WHY VOTE FOR REFORM?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19444, 2 November 1925, Page 10

WHY VOTE FOR REFORM?

MR COATES OR WHOM? THE ISSUE DEFINED. MR GLENN’S VIEWS ON POLITICS. Mr W. S. Glenn had good reason to bo pleased with his meeting at Kaitoko on Saturday evening. There was a very largo attendance, especially so for n country district, and Mr Glenn was given a good hearing. Mr Ewan Campbell was voted to tho chair and ho introduced the candidate as a New Zealander by birth, like the Prime Minister, and said his whole interests were in New Zealand. Mr Glenn expressed his unfeigned pleasure that so many people had come along to hear him. He remembered the very loyal support of Kaitoko in the last two contests. Ho felt, when the returns were coming in, that he could rely on Kaitoko. This was his third election campaign, and he had not entered upon it without serious thought, for the position of member demanded sacrifices. He was one of those who considered that a job was not worth doing at all unless it was done well, and to do it well involved a lot of work and worry. Tho chief reason why ho entered tho fight was to give his backing to Mr Gordon Coates. Tho loss ■which tho country had suffered in the death of Mr Massey was a serious one. Ho had left a record to be proud of. There was not one individual who could point the finger of scorn at anything Mr Massey had done. New Zealand would miss his broadmindedness, and tho Empire would miss his counsels. However, the Party could not waste time in mourning. A successor had to be appointed and Mr Gordon Coates was elected. Ho was easily tho most outstanding figure as a leader in New Zealand to-day. Ho would make good. A Primo Minister had to bo a straight fellow. He could not show any favouritism. Even his Cabinet Ministers had to bo treated fairly, or he would not hold his job down very long. Mr Coates was a man of that sort. He had already proved himself in many ways. He was a born administrator, with business instincts.

Railways. See, what he had done with the railways. The railways had “slipped a little.” They had fallen into disfavour, and tho people wore preferring the roads. When Mr Coates took over the Department he had to become acquainted with all tho workings of the railways and then he appointed a board of experts, with instructions that tho railways had to be run on commercial lines and made to pay Before Mr Coates took over, the railways had got into the habit of relying on tho Consolidated Fund for any loss. To-day there -was a new spirit in all tho employees in the railways. They wished the service well. That was just tho sentiment required in any business to make a success of it. Tho taxpayers had forty-eight millions of money locked up in the railways, and a Government simply had to show a return for it. Public Works. If there was one portfolio more than another in. which the Minister might show favouritism it was that of Public Works. But the old methods had gone. The days cf the long dreary debates had passed, w’hen a member had to put up a fight for what he wanted for his district and 21 he failed to get grants, tho electors could kick him out. Now tho whole of the estimates were all prepared on the fairest basis—on tho nee Is of tho county councils—and the House put them through in an afternoon. There was no favouritism shown. The previous scrambling for grants was a scandal. The man behind the new way was Mr Gordon Coates. Only a man of strong character could havo risked his methods, but he had done so and he had secured congratulations on all sides. Native Minister. Mr Coates had also been Native Minister, and he had been commended by the Hon. Ngata, one of the finest men in Parliament. Mr Ngata hed helpe 1 the Prime Minister. That was one of the gifts of the Prime Minister. He secured the co-operation and help of other men. What of Labour?

On Wednesday a grave duty devolved on the electors. If they voted for Mr Duggan, they voted for Mr Holland. It’ they voted for Mr Lyon it was a vote for Mr Forbes. If they voted for Mr Glenn, they voted for Mr Coates.

Mr Glenn went on to deal with the seamen’s strike. “I havo nothing but admiration for the British seaman,” he said. “Look at his noble acts of hero ism during the war, whether in the North Sea or sweating on the Equator. Ho is a fine fellow. But it is always tho way that the noisy fellow gets to the top of the tree and the good menfollow. Theso noisy men are usually foreigners—one of the two is at any rate. One was named Johannsen until recently, but now ho called himself Johnson.” This type of individual was not wanted, continued tho candidate. ho had any quarrel with our country} let him get out. If Mr Holland had any pretensions as a great leader, he should have made some move to settle the strike. Tho men who would have been affected first were the small farmers, because there was not much cold storage in New Zealand. The whodc thing, it was evident, had originated in Moscow. Tho trials of Communists, now going on in England, went to prove this. 1 Why aim at tho British Empire?” asked Mr Glenn. “Because it is the greatest bulwark civilisation has ever had,” he said. Such men as ho had mentioned woro amongst us. There was an insidious movement to wreck tho British Empire, tho greatest commonwealth of nations the world had seen. Labour’s Land Policy. Referring further to the Labour Party, Mr Glenn dealt with the land policy, which it called the “usehold.” Tho Reform Party stood for the freehold. It had never been forced on the people, but they had tho option. What

did the Labour I'arty Know about land? What a mess they would make of this country by their land tenure! Tho old pioneers had como out to New Zealand to escape the curse of landlordism in England. They came, after great privations, to carve out for themselves a home they would own. Mr Glenn hoped that before tho Labour Party ever got on to the Treasury benches it would get some enlightenment on tho land question. Mr Glenn went on to explain tho “uschold” policy of the Labour Party. He disclosed the folly and tho unfairness of it all. He declared that every piece of neglected looking land one saw had had an unsatisfactory tenure some time in its history. There was nothing a man put more sentiment into than hvi freehold, even if it were only a tworoomed whare. Dominion Finance. Mr Glenn devoted some time to explaining the financial position of ihe Dominion, which, he said, was very buoyant. He told of the success of the recent seven million loan, which hal cost £4 15s 3d, whereas an Australian State had had to pay £5 Is 6d for its loan at about the sauie time. Mr Glenn said borrowing had to bo done for die Advances Department, for modernising the railways and for developing the hydro-electric schemes.

Humanitarianism. On the humanitarian side, the Reform Party had done a great deal for the workers. He referred to the achievements of the Health Department, whi’.h had made New Zealand the healthiest country in the world, to the iucrZ.se in pensions, to Arbitration Court awards, and to housing. To give credit where credit was due. the man who first recognised the needs for humanitarian legislation was tho late Mr Seddon. The Reform Party ha I extended all the benefits and created new ones, and as soon as the country could afford it more would be done. After two questions had been answered, a very hearty vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Glenn was moved by Mr D. Mackintosh, seconded by Mr J. Allison, and carried with much applause.