy ,of public works, helping by providing; a sinking fund for the repayment of the whole of our existing and future loans, helping to maintain a strong financial position for the dominion, helping, in short, to promote a policy that any man, Government or country may be proud of." (Applause.) After speakirfg for over two hours and a half Sir Joseph Ward resumed Ins seat, amid hearty applause. A number of questions .were answered. A vote of thanks for the address and of continued confidence in Sir Joseph Ward and tho Government was proposed by Mr William Baird and seconded by Mr Maurice Roche, and the chairman declared it carried unanimouslv.

The announcement was received with loud cheers. The meeting closed with lusty cheers for Sir Joseph and Lady Ward.