"ENTIRELY DIFFERENT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 243, 15 October 1931, Page 5

"ENTIRELY DIFFERENT."

CIRCUMSTANCES OF TO-DAY. MR. FORBES DEFENDS POLICY. HELPING THE SHEEPFARMER. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. "I feel every confidence that this country is going to get through its troubles. It depends upon the character and fibre of its people whether it will win out. We have a difficult task in front, and its solution can only be accomplished by determination and co-operation. There must be determination on the part of the people to back up the Government in restoring the country to prosperity, and we will be able to look back with satisfaction on these times, disagreeable as they might be."

In these words the Prime Minister, the Rt. Eon. G. W. Forbes, concluded a speech in the House to-night in justification of the Budget proposals. His entry into the debate followed a declaration by Mr. D. G. Sullivan (Labour, Avon) that he (Mr. Forbes) was going back on the principles of Liberalism, and that his wealthy constituents in Hurunui would benefit by the legislation brought down.

Tie Labour members, said Mr. Forbes, were to be complimented on the diligence they had shown in their researches into the past, with the .

object of taking Ministers to task for the attitude they were adopting over the graduated land tax. 4 Mr. P. Fraser (Labour, Wellington Central): They were solar plexus blows. Mr. Forbes: The Labour members seem to take delighl in hunting in the graveyards of- the past. Mr. Fraser: Is it not the graveyard of the future that is worrying the Prime Minister ? Mr. Forbes: Members on the Labour benches know to-day that conditions are entirely different. Never before have we been up against a set of circumstances such as we are now facing.

"Farmers Desperate." To-day, lie said, the farmers were absolutely desperate. There was scarcely a single farmer in Canterbury wlio was not paying his taxes, rates and wages out of capital. Many of them were going into debt to do it. The farmers were suffering more heavily as the result of the depression than any other Mr. W. E. Barnard (Labour, Napier): What about the wage-earners? Labour Voices: They don't count! "I have mixed with the farmers for 40 years', although I have been on opposite sides politically, and I am ready to say that the slieepfarmers of Canterbury have done a tremendous lot to build up the prosperity of the province," said Mr. Forbes. "I have always felt that the country should be indebted to these men. Now a position has been, reached when the descendants of these men are up against it. There is not one single man in the whole of North Canterbury who can show a favourable balance-sheet."

Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Ind., Grey Lynn): What did they do with their money in the good years? Mr. Forbes said it was the Government's duty to lock after the men who were suffering. He would be ashamed — Mr. Fraser: Yes, you ought to be, too. Mr. Forbes: I would be ashamed if the Liberal party stood out against these men. For some time they had to look forward to lower prices for their sheep products, and it was the duty of the Government to look after the sheep men of Canterbury. Mr. Fletcher: What about the evictions in Auckland? Mr. R. Semple (Labour, Wellington East): They simply don't count! The Government's Mandate. Mr. Forbes said taxation was always unpopular, but the Government was faced with the necessity of balancing its Budget. The Labour party was out for its political advantage, and it was not surprising that it Avas smiling over the Government's programme.

"Where a clear case of hardship can be shown to the Government, then it is its duty to relieve it," Mr. Forbes added. "There is no doubt hardship exists so far as the graduated land tax is concerned. The Labour party talks about our getting a mandate from the people, but the mandate of the Government at the present time is the welfare of the country. That is the mandate we are taking notice of at the present time." Mr. Semple: Are you prepared to seek a mandate from the people? Mr. Forbes: The people of this country have common sense, and they will use it. I have had hundreds of letters commending the Government for what has been done. Mr. H. T. Armstrong (Labour, Christchurch East): I would like to have a look at some of the signatures. Mr. Forbes: I don't remember a time when the opinion of people approving what has been done has been so freely expressed. What has been done lias been done in the interests of the Qountry.