PREMIER AT WINTON.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3369, 8 November 1911, Page 5

PREMIER AT WINTON.

PROTEST AGAINST MISREPRESENTATION. MULTITUDINOUS METHODS OF LAND TENURE. MOKAU TRANSACTIONS, GAMING LAWS, AND LICENSING QUESTIONS (Per Press Association.; WINTON, Nov. 7. Sir Joseph Ward, opened his campaign at Winton, .the centre of his electorate, to-night. By special train from Invercargill a very, large number of citizens came out to Winton with tlie Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Lady Ward. On arrival at the railway station the party was welcomed by the' local band, and a very large :jssembllago of cheering people, Sudh a large crowd had gathered in Winton to hear the Prime Minister’s address, that the hall originally engaged was not nearly large enough to accommodate them, and an adjournment was made to a larger hall, where fully 1500 people soon packed in. Sir Joseph Ward was loudly cheered as, with his party, lie made his Avay through the crowded hall to the platform. Tlie Mayor of Winton, Mr J. R. MciWililiani, presided. In his opening remarks Sir Joseph made sympathetic reference to the death of Mr Massey’s father, lie went on to say that in his remarks with inference to matters in his electorate he was not going to allow any feeling of bitterness to influence him towards liis opponent for Awarua. Sir Joseph spoke first of what lie termed the policy of misrepresenting and distortion of facts, and referred scathingly to ma-chine-made speeches of innocent dupes of tlie Opposition party, which were putting many a good man wrong in New Zealand. He ouoted Sir George Fowlds on retirement from the Ministry in confirmation of his contention that no charge of Tammanyism or corruption could he made against the present Government. He quoted also the late Mr T. E. Taylor and his successor, Mr Isitt, in the same connection. He had a good deal to say about the increase in the public debt, and quoted masses of figures to show that most of the works constructed with borrowed money bore interest. He also submitted records to show what comparatively little opposition had been shown by members of the Opposition party to the different loan proposals. His remarks in justification of the Dreadnought loan were received with cheers. He referred in detail to the benefits to settlers from the Advances to Settlers Act, and to the financial soundness of that Department. Last year the sum of £2,400,000 was loaned to settlers of New Zealand, and for the first six months of this year the settlors had received about £1,400.000 from the Advances to Settlers Department. Sir Joseph spoke also of the success of the Government Annuities Act, and gave particulars of the various classes of unemployment, and the increased cost of living. He resented very strenuously the unfounded statements that the present Government had no land policy, and claimed that at tlie present time there wa6 a choice of no less than eight different kinds of tenure. In the course of his remarks in this connection, he claimed that in the amount of. land settled, he had beaten his predecessors by over a hundred thousand acres. It had been said that as Minister of Lands he had not been a success, and that he knew nothing about lands; but he claimed he had put more vigor into the Land Department than had any other Minister in the past fifteen or twenty years, and the results showed that this was so. The Prime Minister referred to some results of the working of the State Guaranteed Advances Act, and criticised .in passing the attitude of members of the Opposition in this regard when the Bill was before the House, and at the present time. The whole story of the Mokau land transaction was dealt with fully. Speaking of the gaming laws. (Sir Joseph Ward said that he was not sorry for anything he liad done in this connection. All sensible people recognised that the gambling laws had run riot. The amendments made confined betting to racecourses, and did away with totalisator shops and abolished the telegraph to racecourses, and made the calling of the bookmaker illegal. He was not, and never had been, against horse racing. He believed that as a sport it deserved encouragement, but as a'public man he did not approve of the former state of affairs, and maintained that there were abuses that had had to he tackled. The abuses had all been removed and rightly so, in his opinion.

With regard to licensing laws he expressed his own personal opinion, the question not being a party one. The law as now amended should be given a. trial. If there were any further change it ought to be on the lines of 55 per cent, majority for national prohibition, and three-fifths for district No-license. In the event of prohibition being carried lie did not think the revenue should be made up altogether from tax on land, and certainly not from tax on the small land holders. Numerous instances were given of incidents of death duties, in support of the contention that this form of taxation was just and equitable. The Prime Minister mentioned in the course of his speech that the earning from the public debt created by the present Government and most of them by himself, amounted to nearly one and a-half millions. He spoke at length and with some degree of indignation regarding the Opposition criticism of the five million loan, and' declared that the Opposition members were in possession of all the information members of Government possessed. He had read the cables in the House. The net return was £96 6s Id. Full details could not be obtained from the High Commissioner until the sale of the remaining £142,000 of stock was completed. The expenses of the loan amounted to £110,4&0. The Opposition pursued a method not followed anywhere else in the world, of adding the discount to the expenses of the loan, and calling the total thus obtained the expenses of raising the loan. The speech contained comprehensive reference to all the legislation undertaken by the Liberal Government. In answer to allegations of public money having been spent on private land in Awarua, Sir Joseph declared that lie had never at any time to his knowledge authorised any public money to be spent on private land. He was instituting inquiries, and if there were cases where money had unwittingly been so spent, then" refunds would be insisted upon. At the conclusion of an address of two and a-half hours, Sir Joseph Ward was accorded a. vote of thanks and unabated confidence in the Government, of which he was the distinguished head. v