MAIL TAURANGA AUDIENCE HEARS FIRST ELECTION ADDRESS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 15116, 27 October 1949, Page 3

MAIL TAURANGA AUDIENCE HEARS FIRST ELECTION ADDRESS

«Zealand's Prosperity" Attributed To government's Foresight

nrTT? CANDIDATE .GIVEN ATTENTIVE M B ° U ' HEARING

that the prosperous conditions existing in New i c i we r3 directly attributable to the efforts of the Government, was mads by the official Labour candidate, jabotf * pickett, in’his first electioneering address in Tauranga jlr 3; an attendance of about 50 people who gave the Br 6 attentive hearing He was accorded a vote af thanks, confidence in the Government was carried. Deputy Mayor of Tauranga, Mr L. D. Lees was chair-

, o few weeks ago that I was w lc a of an earthquake Mr Doidge from this lH d! staled Mr Pickett tn Gh adress. “Tonight we that earthquake, he ‘‘and I take that as a good

change-over between seasons. He wished his listeners to realise that there was never full employment in New Zealand before the Labour Government came into power. The lowest figure that unemployment had reached under any other Government, had been 7,000 and the peak figure was 80,000 over 20 years of age.

1®."., said he realised that G be a difficult electorate if u | d ab our Party and that it {fug a difficult election. He (M-y.. stated, because he con--1 *j 3 }hat the campaign should ered jached realistically and in BPP Hav life he always eni eve 3 Jfview all things from tloint of view. Regarding (J 1 experience, the speaker f'fe had had experience at his ited town of Waihi in many t °'!f nubile life. He was “Jfto s a y that he held office in Nations representative of all people and was proud of St that he had their confidence. 'Slam proud too,” continued .‘candidate, “to represent the ! ■ Irtv in this election and in Wrrate I am proud to be Representative of the finest GovL this country has ever had “1, Zealand Labour GovernfMr Pickett recalled that L the depression years he had ?° in charge of 60 men in a I works camp, when the men r him were earning only about shillings a week. He realised at it meant to go through that, said, and had seen some of the L side of life in Auckland durthe depression years. Many ole teday could not visualise iat conditions in thosG timGs wgtg i e j u t we don’t see them today,” stinued Mr Pickett, who claimed si it was entirely due to the hour Government that such conlions did not now exist. The Edit was, he said, directly due to e Labour Government which had -Med the problem and overcome Mrty.and misery by abolishing [employment in New Zealand. “While we have every man

Stating that some persons criticised the Labour Government for its incorporation of the Land Sales Act, the speaker stated that this had been introduced for one specific purpose and against very little opposition. At the time, everybody was feeling patriotic and wished to see the boys protected when they came back. So the Act was introduced ’ and applauded as a good thing. Sellers and Speculators

“The Labour Party still thinks it a good thing and still thinks that the boys need protection,” continued Mr Pickett. “It must be realised that the world has reached and passed the boom period. Yet the Tories wish to take off the lid and allow the sellers and speculators to cash in.” The candidate said he was not concerned with the seller but he was concerned with the buyer. There was no doubt that sooner or later there would come a day when the 1942 values would have to be reviewed —but not while prices were on the up, or when soldiers were still wanting to be settled. When the soldiers had been placed on farms of their own, that would be the time to amend the Land Sales Act. The Government was also criticised, continued Mr Pickett, for not bringing into production large areas of land. The reason that the largescale breaking-in and development of land was not undertaken by the Government was because it considered that this was not possible unless large quantities of manure were available. This manure was not available and until it was the Government believed it would be a waste of money to undertake large-scale development work. The speaker supported the establishment of phosphate-treating plants—farmers could not cut down on the existing supplies of manure. Farmers in the Tauranga area, stated Mr Pickett, could do no better than to establish their own co-onerative fertiliser works.

uployed and receiving- a good nje,” he stated, “we have a urket for our goods, but if the sen are out of work and the rages- are poor, then we have no urket for our goods.”

The speaker referred to the stateent made on Tuesday evening by i Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, to

effect that all in New Zealand

ere part of one complete unit—all (pendent on one another. This, he id was true and it was only under Labour government that New (aland could prosper. Prosperity in Tauranga He referred to the prosperity in imanga and other parts of the

Mount Maunganui had been suggested as a likely location for such a works. He visualised ships bringing rock phosphate and taking away timber. Dealing with the State housing scheme, Mr Pickett claimed that much criticism resulted from deliberately false statements. He instanced a case of being told that the State houses paid no rates. This was not true. They paid the same rates as any other property owners. There were more privately-owned houses in New Zealand today, he said, than ever before. The Government intended to go further in assisting those on the lower-wage group, by granting loans up to £ISOO, The speaker said it was claimed that the Labour Government did not uphold the right of ownership. This was utter rubbish. It was absurd’ to say that the Government intended to take the homes and the businesses of the people, “Still More Left Over”

lectorate, stating that this pros(rity was evidenced by the amount (building going on —many houses going up despite the claim, ta heard, that there were such

teat shortages in building mattials, New industries were spring's up in Tauranga and more and we workers were employed in the n.

Both Tauranga and Mount wnganui had to realise, said Mr hckett, that the time when they l( ™ be considered simply holiday '®ts had gone. The situation noth and the natural harbour ™ e . together with the enormous Witialities available nearby, Me them ideally suitable for velopment as industrial centres. .I 5 ca ndidate referred to what had described as a vital , j or S }l New Zealanders—the e of affairs in the world at large, roust be realised, he continued, i a , lar ge part of the world ed conditions to be very similar °l .* n America today and a-half per cent, of the wcrk.Ppnahon were unemployed. If JS***ge was applied to New jIdI ’ d would mean an unI 0 * 3 * 46,000 oeople. 1 -=ium had 11 per cent., Ireland Cark 6 ?'’ Sweden 4 P er cent., i! r k 3, P er cent, and Britain & , Cen ; uner nployed. Britain, jy \. v , as ., faced with troubles toie’fip, . , a . t percentage because t6 re terests of the world m Z * er ~ as they were 6 *- ew ea L an d Labour CdS 1 . 1 ? 1938 when Ng w ti?'!! nted , a l oan of £9,000,000 tfuis vented it under harsh %'nKtk; s , aid Mr Pickett, Gerl!« 31 that time ’ a loan U P against it today,” Susp candidate, “simply %hting- interests are With every Labour^p r c^a ™ ec i that since ftor u v Pa . overnn ? ent went into Je foresight S a /°’ bad - through %ls £ ,°f restrictions and Ntion £ New Zealand in a Crests of n! could Protect the Shouirt \ be peo P !e as a whole. H hp h a 7 - be a world-wide Ns Would <^ nit . ted that come eve n so a? V 1 short supply, Nt Promicod'\^ abour GovernNWages i/ ull , employment. [ * iv % ’ iw a 111 gh standard ’ wbatevg r happened HS t ; 0t be possible if the JN, rty were in power he V °pf h ,f National Party k? Promised C^ ett w id that the % e some , controls. bSa ht °^ eCt t 0 the trjNon th e g , ca;led T °ries, in ft with T/ were of the same h s 6 policy and th e t£ Ve desired ’ he sa id, ‘he Lahn PCOI o 0f labourthe first m U K • Governme nt C y >t-L t u o to bnn § about full W°fld t 0 rln he hrst country in N ew Zealand’s p e p aid Jhe speaker, 0 ati° n nt. of the working % °P of tkVoting ti ] ere were 36,000 <> n „^l v " k ?«_ vi rt U aU yi " s| WS P , loyment other f ng fron t a natural

Referring to the claims of the National Party supporters that inflation existed in New Zealand today and that prices were high, Mr Pickett admitted that prices were high, but claimed there was still more left over after all obligations had been met. This was proved, he said, by the deposits in the National Savings Accounts.

“If that is inflation,” he added, “I would sooner have it than the deflation we knew years ago. “The Press is always inferring that there never were labour disputes in New Zealand until Labour took office,” he continued. He quoted figures from the Official Year Book which, he said, showed that in the 14 years before Labour took office there were 602 Strikes and six lock-outs, affecting 860 firms, 104,387 workers, and resulting in the loss of 7,604,000 working hours.

Anyone who claimed that the Labour Government had started industrial troubles should recall those figures, he said. Mr Pickett claimed that the Press was responsible for this impression. A typical case was the attitude cf an Auckland daily newspaper in reporting on the elections in Norway. Half a column, blazed with the heading “Labour Threatened in Norway,” had appeared one day. The following day, after Labour had been returned with a bigger majority than ever, this fact was not renorfed at all. Labour today was faced with two opponents, said the candidate. These were the Nationalists and the Communist Party. He claimed that the Communists wished to see the Nationalists in power because they realised that then conditions would be created which would allow Communism to prosper. The real friend of the worker and the farmer and the ordinary person over the last 14 years, had been the Labour Government. ’ The Nationalists could, however, claim one record—the highest percentage of bankrupts, suicides and homicides the country had ever ! known, Mr Pickett declared. Labour did not begrudge them this record. The speaker claimed that the ties with Great Britain had never been greater than under the Labour Government.

Evidence of prosperity in New Zealand was everywhere. There were bigger families another great product stepped up by the benevolent Labour Government which were of inestimable value to the country. Referring to immigration, Mr Pickett stated that the Government was trying to get more people of

the right type here. They did not want thousands chosen indiscriminately and placed in unsuitable work. The National Party’s claim that it would not interfere with any of the social services instituted by Labour was a wicked lie, said the candidate. At every stage the Opposition had bitterly opposed these social services, he said, yet now they claimed that they would not interfere with them. They also claimed that they would not reduce the number of civil servants, nor would they lower wages, continued .the speaker. Previously, however, they had described the Civil Service as being topheavy and the social services as a burden the country could not afford to carry. The National Party claimed also that it could not produce its policy too early because the Labour Party would copy it, stated Mr Pickett. Such a statement was ridiculous, for the Labour Party had no desire to copy anything from the Nationalists, he said. A Voice: But yet they do. The candidate referred to the Labour manifesto published in 1935 and read statements regarding minimum wages, guaranteed prices, national health, the re-organisation of school and university system, surmounting unemployment problems and social services which labour declared as part of their policy. While some of these were not yet in operation, many were, and the balance soon would be.

Answering questions, Mr Pickett stated that there was nothing in the 1935 manifesto on the abolition of sales tax, nor did the manifesto say that there would be no increase in taxation. It did say there would be a reduction. A Voice; The taxes have been reduced the wrong way!

Mr Pickett claimed that no man earning up to £SOO paid much in taxation. This, again, he said, was a matter featured by the Press. “The trouble is,” he stated, “that we have not got the voice of the newspapers.” The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the speaker and a vote of confidence in the Labour Government.