POLITICAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14462, 28 November 1914, Page 6

POLITICAL.

THE WANGANUI SEAT. MB HOGAN* AT THE OPERA HOUSE. Mr, J. T. Hogan -opened his political campaign in the Opera. House last evening, Tv’flyan the building was crowded in every part with an attentive and orderly audience which gave the speaker a cordial reception. ' His Worship the Mayor presided. v . (fhe chair was taken by his Worship , : the Mayor (Mr T. B. Williams). . .j Mr Hogan', who was greeted with applause and cheers, said he was no strangci ■to the W an g a W'i people,- , having been born and (bred in Wanganui. He had: represented' Wanganui in f. r six years, and had contested; for the - seat three times. His policy was the same as it was three years ago,' as it,-was six years ago, as it was nine years ago. (Applause.). :,He had always supported -the Liberal' party/ hut' he was. hot' alw.avs ■wedded (to its policy. He believed in there being a radical element in 4 he House -,tb- push;'the' Liberals on, blit it present the'; time was not ripe for the for-, -raation of-that'third party. The: speaker 'said .that a few weeks ag> ho had no intention of contesting this electionhe wanted tp. have a rest, and many things' in" politics were hateful to him; ’ but his friends had come to him and -during the last'fortnight dozens of deputations and hundreds of indiviudals had asked him to contest the He had at--first tried shard -to- resist, but' finally decided to place himself in the hands, of the electors. ' BEFORE 1891. j Mr Hogan commenced his address by giving a brief sketch of-the conditions, in. New Zealand under’the old Tory Government, before the Liberals came into (office in 1891. Prior to 1891 the country was in a very unsatisfactory state. People were leaving the country in thousands; finance was in a desperate condition'; taxation was- hitting the poorest classes the hardest; labour -was being exploited, and high rates. of interest- qvere -being charged. The trade, of tho country was practically ' stagnant, and sweating of women workers existed. He read extracts from a hook of conditions: under (which., needle women worked, conditions likethose of_ tin/ sweated Workers of .the old country, but which-existed in, Dunedin. ' THE LIBERALS’ RECORD. The Liberals took office in 1891. Legislation was immediately introduced authorising the inspection of factories and for reducing factory working„hours. During the first six months' the Factories, 1 Inspection Act was in force. 913 factories, were ordered to he improved.' - The Liberals shifted the incidents-of taxation, taking it off the necessaries of life and putting it on to those who were able to bear it. A land tax was imposed on all lands, valued over .£SOO. Then, in 1907 a special -tax was levied on .all. lands .valued over £30,000. On land .valued at £SOIOOO ' the tax was increased from £364 to £520, increasing gradually until the man who jwned £210,000 of land had his taxes i”. creased from £2406 to £6125. While - the taxes on the land were increased they ' were ; reduced and taken, o.ff fine necessaries of life, until practically all, with tire exception of flour, were free. Personally he : was--in -favour 61 faking the tax biff imported flour, although farmers who produced wheat declared it would injure them, but he did not bold that view. Then the-Liberals had ..granted‘the old age pension Sj and had passed the State Goal Mines Act','-whereby power was.-given to establish State opal depots. Only three were established at present, one at Wellington, 'another at Christchurch, and the third at Wanganui., This policy could bo considerably' extended.. If the State coal .depots have not reduced the-price of'coal, they have at least steadied the price, and, during the recent strike, the price : of ■ coal .did not change in those towns where there were State cpal depots. Tne Liberal Government had given the’one-man one vote system, workers’ dwellings, advances to settlers and workers. State fire insurance. National provident fund, land for settlement act, and a great number of, other measures. It was indeed an excellent - record. • He mentioned the Workers Compensation Act, whereby the workers were granted compensation for accidents. The State Fire Insurance Department had saved the people of (the Dominion £150.000 since the office/was established. That represented the. .sum fine .people, would have had to pay in-in-creased, fire insurance had not the, Stat Q ■established its.own office. The Advances to. .Settlers Department. had. lent, £16,000,000 at 4£ * per cent, and at a cheaper rate to some local bodies. By Customs reduction, £6,500,000. ..had' been saved. In 1007 £555,000 was taken off cotton goods alone and £208,000 off sugar. The reduction of freights and fares on the railways saved £2,000,000 and reduc- . tions in the. Post and Telegraph Department saved £450,000. ■ ‘ The sum - total of money saved-for. the people by reductions by the Liberals amounted, to £23,186,000. (Aimlause.) . Tne land (Question was the most . rr portant question' in'any ’country, hut this, uiVfortunately had been lost sight of in New Zealand during the last few years and was not in a good position. In 1892, Mr Tohn McKenzie, associated' with Mr, John Ballance, passed his land act. He believed fn-holding the. national estate, and introduced tile 999 years, leasehold, believig that it would hold the land until such time as the people realised the value of ■Boldine the national estate. ' In •"■1907,the -899 years’ lease was changed by Mr McNab to a 66 years’ renewal, but the ,- increase in rental: was. optional, nottcom- - bulsory. The land for settlement tenure was fixed at 33 years: In 1907 the Libera; Government established::the endowments, setting aside nine - million acres;-for-: old age, hospitals, and education. - -WHY- THE PEOPLE:.;:OHANGED. Mr Ho<ran said he could never understand why the people changed from the Liberal to the Massey Government. He considered that all candidates should''put ; ,ie position, fairly and ...squarely before the people. If the people Lad known the true position ■ there would have been .no change.-at all. Mr Hogan proceeded to read- from circulars issued bv the opponents of the Liberals telling the people the finances were in an alarming state,, that the expenditure wa-s going up by leaps and- bounds, that- the Liberals were not friends to the working men. In the first instance, if the revenue had been placed side by side with the, expenditure, it . would have shown that the country was in a fine position financially. The statements regarding the Liberals’ attitude to Labour were absolutely untrue. “If they had reduced fine taxation on the necessaries of life, was not that helping them?” . - -\ SO-CALLED REFORMERS. Mr Hogan then went on to deal with what - th e Massoy Government. had, accomplisheu during their- three years of office.

Re said he could-, not call them reformers for they had -not reformed; anything. He < liked to call the party by its true name, so he had to designate them—so-called reformers. They could not point to one reform instituted since they came into power. If they took the three volumes if .statutes, : nearly all the legislation—beneficial legislation and there was, not much of it—consisted of amendments to acts already on the statute book. There was no reform about that. The Government had squandered the public estate in the freehold to people on Crown lands.: It had stuffed the Upper House with nominees. There was no question about that. They had certainly passed the Legislature Council -Act, but .it does not come into operation until 1923. They could never undo the harm done to', the 'country by the present Government land legislation.. It would take years to undo the harm done by, stuffing the Upper House. If a (Liberal Government was elected, say to-morrow, the Upper House will have a say iii all legislation passed, and, if any legislation were passed in the, Lower House for. the benefit of New Zea-: land, it could throw it out and will, be- ; cause the nominees of the party have never dope any good for the country. When the present Government took of- , flee, there was a surplus of £BOO,OOO,- and loan authorities left by Die Liberals for. £4,759,000.. When the Massey party were in'■ Opposition they always, attacked and; abused the Government's .surpluses and'said they wqre b.Qgns. It was -strange. that, these Surpius.es did exist when .the party: got into office.- When raising a, loan Mr Allen, in the.- prospectus, made certain eulogistic statements regarding | the ; financial (position of the country, I which lie declared -was in a prosperous i country and. had I 'passed a Debt Extinction ! Act providing for the extinction of-New. 1 (Zealand’s debt iii- 75 years. Mr Alien | went on to'adylsh-the Home Government : that,- if- they adopted the same bourse, j they could extinguish Great Britain’s debt in 50 years, . in regard to public i works, the Liberal Government was attacked for not spending ail the money authorised for public works. Yet the Massey party had voted £1,579,365 which had not been spent; -If the present party go back to power a(lo.t of the money authorised last session ]i hot - be ex- ' Peuded. The so-called Reforhiers claimed, that they had increased, the graduated land tax,, but this was'somewhat ■'misleading. On £20,000 the'"increase was 12s 6d, and on £40,000 £l2 4s 9d:' Quoting figures from the official year hook, the speaker, next dealt with Reform’s finauce. The surplus of the last year of °JW7 rmn "H L ! l , )eral Government was . £807,000 In,the first, year of the socalled Reformers, the surplus Was £709,. ~ -, in the. second year it was £426,000, If. the £50,000 navy subsidy) i " ,jlich had-not been paid, was taken away amount, (v . it would leave £,-376,000 The increased expenditure was 000. in the first year, £744,000 in the second, a total of £1.485,000. Last Tfif. *)*«•' , expenditure increased by' ■flof’enn’ wl !}l e . tlle re >’ enue increased by £494,000, , This year, for the first six expenditure had increased bv <±■461,000, and the increased revenue was only £229,000. Air Hogan then quoted figures showing how the railway finances had gone to the bad, .stating that, whereas in 1911 ; the, percentage of profit to expenditure was 4.34^ last year it ,was. only 3.61. In , LAND SETTLEMENT tlm . record for each of the last three years of,,the Liberal administration was 637,000 ‘ acres, 403,000 acres, and 472 000 acres-settled; for the last two years’ of Reform 355,000 acres, and 353,000 acres. Reform had made little progress with native lands, their settlement being 810,000 acres, as compared with 954,000 acres’for the last two years of the Liberals. In tne: Advances Department, the record of Joans-for;.’the last two years of each party ■ --was as follows-(Liberal figures arc placed To s<ifct! erg, £3,439,006, -±1,913,00.0:; to. workers, £951,00.0, ,4-722,- 000; to local bodies. £1,195,000, ' b7 «’°i )o4i After w hat was the use , ot Reformers saying the limit had /been , increased.? They made a great deal of the fact .that they had not repealed the Act but the figures showed that they had done a great deal to make it in- , operative. IV hen the Reformers came into office, the ’ NATIONAL DEBT was 82 niillions, in the next year it rose to .87, millions, -now it .was over 91J millions, an increase of 9V millions, and Reform had, in Edition, given authority to borrow over .12 .millions -more. - And this i was tho party that said it would, not.borrow; but. would - steady the- finances. REFORM’S PROMISES. ” Reform had promised to reduce the cost of living, and had done nothing.! It had promised Labour a- square deal, and he - remembered tho motor, cars bringing Lab-, bur to the polls , at last election. But What had it given Labour, in return for the latter.s assistance? Reform had not kept its promise to put something in theplaco of .the Second Ballot, but it bad put. 19 of its own party into the Upper House, and seven of thebe were rejects. It had promised economy, local bodv reform, .-and a better system of Parliameiuary grantfe, but 1 had done nothing in these matters. It. had promised insurance for sickness and unemployment, and assistance to working men to get on the land, but had done nothing. ■ it had promised that public works votes would be expended, yet over millions of money authorised 1 was unexpended. Reform , had attacked ..the Liberals for siiending ~ £120,00.0 .on the Dunedin railway station (and lie himself did not justify tho £90,000 spent on the building). Yet last .year Reform spent more on buildings than on roads and bridges. Reform had sacrificed the national estate, - attacked the State Fire Office, put on record taxation, reduced the earnings of the railways, and seriously interfered.- with the Public Trust Office. Mr Hogan then defended > the - Dreadnought gift, pointing, to H.M.S. New Zealand's performance, in the North Sea as a justification-of the gift,. and showing -that the special tax .on bank notes and the totalisator had left a surplus of. £IO,OOO over, and above the ' £140,000 required for interest and sinking fund, on the Dreadnought loan. The speaker then dealt with HIS OWN RECORD in Parliament, claiming that it was a. better one'than either ;hia-predecessor’s or'successor’s. During lus term* Wanganui; had gone ahead by leaps, and bounds, . though ho. did not take all the credit for it to himself. -A quarter' of a million had been spent on roads in this district, schools had been erected, and the Technical College was a monument to his efforts, inasmuch as it was his repeated representations that had induced the Government to give the Wanganui Edu- ’ cation Board authority to borrow on. the security of" the . property now known as' McGruey’s corner. He had been instrumental 1 ini getting a vote of £SOOO for the new bridge, and the workers of the district . had had£loo,ooo lent theni at 4 per cent. Every; vqtd /placed oh tho Estimates' had been expended, and in

some instances over-expended in anticipa-, tion -of :ther- next •. year’s grant.!: He ■ had ■ had passed, a Bill enabling the Wanganui Harbour Board to borrow £IOO,OOO, and- no fuss had been made about it. -He- i ferring- to the Harbour Bill which the House had not passed, Mr Hogan -enumerated the difficulties in its way, -the fact. ( that it was given him in the dying hours of the session, and the indefensible ratinf area in, .the -Board’s. scheme. That Bill .was for £250,000, whereas the Bill which was passed later was: only for £150,000, and . the rating area, was nothing like-so large as,the Boardyoriginally had iu niind. After telling them what he had done, he would now tell them ,what ..they had lost since he was out of •Parliament. Sir John Findlay—whom lie eulogised, and said was a Socialist at heart—-had promised a new Courthouse to cost. £7OOO, and they had not got it. The Stamps Office had been shifted to Wellington. Tho Government now proposed to'make certain grades on the railways easier; he read -a list of these proposed easements,- a-nd remarked . that there was nothing said,about the Fotdell Hill in, it. He then gave an outline of HIS OWN -POLICY, which included free carriage on the railways of children up-'to 5 years old, , and half fares for . those between 5_ and 12, universal superannuation, pensions for invalids,, State assistance to widows awl their families pending the paying over of 'compensation for accidents, State ferry service, settlement.'of town workers on small. areas. State assistance to wives and children of prisoncio by allowing so much for the value of the latter’s work-in prison, a further increase in the graduated ) land tax, reduction of the tobacco duty, !, and extension of the Labour Departi ment’s functions by assisting men to j where employment'was awaiting them, ! the Government and the .municipal bodies j working together in this respect. j. THE WAR. ' Mr H'dg'an next dealt with the war, and its probable effect r on New Zealand. He contended that the war should not make a great difference to the Dominion, which : relied on its exports. Produce should command higher prices, and, being sellers, the people of this .fine country should be better off as a result. W'nat is the position? Capital is shy, the investor timid. There was any amount of money in N.Z., , all wi3 wan,t is a Government in power which will restore tho confidence of the people. He favoured a policy, of selfreliance, gradually tapering off of borrow-' ing- from tho Old Country and eventually relying on our own finances. The Government could issue notes against its, assets.' He was not yet converted to the belief that we could buy a bale of paper and turn out notes to our own liking for any amount, but the Dominion had millions of pounds worth of national assets, and the Government could issue notes up ; to a certain amount against these. No attempt had been made to finance the people or give us a currency that would bn useful. There wfere many ways of improving the system by which the State Department lends its money. There was , too much red tape about it at present; , it was a cumbersome system. The law shoud be amended so that progress pay- , nients could be made in the case of the 1 building of workers’ dwellings without i any reference to Wellington. We require | that(-business methods should be intro: ! diiced into.,tho Department, and, if rej turned, it would be his aim to see that ; improvements were made, i Mr- Hogan said that there wore many other subjects he, would like to .touch , upon, but he did not wish to prolong tho i mooting too long. He would have further ; opportunities of referring to some of the I most important matters. ' A voice.; What about the “ostrich farm?” ■ l' Mr Hogan said he was not going to I touch inion , that subject, as be did not | know enough about the farm and the : probable effect of the Waiuku railway on it. He- was not going, to take up tin; : position’ of approving or denouncing tho I proposed: railway without- first'having seen the: farm and the suggested line of railway. IN CONCLUSION. Mr Hogan asked the electors to carefully J consider tlie position before casting their votes. They should consider what they j ha dto expect from the present Government in view of its record during the past : throe years. He asked- them, after hav- | ing: done this to cast aij intelligent vote. | He believed that New Zealand had a bright future before it, and it remained I for. the people to take an interest iu its affairs and help to make it the -.great country-it was destined to be..., His policy is • as At bad always been in tho past— : x For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, , ; For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do. Mr Hogan, who was accorded a splendid bearing, his remarks being frequently applauded, then resumed his scat, amidst loud applause. ,:( • QUESTIONS. ~ In answer to questions, Mr Hogan said: He was not in.-favour of a referendumon a matter of public conscience such as, the. Bible in SchopTs. He believed there; should be absolute - freedom of conscience,and no interference with religious views. ; i'-O thought tho efforts of the Cost ot Living Commission had been wasted. The report was. a valuable document, but something more was. wanted —legislation, to deal with matters,,contained in the report, but this made not been forthcoming. He did not know .which candidate Sir Joseph Ward recognised as N the Liberal candidate—Mr Veitch- or himself. He had not-gone into the matter with Sir Joseph Ward. He was content to stand or fall by the decision, of the people. He favoured the reduction of the old age time limit for pensions. Asked what, his object was iu leaving it to the -last hour before announcing his candidature, and if he,did not think there was danger of the Conservative candidate slipping in, Mr Hogan said iio had already • explained that he had been waited upon by hundreds during the last week or two and urged to contest the scat; and he had consented to do so. With regard to the - chance of the Conservative candidate slipping in, he believed there was no .danger of-that at all. He was in favour of State control of the Wanganui River Service* and had done more than any other Wanganui member to bring it about. In regard to the liquor question, in the past he had held to the opinion that the majority on siich a big question should be a substantial one, but to , be gradually reduced. He now favoured the 45-55 per cent. ' ■' 1 He, was in favour of reciprocal -old age pensions with Australia with safeguards. . He’ could never see his way clear support preference to Unionists, 1 though he bad always; Been a Unionist; and for some time was secretary of a Union. He did npt'think At fair to compel a'iuan to

be a Unionist if he did not want to be one. He believed in supporting the British navy, and did not favour the local unify idea. He pointed out that Admiral Henderson had declared that it would, cost, over ,£22,000,000 for a fleet to efficiently protect Australia, without taking into accent the Cost of upkeep, etc., and : he (Mr, Hogan) contended that N.Z. could, not afford to have a navy of its own.' He favoured leaving the protection of -our shores to tho British Navy. 1 He favoured the idea of the State carrying out tho duties of friendly societies. The questions having been disposed of, the chairman called for someone to move a motion. Mr R. Dunkley moved—That this meeting accords Mr Hogan a vote of thanks for his speech, expresses hearty appreciation of his services during the six years he was,in Parliament, and declares that he has 1 the confidence and snpnort of the Liberal party in the coming election. The motion was. seconded in "three or four places at once, and carried by an overwhelming, veto with cheers. A vote: of thanks to the chair, three cheers for Mr Hogan-, and three more for Sir Joseph Ward concluded the meeting. RANCITIKEI SEAT. Mr E. E. Hornblow was yesterday nominated for the Rangitikci seat by, A. A. Griffin, farmer, Upper Tutaenui, E. Reid, retired, and W. H. Gomez, timber merchant/ MR HORNBLOW’S MEETING. It is doubtful if there has ever been a more enthusiastic political meeting hold in Mangaweka than the one addressed by Mr Hornblow in the Oddfellows’ Hall on Wednesday evening. The building was filled with electors, many of whom had come from a long distance. Mr C. J. Bennett, J.P., one of Mangaweka s oldest residents and Town Board members, presided. In the course of his introductory remarks, the chairman pad a tribute of praise to the many , public services the candidate had rendered to the town and district. He was one who deserved well not only of the Liberals, but of all sections of the community. (Applause.) The chairman then called upon the candidate to address them; Mr Hornblow, on rising to sneak, met with a great ovation. He thanked them for the splendid reception he had received. After referring to several local requirements that needed attention, he dived into his political address. Time after time as he exposed the unfulfilled promises of the Massey Government ho was interrupted by continuous applause, His-tren-chant-criticism was levelled at their own statements as published in the Reform journals, or from documents placed on the table of. tho House of Representatives. He contrasted their actions ’ with the achievements of the Liberals during their term of office. He produced- facts and figures to show that tho so-called Reformers had deliberately deceived tho people in ordomto gain office. The revelations of corruption promised by the Massey Govern-' ment had proved non-existent. This immaculate Government had put up a record 1 of borrowing extravagance, and increased taxation unequalled by any party that had previously governed tho Dominion, and they had justly earned the reputation, of expert exponents of the art of misrepresentation. Dealing with land aggregation, amidst a. running fire of cheers and applause, ho completely demolished the position taken up by his’opponent on this question. With" .nit a murmur of dissent from flic largo audience the candidate exposed the manv scandalous ’transactions in land that had taken place as a result of tho Massey Government’s Lend A«t Amendments of 1912-. Not one of Mr Massey’s disciples in the large audience disputed his charges as he referred to them one by one. The candidate a'so spoke on tho public debt, political a’-pointmrnts, railway matters, defence, land settlement, and many other inf nortant matters affecting tho welfare of the Dominion. On Mr Ilornblow resuming his seat after sneaking- for two and a quarter hours, the largo audience expressed their appreciation by Bud and continued applause. Several questions of an important nature were submitted and replied to. On the motion of Mr J. W. Byrne, seconded fry Mr J. Murphy, a li-arty vote of thanks was accorded the candidate for his address, confidence in him as their representative, and also confidence in the Libera’ Party. 'Tremendous chqcrhfg erected the resolution, which was put by the chairman and carried unanimously, j,. Mr Jo’>n Johnston called f' r cheer* .f<fF the candidate.; and for Sir Joseph Wafd as loader,.of .the Liberal Party, which call •was; responded to with, great enthnsiosiji. , and one of tipi ,best-political meetings e t \'jv held in tho tovyn was brought to' a c'nclpsion by , a very hearty vote-of thanks (o the chairman, « • .

THE -PATE A SEAT. During the last week Mr Morrison, the Liberal candidate for I’atca, lias had successful meetings at Kolii, Waverley, Hurleyvillc, Mere Mere, Brunswick and Rapaniii. lib ksdinplotes nis first tour of the election this week; •-Meetings are adve,tised, as,, .under:—Whenuakura • (school room); Monday November 30th, Waitotara, Tuesday, Aramoho, Friday and Kai Iwi Saturday, December ,sth. NO CONFIDENCE IN MR PEARCE. Mr G. Y. Pearce delivered a speech to abmt thirty elector’s of the Kni Iwi district last night. He received an attentive hearing throughout. The speech was on the same lines as the one delivered at Waitotara. At the conclusion a vote of thanks and confidence was proposed by Mr Glcnidining and seconded by Mr Brown, and on a chow of hands being given, was declared lost by 20 votes to 3. MR. MASSEY AT HAWERA. .(By Telegraph.—Special to Hbbald.) HAWERA, November 28. The Premier addressed . a large audience at the Opera House here last night. He dealt with the laud settlement policy of the Government, and - the action of tho Government in connection with the settlement of the West Coast. Native leases question. He also spoke on financial and other political questions, defended the Government in connection with tho industrial troubles of last year, and dealt with the Iluntly disaster. At tho conclusion of his speech, a vote of thanks and confidence in the Government . was carried, tho meeting concluding With cheers for the Prime Minister.