BAY OF PLENTY SEAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3346, 12 October 1911, Page 5

BAY OF PLENTY SEAT.

MR. H. DE LAUTOUR AT TE KARAKA OUTLINE OF HIS VIEWS. FINANCE, LANDS, AND DEFENCE. The Opposition candidate for the Bay of Plenty seat, Mr- H. do Lautour, addressed a large and representative gathering of electors at the King’s Theatre, Te Karaka, last evening. Mr. A. M. Lewis, who presided, said that, lie had much pleasure in introducing Mr. do Lautour. He hoped they would give him a patient hearing. Mr. de Lautour said that it was customary for a Parliamentary candidate to tell the electors that he was more or less dragged into the positiin. A candidate generally said he was so worried with deputations that he was forced into the position. He (the speaker) was sorry tliat lie was not able to say that that evening. When, thev asked him to stand in the interests of the Reform Party he said “Yes” because he thought that in the interests of the country reform was very necessary. There was no danger of him getting swelled head if elected. Tribute to His Opponent. He was not contesting this election 1 in order to oppose Mr. MacDonald, but to oppose the Government whom Mr. MacDonald had so consistently and faithfully supported- He had ‘known Mr. MacDonald for many years, and he was a first-class man, and was one whom anyone might be proud to call l a friend. He Aims energetic, .and if they Avanted to return a supporter of the present Government they could not do better than elect Mr. MacDonald. The Government of the present day Avas not the Government of the future, and he thought its death knell had been sounded all through NeAv Zealand. Public opinion' said that a change Avas necessary. and true Liberalism Avould reign in the stead of the Ward autocracy. _ The Reform Party had a definite policy and platform. The first plank was that an investigation should be held into the Dominion’s finances, so that borrowing could be kept Avithin reasonable limits, and the preA-ention of wasteful expenditure. Reform AA’as also wanted in the fiscal system, with a Anew to reducing the* cost of the necessaries of life. The financial system sadly needed reforming as the position Avas serious and dangerous. The public debt had increased during tlie last twenty years from £ 37.000,000 to £79,000,000, or nearly £80,000,000. 'Hie population had not increased accordingly. A Pretty Serious Position. The population in New Zealand in 1891 AA-as 626,658, and the public debt was £3,734,308,' or £59 11s per head. In 1911 the population Avas 1,007,811, and the public debt Avas £79,837,358, or £74 4s 4d a bead. He thought they Avould admit this Avas a pretty* serious position. If the population increased with the debt it Avould not be so serious. Two cr three years ago they Avere in a very bad way in the Dominion, and the GoA : ernment~was on the verge Of bankruptcy. The-v sacked their serA-ants right and left, because they could not pay them. Everybody had to pay their share on this public debt, and the.wageearners had to find the bulk of it. It had been said that the party he represenfted would be t»lxe same as tlie old Tory party, and that once they got in Avages would come doAvn. They were the farmer chaps', and Avere no more liberal than the man in the moon. This AA’as absurd. He pointed out that if Avages Avere artificiallv created, then the price of the necessaries of life increased and a man Avould only be able to do AA’itli £2 what he did Avith £1 previously. It AA’as a question of supply and demand, and the only way to increase wages was to increase the demand for labor. Settle the Native Lands. If idle Native lands Avere brought in, and the Government seriously attempted to settle the Natße land question, then the. people of New Zealand would be in a better position. Tlie GoA’ernment had not seriously attempted to settle this question. Mr. de Lautour then dealt Avith an intei'A'iew in which Mr. MacDonald stated that a block of Native land (SO,OOO acres) had been acquired by the Government in the UreAvera country, and in the centre of this block there was a small sub-block Avhich liad not been through the Court. Mr. MacDonald also said that the owners of Native lands in the neighborhood had intimated that they preferred to deal with the Europeans direct. He (tlie speaker), AA’hen addressing a meeting at Opctiki recently, told liis audience that it Avas the Native lands that was keeping Opoti'ki backr “The Packhorses of the Maori!” There Avere blocks of NatHe lands that AA’ere confiscated during the Maori Avar, hut they Avere still tied up by the Government, and men Avere clamouring for land. If this Avas not the strongest indictment against th 0 Government's policy then lie did not knoAV what av»s. If these' lands Avere brought into occupation, them the Avages AA’ould be increased. The Maori AA’ould rather deal Avith the pakeha than the Crown, but was not alloAved. The pakeha had been made the pack-horse of the Maori. Tlie Maori said lie Avas a grown man and could get along for himself. He know the Maoris, and they Avere anxious for their independence. Wliv should the Maori not ho allowed to sell his own land. It ay as all nonsense to make one law for the Maori and another for tlie pakeha. They had for years been carrying the Maoris on their backs. They loaded liis country and bridged his rivers but got no tiling in return. There were in New Zealand at the present time acres upon acres of NatNe lands. There Avere in all 7,417,968 acres. Of this area 1,906,968 acre® Avere leased, leaving a. balance of 5,0i1,018 acres. Altogether it AV,as dear in vieAV of the small amount o.f stock OAvned by tlie Natives that- the whole of the cultivated areas totalled only 352,070 acresThe country was getting deeper into debt because the population, could not increase while tilicse Native; lands wcie kept locked, up. He had a pcstei issued by the Liberal party, in Avliicli they told of all l the good things they had done. There had been, according to the figures in it, a great deal of Native land taken up during tire last two years. More About a Liberal Poster. This poster Avent into some interesting figures, * but one tiling they liad omitted, and this Avasto take credit for the good winter Avhich liad been experienced. Sir Joseph Ward liad estimated that £2,750,000. AA’0u1d he remiired for new roads. This he had based partly om the fact that there Avere 7,000,000 acres of Native land as yet unoccupied., and, at tlie same time, it Avas- stated in the poster he bad referred to that there Aver© only two million, acres of Native land ML After reading the planks of

the Reform party, Mr. do Lautour Avent on to say that the Government had not dealt seriously with the Native land question. That this Avas so was shown by tlie Hon. A. T. Ngata two years ago. Some time back the Government became dissatisfied Avith the Native land administration, and it Avas a arced to set up a Native Lands Commission, comprised of Sir Robert Stout (Chief Justice) and the Hon. A. T- Ngata. _ The appointing of Mr. Ngata as a Native land commissioner Avas like appointing a brewer to say avli:it he thought of the liquor question. A Voice: He is a good man. The candidate: Yes, he is a good man —an excellent man. ’Jf " -A. It had since been admitted that the Native land question had not been settled. The Avhole Native land system Avas rotten, and their OAvn representatiA’e in' Parliament had told the inomliers <of the House that the district had been benefitted by the Native land legislation. The speaker did not think so, and that Avas av’liv lie Avas a candidate at this election. Remarking that the “New Zealand Times” Avas the inspired organ of the Government, and on that account a reliable indication of Avhat the Government’s future policy avus going to lie,tlie speaker Avent on to quote from an article Av'hieh appeared in that journal,, and in which it Avas argued that the life of the agriculturist and pastoralist Avas the life for the Maori, and asked if it A\ere Avise to open the door to further alienation of Native land. Regarding the land policy of the Government, Mr de Lautour said that he stood for freehold every time, and did so because he thought the freeholder was the backbone of the country. In times of depression it Avas lie avlio could pay the baker and butcher and his wages men. On the ether hand, a man. who Avas a tenant was probably living up to his income, and in times of depression he Avas at a less to know hew to meet the cost of living. If they had two or three years of bad times they would haA*e to'“sack” their wages men. “The Backbone of the Country.” It had been said that the freehold poliev AA’as a matter of sentiment, bur he contended that it Avas the freeholder who Avas the backbone of the country. He had a stake in the country, and he AA’as going to stick to it- They had heard talk of unearned increment, butthere Avas in' his opinion no such tiling as unearned increment in the backblocks. When a man went on to a busk section, and felled the bush, and broke it in, he deserA-ed every penny he earned If the man did not earn it, bis wife did. The speaker and his wne had carried their babies through the mud to their section, and he Know' the hardships endured. The women put up Avith it, but did they not earn the increment? Of course thev did if their husbands did not, and often it was earned twice over. The member for then- district, Mr Maf Donald, had voted against freehold m the House, but the speaker had to do him justice. Mr MacDonald haa pledged himself to stand by his party, and he had done so. Every one knev that Air MacDonald was m faior of rreehold but he was tied and shackled by his party - The speaker dealt- lor Mine minutes with the advantages or the ORP system, and then went on to deal' with the reform of the Legislative Council by replacing the Present nominative Council by one elected by the same franchise as tlie present House of Representatives. They all knev whv the members of the Legislative Council were called there, and he wanted to know how they could do what they were sent there to do in view or this tact. Bv criticising the actions of the House of Representatives they knew they ran the risk of not being recalled. The Government AA'as not democratic as it claimed to be, and he asked how it could be democratic when its headjwas an aristocrat. The speaker had been m England, and had seen the hereditary title on one side of the gate, and the hereditary misery on the other, and. the contrast, he said, was not a pretty one Sir Jospeh Ward's baronetcy Avould, be said, lie amusing if it Avere not such a serious question. Sir Joseph AYard had. without consulting the legislature, cabled to England that Mv Zealand would give one Dreadnought, and two if necessary. The speaker avus as loyal to Britain as any one. but he said that there "was no reason for them to giA'e Britain a battleship. Concluding Remarks. Regarding grants to local bodies, he said tliev elected their best men to a County Council, they got a grant, and then had to submit plans of everything thev wanted to do to an engineer m Wellington. He believed in giving local bodies more power in regard to AA'orks thev were carrying on. Air deLautour dealt briefly with a number of the minor planles in the party s platform, and said there Avas one thing fie would like t*o touch on. This wns tlio poAA'er of Ministers. Some of tlie Alinisters AA-ere adopting public money to partv purposes. In conclusion Mr deLautour told his auditors that if they AA-ere satisfied that the present Government was good they must A'ote for it, but if they were not satisfied they Avould have to put him in. In conclusion. Air deLautour said that he would fight a fair fight. He AA’ould not hit beloAv the belt, and when the election was over it would be found that he had fought a clean fight and played the game. (Applause.) Replies to Questions. In reply to questions, the candidate pointed out that, there AA-ere a _ greatmany more applicants for land in New Zealand than there Avere blocks. If thev took any land ballot they would see" there was about 500 applicants. Only one could be successful, and therefore the remainder wasted time and money trying to fluke o bit of laud, at the ballot box. He thought the idle Native lands should be settled. “Would you support roads and railAvays being constructed under the oo-operaiiA-e system as at present?” was another question. The candidate said that if elected he AA’ould be one of the administrators of the public money, and he would see the people got the best value for it. The system that paid best he Avould! support. He employed men on the day labor system, and got thorough Avork out of them. Regarding compulsory training, Air deLautour said that lie had been in South Africa, and there saw the misery and desolation caused by Avar,., and he did not Avant to see it in Ncav Zealand’. He Avas in faA’or of military training. If it Avas knoAvn there were thousands of trained men in Nevr Zealand, then foreign powers Avould he more chary of landing here. Tlie candidate, in reply to a further question, said he Avas in fa\-or of opening up the backblocks by railways, but lie Avauted tlie Native lauds settled before lie put in a railway. Vote of Thanks. On the motion of Air P. J. Sefton, seconded by Air G. Williams, a hearty vote of thanks Avas unanimously accorded to Air deLautour for Ms address.