THE GENERAL ELECTIONS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2327, 21 October 1908, Page 5

THE GENERAL ELECTIONS.

THE GISBORNE SEAT,

MR. W. LItSSANT CLAYTON AT PATUTAHI.

- Mr. W. iLisisant Clayton, tho Opposition candidate for the .Gisborne seat in Parliament; .-opened his election campaign last night, when he addressed a public .meeting of electors in the Patutahi Hall. There was an attendance of about 60 persons. Mr. E. Knight was voted to the chair, and said that he had' much pleasure in introducing Mr. Clayton, the Opposition candidate, and hoped those present would give him an impartial hearing. After the conclusion of the political address, Mr. G. J. Black would have a few words to say on the small grazing runs question. Mr. Claytony who was well-received on rising, stated that -he had been induced to oiien his campaign at Patutahi by reason of the splendid support he had received in that district at the "last election. He had received almost unanimous support from the Patutahi electors, and even his opponents there had certainly treated him fairly. On that occasion it had been thought ho was leading, a forlorn hope, .but ho had been fighting for ideals which he thought were right, and ideals which ho believed would shortly receive a. great deal of support from the people. ~ He felt sure that the Opposition was being much more favorably received than in the past, and there was a strong disposition to “giveMussey a chance.” In its criticism policy of the past, the Opposition had performed splendid work, and had improved almost every item of legislation placed on the Statute Book. Referring to land settlement, when he mentioned that only 155,000 acres out of 20,000,000 acres of waste lands had been brought into settlement, it would be recognised that that was a proof of the Government’s failure. He .was in favor of the freehold, which he looked upon as the only proper method of settling tho country. So great a public man as Sir George Grey had stated that “leasehold sapped the independence of the people,” and the Russian Premier, in readjusting the settlement of that vast Empire, had found it necessary to adopt the freehold system. Pie (the speaker) was not entirely against the leasehold, hut considered it should be merely a stepping stone for the settler to subsequently obtain' the freehold. At present the country was paying interest on something like half-a-million pounds a year for land purchase. If tenants wore allowed to purchase their holdings the payment of this interest- could be avoided. Mr. Clayton referred to tho Laud Bill as introduced by Mr. McNnb in 1906, which made all settlement absolutely leasehold, and which by taking away the security of mortgagors would in all probability have brought about '.a financial crisis. As a result of Opposition criticism, the country was so aroused that it demanded the withdrawal of the Bill, and the Government ignominiously climbed down. This policy of the Government had boon predicted for the Government bad intended to bring into practice the tenets of tho land nationaliser. Coupled with tho provisions already referred to was the Endowment Bill introduced under the pretence that the funds wore to-be used for the payment of education and old age pensions requirements. The absurdity of this was shown by the fact that the return front the endowment leases could not amount to more than £50,000, whilst the expenditure on education and old ago (tensions amounted to ovei; £1,000,000. One commendable feature in* the Bill was the abolition of the L.T.P. Personally ho favored the present renewable lease, provided it made the lease absolutely secure to the tenant and provided for the freehold being ultimately secured. One provision, namely that in regard to so-called exhausted improvements, would probably work against the tenant, as past experience showed that tho Department would declare all improvements to be “exhausted.” The insecurity of the leasehold tenure was well emphasised by what had taken place recently in regard to the renewal of local, grazing run leases. . The speaker traced tho history of these runs, and alleged that the Minister had infringed the spirit of fair play and had aroused the suspicion throughout Poverty Bay that political patronage had been made use of in regard to these runs. They also had hero'the spectacle of a. Land 'Board which—with the. exception of one representative elected by the tenants — danced as marionettes to the tune of the Ministerv He felt some pity for the Board, which he believed -had desired in the first place to do what was fair, but subsequently appeared to have become so mystified by their various instructions from headquarters that they decided to go into commit-’ tee over their deliberations. * The representative. of the tenants protested but.-in vain, and then lie withdrew, and the matter was decided in/such a way that the public could gain no knowledge of what was done. He would ask bis hearers: Was there any safety for any'Grown lessee if a Minister could _alter the provisions of . a lease as had been done with-these grazing run lessees? The speaker claimed that there-had been no justice shown in the discrimination between the lessees inasmuch as one gentleman of wealth and influence who could only be considered in this connection as.a land speculator, had got bis run baok whilst legitimate settlers had not. In this connection the Opposition herd asked for information. After a fortnight’s delay the correspondence was laid on the table three hours before the session closed. Here what was termed an unfortunate mis-' take had occurred, and the correspondence relating to run 42 was -not there. Of course, they bad beard since that the Minister'was exceedingly .sorry that the desired correspondence .was not forthcoming, and had promised to do what he could to remedy the' mistake, and it was stated that tho Native Minister would produce the correspondence. That, he would remind his- hearers, was a very different thing to producing the correspondence' on tho floor of tho House, and he felt that they would agree with him that it was- exceed" ingly problematical whether the W 1". of the correspondence would :b<"'l no_ dueed. . ... The next question of noli of to consider was the Native la-<d p 0 *’ commonly known in Po/erty d>< y • the Tailioa policy. ..-®c .Native Mai d laws had for been m a Mate of chaos, till -thy'poor unfortunate Natives hardly knew-their position. Theie had, been many changes, but in all oj

them the fundamental principle of tho Maori-land system, the-Treaty, of Waitangi, had been overlooked, and efforts had been made to get behind tho Maori and take his land from him. The policy of the Opposition was not ■free trade in Native lands, as it had been formerly understood, but that tho Maori should have the same right as tho European to deal with what belonged to him. (Applause.) A. judgment of the Privy Council had affirmed the principle that under that treaty the, Maori -was entitled to the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession oif his land, but that principle nevertheless had not -been adhered to. In illustration, tho speaker referred to the dealing with Native lands in connection with the Bank oi' New Zealand Trust Board. That Board, he said, had been set- up to realise the securities of the Bank of Now Zealand t c the best advantage of the Natives' and the bank, but several blocks of land were included that were not secured to tho bank—over which the bank held no mortgage. Amongst these were sections 1 and 2 of the 2A Maraetuha Block.* About 5080 acres were sold to tho same Government supporter who was tho .-lucky man -whose run had not been taken for settlement purposes. It was sold at 16s per acre, though the secretary of tho Board had admitted that oners had been received for several sections of the block,, which would have realised from 22s 6d to 27s 6d an aero. The Natives concerned were not in any way interested in any blocks mortgaged to tho bank. They had no encumbrance- on their sections, and yet tlicir money had gone into tho maw of the Trust Board and they had to await tho scheme which was to be presented to Parliament next session to ascertain if any money was coming to them. Mr. Clayton proceeded to refer to the fact thatho Native Lands Commission, which, ho pointed out, had cost tho country £6OOO, was supposed to haven investigated three millions of acres of land, of which only about 700,000 acres were to be available for European settlement, and but 60,000 acres availablo for sale ,while not a single acre had yet been settled. The present Native land policy was neither fair to the Maoris nor in. the interests of the country. Dealing with the question of .-Maori representation in Parliament., the speaker said that tho iircsront dual system of representation was absurd. The special Native representation should, he said, be abolished, and the Maoris put on the general electoral roll. The consequence of present system was that the whole of the Native affairs in the House wore -looked after by three or four members who took an interest in them, such men as Mr. A. L. D. Fraser, Mr. Herries, Air. Massey, and, when ho chose to wake up, the Native Minister If a member of the House had to attend to Native questions as part of the ordinary business of his constituency those questions would be very much better looked after than they wore at present, as members would be obliged to take an interest in thorn. The Opposition, --moreover, held that t ( he affairs of the count r(y should be conducted on business lines, but instead of that being done, tfhey were managed on lines which would not be tolerated in any business concern. Works- which should be paid for out of income were charged- to capital account. : .... t - - Tho Public W-orlss Fun dp tire speaker continued, was, practically, the* Capital account. There had been transferred to it three-quarters of a. million surplus, and a loan of a million'and a-half. The fund was intended for expenditure on permanent assets, but only something ’ like half had been spent on objects of that nature. The replacement-of rolling stock, Departmental charges, and other items which should liavo boon paid out of income had been charged to the fund, to capital. -A parjiicularlv absurd thing was that Native lands purchased by the Government were paid for out of tho Public Works Fund, but, when sold, the receipts wore put to swell the income, and, therefore, the surplus. The speaker pointed out bow. tho taxation of tho country bad risen in ton years by 23s 7d per liea-d, and was now £4 14s 7d per head, and that, on the.population of the Gisborno electorate (about 11,700) that meant a present total of £55,000, and an increase of £13,796. The -Government bad, -he considered, made a. mistake in having, for tho last year or two, systematically issued its debenture's in New Zealand, thus taking .money out of circulation, when the money could have been obtained in the Home market. Ho referred to the “ back blocks votes’’ oi( £250,000, which were suppovsed to be in addition to the ordinary votes for roads and bridges, and lie pointed out that in 1907, before the “back blocks vote” was instituted, £518,000 had been voted for those purposes, and that in 1908 £OOO,OOO had -been voted, including about a quarter of a million for “Back blocks votes.” The speaker condemned the action of the Government in connection -with the “back blocks votes;” and claimed that tbe increase inutile amount spent on roads and bridges was really, illusory. It, had been alleged that the district would suffer if the present member were removed, as he was a member of the Government. In reply to this contention, he' would remind them that the total vote- for Waiapu for the present year was £19,541, whilst that for tlio Bay of -Plenty, represented by an Oppositionist, Mr. Herries, was no less than £41,302. For the previous election year the Waiapu vote had been £21,729, whilst that for the Bay of Plenty was £56,000. -Electors were sometimes misled by the retort, “Oh, the'Bay of Plenty includes the tourist resorts, and so forth;” Cut- all that' out, and' they would And that the Bay of Plenty* member still got double the amouff' obtained by a Minister of the Or' . for Waiapu. ’ - , . m, Mr. Touching on the labor qiitfip \ (i con-Cla-yton said .that the unisidered a rise'in wagfj s mind' more versal panacea. T" directed tq the attention (Royal Commission cost of l.iviogjointcd ‘to -discover on should bo "- ( vol .ker why it was that behalf liivng was so high. He f h that the tariff was - largely Mjnonsible. The recent alterations inado to the tariff by the Government had, lve contended, not been m the Interests of tll'e working classes Mi. Herries .-bad pointed out in laUument that the 8s a day man had been penalised, whilst tbe £l;-a- day man was nrotected. . 1 This policy in its turn bad re-acted , on the population, for with high cost of’ living it was hilt. natural there should be a disinclination on the part. of jo grouts regr large fiumljes. At,

the present birth rate 1 New Zealand would take 42 years to double its populatiop', instead' of in 25 years as it would under moro favorable conditions. ’Everything possible should bo dolio to popularise parenthood. Free school books would -be a good move towards that end. Tho policy of assisted immigration was a good one, and could profitably bo extended so .long as it was carefully regulated. Ho certainly thought the Hon. J. A. Millar was one of tho ablest men in the Ministry, and tho truest friend tlio workers had ever had. Mr. Millar had pointed out lately that the industries of the must become extinct- unless workers ivcre provided to carry them on. In other words, there must be encouragement for. the increase of population. Another question closely allied was that of defence. Ho was. not an alarmist, hut he could not fail to recognise that this country though safe for man;/ years must inevitably-pro-vide, .a . temptation io the hordes of Asiatics who will eventually seek an outlet, and'tho best method ensureour national safety was to increase our population- and instead of one million to have tori millions of a virile, intelligent-, and prosperous people occupyhig tho country. . He was able to congratulate the Premier upon liis attitude at the -Imperial Conference in regard to the navy, but contended that- Sir Joseph Ward had failed utterly to grasp the real significance of the local defence question. He personally considered that every ablebodied person in the Dominion should be compelled l to .undergo- some military preparation in order that if called upon he could assist in the defence of "his country. Touching on the “gag” clause in tho Second Ballot -Bill, the speaker •said this -provided an instance of a. so-called democratic Government trying to gag freedom of speech as much as any -Russian Government would ever try. Here again the Opposition party liad put up a great fight on behalf of the people’s liberties, and ultimately the Government executed another of its characteristic ‘‘backdowns.”

An election year was always a fat year for' Government works and promises. The Government were, ho said, boasting that 300 men had been put on the railway. It was significant that they had been put on justbefore the election. He hoped they would be there three months after the election. (Applause.) The candidate then made brief reference to the Shearers’ Accommodation -Bill and io the dairy regulations, which he characterised- as absurd. In .conclusion, Mr. Clayton .said that lie considered a change was coming over tho opinions of the people, and'that the Opposition would have a turn. (Applause.) He would not say that the Government had not introduced- some -good measures, but he contended that many of the good points of those measures had been largely the result of Oppositiou'criticism. He wished his hearers to consider very carefully before they voted, and not to support cither Mr. Carroll; Mr. Darton. or himself till thev had heard all three. He -must ask them, however, .to-shako off the apathy in regard to public affairs which seemed to oppress them. They wanted energetic representatives, and be thought that the time had come when they'would do so. He wanted them to vote for their principles, t 0 vote for straight Government, to vote for reform of administration, and to voU for tho Opposition. -(Prolonged applause.) The chairman intimated that Mr. Clayton would bo pleased to answer any questions, but none were asked. Mr. D. iB. Watt proposed, and Dr. Collins, seconded, a- vote of tlianks to the candidate.

The motion was carried by prolonged acclamation. Mr. G. J. Black was then Jnyitod to the platform, and l spoke. on the grazing runs question. -He said ho was speaking as a farmer to farmers. He claimed that the Government had no moral or legal right to resume the leases unless it desired -to sell them outright. )Hc described in detail the action of tho -Government, and also of the Land Board over the matter, and declared that if the public would support a Government that would sanction such doings then there was no honor in the country.

The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman.

MR. DARTON AT TINIROTO

Air. G. E. Darton, who is contesting tho Gisborno seat in the Liberal and No-lieonsc'interests, addressed a meeting in flic Tiniroto schoolroom, on Monday evening. Mr. J. Berry occupied the chair, and the room was crowded.’ The candidate, who was accorded a. most attentive • hearing, said that though he was an advocate of nqlicense and declared he was a no-li-cense candidate, he was not.the nomiiaee of the no-lioenso party. Air. Daa-ton spoke -at length on tho land question, and advocated land being set apart- as workmen’s homes. Dealing with, the small grazing run question, Air. Darton deprecated Alinisterial interference in tbe matter-. Tho question of determining the leases rested, with the Land Board only; and" the Minister of Lands in revising,-** decision of the Board had exTjl-*' his jurisdiction. The cand dajpdee the if Mr. Carroll would not-Uthe riflescorrespondence dealing*# would, u toon, he (the caud'mistcr to allow elected, force th Ato become public, the correspond received some atten-Nat-ive LAandidaty, who also enttion from'' hasty legislation of -last iciscdf' Other questions dealt _ wit.li se?(s education, arbitration, old age , tensions, reform of the Upper House, and finance, m Air. Darton combatted tlio statement that he was a Socialist-, and said he . was standing, not in the interests of socialism, but m -thew interests of the workers and the peopleThe Dominion was not yet ready loi socialism, and the people did not desire socialism. - ~ A vote- of thanks- was accorded the candidate for his -address.

AIR. DARTON AT AVAILOA

[Press Association.]

AVAILOA, Oct. 20. . Mr. Goo, E. Darton opened. n« political campaign here hist aught. Mr G. -Britnell, chairman of tho Town Board; nvesided. Thero .was a ihirge and enthusiastic audience, and the’candidate’s address was .punctuated by frequent applause, hi opening, Mr. Darton

hoped the campaign would be conducted in a .friendly'spirit. 'He first ■dealt with the no-license question from economic and social standpoints.' Ho advocated Dominion option on a bare majority. (Dealing with the land question, he paid a high tribute to tlie Hon. Mr. MoNab for his endeavors to bring about bettor land tenure. In Mr. Dart on’s opinion the limitation now imposed on Crown lands should also be imposed upon private lands. At present the accumulation of large estates war/ going on .ns the old land settlements were proceeding too slowly. More land should be thrown open for selection. He instanced several amendment's- that could be made to the Land Act which ■would block dummy ism and help to get genuine settlors on the land. He claimed the Native land question was no nearer settlement than- it was lo years ago. Very few genuine settlors bad been put on trust and 'Native lands.- . Mr. Darton advocated that Natives should bo compelled to work their lands and pay the same rates and taxes as Europeans. They were receiving lequal benefits. with the education question, he was strongly opposed to the present system of payment of teachers’ salaries on an average attendance. He said that a uniform school book should be supplied at cost price, and also advocated the centralisation and periodical transfer of inspectors. Speaking on the labor question, the candidate urged that all workers should stand loyally by the Arbitration Act. It was more necessary to reduce the cost of living than to advocate higher wages. •Mr. Darton made a strong attack on the hasty legislation of last session, particularly the Public Works Amendment Act. Other questions dealt witli were Upper House reform, old ago pensions, national annuities, and the system of making Government grants.

BAY OF PLENTY SEAT. MR. J. 13. GOW’iS CANDIDATURE. [Special to “Times.”] WHAKATANE, Oct. 20. Mr. J. 13. Gow, the Opposition candidate, had capital meetings at Whakatane and Matata, the feeling at each place being very favorable to both the Opposition and the candidate. POLLING ARRANGEMENTS. As the Bay of Plenty electorate is one of the. most extensive in the-Dom-inion, and consequently difficult for .% single returning officer to work, Mr. G. J. A. Johnstone, Clerk of the Court at Gisborne, lias been appointed to act as agent for the returning officer for that portion of the electorate cut. out of the old Waiapu elect orate. Mr. Johnstone will therefore make .all arrangements for the poll to be taken at this end of the district.