Nat. Govt would rescue rural N.Z. — Sir Robert

Press, 18 March 1987, Page 24

Nat. Govt would rescue rural N.Z. — Sir Robert

PA New Plymouth Rural New Zealand will be rescued by the next National Government, Sir Robert Muldoon said. Outlining a policy not yet announced by the National Party caucus, the former Prime Minister told a gathering of supporters that his party would have to repair the damage caused by Labour’s lack of social conscience. “We are going to have tn rnndnrt cnmn cnrt nF

to conduct some sort of rescue operation for the rural and provincial economy,” he said. "We have got to lift the farming industry up again so the infra-structure there is being used.” Among the rescue measures would be a review of the livestock tax, removing the burden of high interest and improving exports, he said. “We have got problems,

and these problems are in the provinces and rural areas,” Sir Robert said. “The burden of interest on the farming industry is criminal.” He said a National Government would have to do something about the livestock tax — a Treasury invention accepted by Labour. “Farmers are paying income tax before they get the income from their stock.” The new tax meant farmprc nnw naid mnrp

farmers now paid more than before, he said. The effect of Labour policies was to close down provincial schools and move families to Auckland in search of work. “When half the coal miners on the West Coast are put out of jobs, we do not just lose jobs. There are several hundred perfectly good houses down there.” A huge amount of capi-

tal was being wasted housing those families in Auckland and building new schools. With some farmers losing everything they had worked all their lives for and families being uprooted from the provinces, the Government could not claim to have a monopoly on caring. “The one thing this Government lacks is any vestige of a social conscience,” he said.