MR DAVID CAYGILL South Island ‘hit hard’

Press, 16 November 1981, Page 13

MR DAVID CAYGILL South Island ‘hit hard’

New Zealand’s problems of unemployment, inflation, and migration to Australia have hit the South Island particularly hard, says Mr David Caygill. He says that in spite of talk of growth, “the latest figures show New Zealand has had no growth at all for the last six years. “Only seven years ago we had full employment. Today, almost 150,000 New Zealanders are out of work or on special work schemes. People are being paid to do nothing. That is demeaning to them and a waste of the taxpayers’ funds. “In the short term we must change the Labour Department from a department of unemployment to a true

employment service. Everyone out of work must be offered the choice of fulltime work, training or retraining, or community or public work.” Income tax is crippling New Zealand and valuable plant lies idle because overtime does not pay, says Mr

Caygill. Two family incomes are no longer a luxury but a necessity.

“Labour’s tax cuts will put $2O to $3O more in the pockets of each working family. That will restore purchasing power and give a much needed boost to the economy,” Mr Caygill says.

“Prices have more than doubled in the last -six years, the first time in New Zealand’s history. Much of the cause has been the deliberate action of the Government in lifting the lid off interest rates and increasing the cost of such things as postal charges and electricity,” says Mr Caygill. Labour would stabilise the cost of basic foodstuffs,

make it easier for families to own their own homes, and

reduce the cost of electricity by 25 per cent to all South Islanders, he says.

Mr Caygill was elected member of Parliament for. St Albans in 1978. He was a Christchurch City councillor from 1971 to 1980 and practised law in Christchurch until he was elected to Parliament. He and his wife, Eileen, have two young children. Mr Caygill says he plans, to continue to be available to constituents during the week and on Saturdays and to maintain his electorate headquarters in Shirley Road. “I will certainly continue my practice of reporting to the electorate through my regular newsletter to each household.”