MR. MASSEY AT WELLINGTON.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13421, 7 July 1911, Page 2

MR. MASSEY AT WELLINGTON.

REFORM (?) PARTY’S POLICY

(Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, July 6 Mr. Massey addressed a large meeting a( the. Town Hall to-night. The Deputy Mayor (Mr J. Smith) occupied the chair. Amongst those on the platform were Messrs Herries, Fraser, Nosworthy, Hinc, Ilaidy, Herdman, Malcolm and Fisher. M r Massey received an enthusiastic reception. He prefaced his remarks by stating that his reason for addressing tliepeople on that occasion was that the Government had put forward no policy, and the people of the country bad called upon bis party to put one before the public. In his opinion no democratic country should have any one administration in power for more than a few years. His party's first plank was REFORM OF THE FISCAL SYSTEM. In 1894 the debt per head was £56 8? lid. Last year the debt was £72 lis 9d per bead, compared with the Australian debt of ,£SB 5s 9d per head. Ho had noticed, in an Auckland paper that loss of population there exceeded the arrivals lo 2775 for the year. He put down the extra borrowing to the fact that this was election year, and the extra money was for bribing electors. Dealing with the hand question, Mr Massey- said he knew many men who had gone on th'o land with fixed ideas of leasehold, and later they were convinced that the only tenure that was any good to them was the option of purchase. At the present rate of borrowing the ownership of the country was going out of the hands of the people at the rate of £50,000 a year; £60,000 worth of Crown lands were parted with last year. ’The only way to save the native was by the gospel of work, not “taihoa.” He sup-, ported in regard to the Legislative Council a system of proportional representation, so as to democratise the Council. He strongly objected to appointments to the civil sendee by political influence, and advocated a Public Service Board. He mentioned the fact that the Government had an insurance department, and yet none of the public buildings were insured. This was not, in his opinion, good business. The passing of the Public Works Estimates was a farce. The Estimates were not brought down till the bust hours of the session, and were then ruebed through. To combat this evil he advocated the passing of a Local Government Act. The local bodies of the country could do a lot of work now being done by Parliament, and do it better. A comprehensive and satisfactory scheme of town-planning was very necessary. The age of women receiving old age pensions should be 60 instead of 65. His party were ready to help in Ihe introduction' of a scheme for insurance against sickness and unemployment. He maintained 7 that there was too much Government by executive. Many matters were dealt witli by the Govcrnor-in-Couiicil instead of by the representatives of the people. W itli regard to the judiciary, he wanted an open Court and independent bench. Supreme Court judges should be paid in accordance with their duties, hut payments to them in addition should not lie made. Magistrates should also be more independent. With regard to the Adv a nets to Settlers Department, there wore 12 millions of money in the Savings Bank, ixud this should be made available for settlers. The Arbitration Act was weak, inasmuch as it did not provide for the strong man getting paid for the work he id, but only getting the same as the weak ...aii. The system of Wages Boards, consisting of two employees and two employers and a chairman, would be a very satisfactory way of dealing with industrial disputes. Those Boards were in operation ia Australia, and were doing an immeasurable amount of good. In reply to Sir James Carroll’s misrepresentations, be said the Minister, speaking in the south, had stated that there were 130 men in Now Zealand owning 13,000,000 acres ol land. Mr Massey said he knew this to be absolutely wrong. He had figures up to 19U6, and there was only one man then owning over 100.000 acres, and that laud was very poor and on top of the Canterbury Hills. Ho instanced a case of native laud dealing in which a large tract of country in the Taranaki district was taken up from natives at a little over 10s an acre, and later sold at a great deal ove--100 per cent, profit to a syndicate who "’ere going to make a larger profit by cutting it up for settler's who are hungry for land. Getting back to the railways, he did not hold with the Commissioners, Put good management by a general manager should be satisfactory. 'The higher rate o.i interest the railways were showing was due to increased fares. The audience passed a resolution expressing thanks for Mr Massey’s able address.

THE OPPOSITION POLICY

“We are not," comments the Auckland ■Star, “inclined to take Mr Massey’s Hastings speech seriously, because we understand that it is only the prelude to a mucu more important and authoritative pronouncement which is to bo delivered in W eliington. Under any circumstances the deliverances of the leader of the Opposition at Hastings hardly call for detailed criticism, for there was nothing novel or clioctive about them. We must linger, however, for a moment over Mr Massey's picturesque sketch of the native lands as ]■« would have them, “all occupied by prosperous people.” No doubt the owners of the native lands under Mr Massey’s IPs'mo would not he the occupiers; they would be the gentlemen who possessed v.umgli foresight and enough capital to secure for themselves the monopoly of land which Literalism has striven so hard to wrest from them and the class they represent. Precisely how Mr Massey would open up the native lands so as to expedite the !j resent rate of settlement with any real benefit to the country he has never yet been able to explain. But this and a great deal more we will know after the Wellington speech " . r