PARS ON POLITICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 813, 5 October 1905, Page 26

PARS ON POLITICS.

The Opposition candidate (Mr. Murdoch McLean) for the Parnell electorate at the forthcoming general elections addressed a large meeting of electors- at Cairns’ Hall, Ellerslie, on Tuesday evening. Mr. Charles MsKinney occupied the chair. The candidate, who was received with applause, said that he was in sympathy with the workman, and was not a mere talker, but practical. Auckland, he submitted, had not had a fair share of the public expenditure as regards railways and other public works. The present proposed expenditure upon the Helensville Northward line was £30,000, which, the Minister said, was all that could be expended. This was insignificantly small as compared with the enormous sums which the Government was spending upon experimental lines in the South. The Otago Central was an entirely unnecessary line, and the present allocations for it, and to the Midland line, were made for no other reason than to keep the present Government in office. The Main Trunk line had already been 20 years under construction, and the Government promised to complete it within three or four years, but he was confident that at the rate they were now going it could not be completed for six years to come. No business firm, he submitted, would carry on their work in such a manner, and to illustrate this he had only to contrast the expedition with which the Tramways Company had carried out the construction of their lines, and the instalment of the necessary plant. Touching upon the question of public buildings, Mr. McLean declared the present Police Court buildings in Auckland were disgraceful, while the railway station was obsolete, and yet the Government had lately spent £lOO,OOO in providing Dunedin with a fine, new, handsome railway station ! The private tender for the construction of the Dunedin railway station was £44,000, so that, therefore, the Government had spent more than double the original estimate. He claimed as planks in his platform : Justice for Auckland district, efficiency and economy in public works expenditure, freehold land tenure, and the satisfactory settlement

of the native lands question. He contended that the public works were carried out in an obsolete manner, and that money was wasted through inefficient supervision. The engineers should be firstclass men, and should receive higher salaries than they received at present. Freehold was the only satisfactory form of tenure, as it was only by that means that the best could be got out of the soil Upon the land question the Premier had propounded no policy, and a large sum had been spent upon the Land Commission, with no beneficial result. For his own part, he thought that the tendency of the present Government was to pass too many Acts. What did a law-abiding country like New Zealand, he asked, want with 200 or 300 Acts every year? Mr. McLean also spoke on the Native Land question, and at the conclusion of the meeting a vote of thanks was ac corded him.

The following verses, appearing in the “ Australasian” on Air. Bent, would rather aptly apply to one of our own leading politicians: —

Though running on to eighteen stone I’m nimble as a flea, The genus Pulex irritans Is slow compared to me. I buzz about the universe, From Beersheba to Dan, And people say as I pass by, "There goes a busy man."

If I’ve a meeting to address, I never keep it long. I touch on public questions, Then sing a comic song. A tenor’s voice at fifty-five, Is not the flute of Pan, But people all allow, for that I’m such a busy man.

In every little country town, They all want my falsetto, Yet some a year or so ago Would give me a stiletto, That’s when the railway strike was on, And I beneath their ban, Yet even then .you will admit, 1 was a busy man

At seven o’clock I’m amiable , And meek as any mouse; At eight I lose my temper, And commence to boss the House, They put it down to mental strain, But that’s my little plan, To impress members with the fact, That I’m a busy man.

The Premier was interviewed as he was leaving Dunedin for the North. He gave some idea of the party’s intentions in regard to Southern seats at the forthcoming election. Mr. Hanan will have the party’s support for Invercargill, and Mr. McNab for Mataura. It is not intended to run anyone for Wallace, and as both Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Gilfedder seem determined to stand for Wakatipu in the Government interest, no “ hall mark” is likely to be given. In Otago Mr. Daniel Stewart has been approved for Clutha; Mr. A. Marshall for Taieri, and Mr. J. A. McPherson for Mount Ida. It goes without saying that the supporters of the Government in the present Parliament for other seats will continue to have the support of the Liberal party.

The Premier, in an interview at Dunedin, said he thinks the session will close about October 20. Referring to the police he said that changes were contemplated as the outcome of the report of the Commission, but the officers to be transferred would not lose their positions. Legislation, he said, would be necessary to enable Supreme Court judges to act as a Commission of Inquiry into the effectiveness of the Audit Department.

The Premier, who passed through Christchurch on Monday night on his journey from Dunedin to Wellington, stated in an interview that no definite steps had yet been taken in reference to the continuance of the South African subsidised steam service. He had been informed at Dunedin that as the old war supplies had now been finished in South Africa, and things had reached their normal level, large importations into that country could be looked forward to. Re-

ferring to the Anglo-Japanese treaty, Mr. Seddon said New Zealanders would respect Japan so long as she remained within her zone and New Zealand got what was in our zone. He also stated no steps had yet been taken to invite a member of the Royal Family to be present at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. The matter was yet premature. He could give no information as to whether the exhibits from foreign countries would be on a large scale. Since the meeting in Christchurch no further action had been taken as to the harvester trust. He understood a petition for presentation to Parliament was being largely signed, and the workers intended making representations on the subject very shortly. Mr. Seddon emphatically stated that the Electoral Bill would be passed into law this session. * * * *

Air. Bollard has asked the Minister for Education to place a subsidy of £ for £ on the Supplementary Estimates, not to exceed £lOO, for the purpose of assisting the Mount Eden District School Committee to construct a swimming bath in the school grounds, on condition that the committee collect £lOO by voluntary contributions.

A correspondent, writing to the Wellington (< Post,” makes the following remarks in the course of some comments on the native land question:—“Our Premier is very fond of telling the Maoris in accents that he is their father, and they are his children, and he will save them from the rapacity of the pakeha Maoris, while the Native Minister has elevated the ‘ taihoa’ policy to a sublime art. Simple matters, such as the allocating of certain areas set apart for landless natives in the South Island many years ago by the late Sir A. J.

Cadman and Sir John McKenzie, and the allotment of some small reserves for the owners round the Wairarapa Lakes, are kept back through sheer indifference or culpable neglect, and while Nero fiddles Rome burns. How long will the North Islanders submit to such an unhappy state of things? Were it to take a special session of Parliament, and cost £IOO,OOO to enable the necessary legislation to be passed to deal with this burning question, the time and money would be a mere bagatelle. This is a matter far above all party politics, and surely it is not beyond the capacity of our legislators to devise some measure, which, while doing justice towards and saving a noble race from extinction, will also save the honour of the colony, and at the same time open up these idle millions of acres, the locking up of which so greatly retards its progress.” In conversation at Gisborne last week, Mr. Ngata, who is a candidate for the Eastern Maori seat, said he was opposed to the latest development in Maori land legislation, the Maori Land Settlement Bill. He stated that the Maori councils had not demanded that any measure should be passed to tie up their lands. He had found among the settlements a unanimous desire to throw them open. If the old Act were to remain in force, the natives on the East Coast thought an amendment should be passed permitting extended leases of native lands. The natives would speedily lease. Mr. Carroll, he said, had jumped from the optional to compulsory system. A meeting of the supporters of Mr. E. W. Alison, M.H.R., in connection with the forthcoming contest for the Waitemata seat, was held in the Zion Hall, Birkenhead, last Thursday night. The meeting was a thoroughly representative one, and the proceedings were of a most enthusiastic character. Amongst those present was Mr. C. E. Button, who occupied the chair. ' Mr. Button referred to the services of Mr. Alison in the House, and to his efficient representation of the electorate since his election three years ago. A very strong committee was formed, with Mr. Thompson as chairman, and Mr. B. T. Hawkins as secretary.