EYES OF THE WORLD

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 102, 1 May 1936, Page 9

EYES OF THE WORLD

ARE ON NEW ZEALAND

SHOWING THE WAY OUT,

MR. LANGSTONE DECLAIMS,

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, Thursday,

In liis usual declamatory style the Minister of Lands (Mr. Langstone) declared, when speaking- in the second reading debate on the Primary Products Marketing Bill ir. the House of Representatives to-night, that the farmer was to have security and stability in the future. At the outset he referred to the speech made by the former Minister of Lands (Sir Alfred Ransom), who had claimed that under his Government the farmer had been given £13,000,000. That worked out at £3 a week income for each fanner, in addition to what lie took off his laud. If that were so, said Mr. Langstone, why was the farmer so hard up "now 1 (Laughter.) It had also been stated, the Minister proceeded, that the farmer had received exemption in graduated land tax amounting to £1,000,000. He said that Wil6 —well, an unmitigated political inexactitude. (Laughter.) Hoarding and Speculation. Mr. Langstone said that when Mr. H. E. Davis, London manager of the New Zealand Dairy Board, came to New Zealand he told farmers what was going on on the other side of the world. Merchants were buying short, and they were hoarding and speculating, and he recounted how many times a parcel of butter .was sold around the table. The Government was opposed to speculation and gambling in food stuffs. The farmer had to be protected from financial manipulators and financial gamblers in the old world. The farmers had been the victims too long of that pernicious system. Under the Government's scheme the farmer would have security and stability, which was something lie had never had before. Ninety per cent of the farmers would welcome the guaranteed price policy. All the Government was doing, said the Minister, was monetising butter. Government as Trader. The Government would have control of overseas exchanges under the bill, said Mr. Langstone, and for the first time in the history of New Zealand tha Government would become the trader. When the previous Ministers went to England they were penniless, because the banks controlled the money. They j had a look around the industries in the same way as a person looked around a shop. When the Minivers of the present Government went Home they could say they desired to trade and tlicy had control of New Zealand's money. Thoy would have the power to control the market and purchasing power. Only ] Governments could make agreements that were worth while. New Zealand's credits at Home under the last Govern- ! ment coukl be used for financing the : purchase of margarine, or for financing foreign countries. They could be used • to assist Mussolini to blow the Abbos ; out of Abyssinia. (Laughter.) There was no law to stop it. Under the - Labour policy that could not take_ place. 1 The farmers would be given a fair deal l and the people would be protected. 3 "The eyes of the world are on New t Zealand," added the Minister. "The a world is looking to us. The success or = New Zealand in the way we are taking means the way out for the world.