LABOUR POLICY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 283, 27 August 1935, Page 5

LABOUR POLICY

Guaranteed Prices For

Farmers

GOODS AND SERVICES Address By Mr. Semple The Labour Party’s policy of guaranteed prices for primary produce was discussed by Mr. R. Semple, M.P. for Wellington East, in a pre-sessional address at Lyall Bay last night. The farmer’s standard of living to-day, he said, was fixed on a diminishing and fluctuating world’s market. The Labour Party submitted that was altogether wrong and that his standard of living should be fixed in New Zealand where he rendered service. The only way to do that was by giving him a guaranteed income based upon the value of goods and services he pro duced for the nation. Mr. Semple said that mouey contained no value in-itself; it merely regis tered or measured value. In other words, it drew its value from good-’ or services. The currency and credit of the nation reflected the value of these goods and services. It would be possible and practicable to create money in proportion to the value of the products created by the farmers and others. These products were real wealth that gave money its value. Government Opposition. , Mr. Semple said the Government was opposed to giving the farmers a guaranteed price, biit they were not opposed to giving the private shareholders in the Reserve Bank a guaranteed dividend of £25,000 a. year for £500,000 share capital, that was unnecessary. The Government had guaranteed a dividend of £22,500 to the shareholders of the Mortgage Corporation with an additional guarantee that if there be any losses sustained during the operation of the corporation these losses will not be carried by the bondholder or shareholder but by the nation. The officials who were to control the cor poration were guaranteed an income The Labour Party declared that K it were fair to give- these guarantees to non-wealth producers, it was a jus* and reasonable thing to give ti guar antee to the farmer who produced the major portion of the nation’s food stuffs. The farmer was the only wealth producer that was not guaran teed an income.

Reference was made by Mr. Semple to a recent speech at Dunedin by the Minister of Lands, Sir Alfred Ransom, in which Sir Alfred had stated that guaranteed prices to the farmer would cost the community £13,000,000 a year. Mr. Semple declared that Sir Alfred had shifted his ground, for last session he had stated in Parliament that it would cost between £30,000,000 and £40,000,000. Sir Alfred Ransom had failed to submit any evidence whatever to support that figure.

Concessions to Farmers.

In his Dannevirke speech, Sir Alfred Ransom had stated that the total concessions given to the farmers by the Government through taxation were £14,000,000. The Minister’s colleague, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, in inOroducIng the Mortgage Corporation legislation last session, said that 50,000 farmers out of a total of 84,000 were In a state of bankruptcy. That proved conclusively that the £14,000,000 that had been extracted from the-pockets of the people, supposedly to save the farmers, had not reached the pockets of the farming community. Mr. Semple produced a graph showing that the rise and fall in the prices of primary products in the world’s markets travelled in cycles. He pointed out that the price shifted up and down over a period of years, anu that the good years cancelled out the bad years. The indications were that the guaranteed price given to the farmers was nothing more or less than a repayable advance, and that in the long run the nation may lose nothing. The Government’s policy had been responsible for taking out- of circulation £110,000,000 within the last five years, which had reduced the people’s income to a minimum and at the same time raised the burden of taxation to a maximum. The Labour Party would rpstore to the people this Income, and by so doing make it quite easy for the people to meet any loss that may accrue as a result of dur overseas sales. Shortage of . Income. All that the farmer was short of was an income, and the Labour Party’s policy of guaranteed prices would give him that income and the £14,000,000 tax per year that the Government had levied upon the people annually •in his name would automatically be cancelled.

If Sir Alfred Ransom’s figure of £13,000,000 was correct (which he disputed) the community -would have £1,000,000 less per year of a tax to carry and the farmer would have an assured income instead of being in a state of bankruptcy as was the case today on the Government’s own showing. The Labour Party would remove the sales tax, which was the most vicious form of tax ever imposed upon a community. Labour would absorb also all physically fit men into useful and profitable employment and so dispose of the £4,500,000 of annual unemployment tax that was being wasted on non-productive works. New Zealand was paying the heaviest petrol tax In the world. This tax was Imposed for reading purposes, but since its imposition thousands of pounds of this money had been improperly taken to balance the Budget. The Labour Party would see to it that this money was used for the purpose for which it. was collected.

Remarks By Mr. Savage.

The meeting was attended by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. M. J. Savage, who spoke briefly at the conclusion of Mr. Semple’s address. Mr. Savage said members of the Labour Party did not have to employ a brains trust to say what was wrong. Labour asked for the confidence of the people to put things right. It could be done with their confidence. This country could be developed on the credit of the people.

Answering a question, Mr. Semple said’the Labour Party was in favour of using the air for the broadcasting of controversial subjects, it had been suggested that the radio would-be used at the general election for electioneering purposes. If that were to be done Labour would want a 50-50- bargain. Replying to another question, Mr. Semple said the Labour Party would oppose any Interference with the electoral laws on the eve of an election. The chairman was Mr. J. W. Tasker A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Semple and Mr. Savage for their address, and a motion carried expressing the view that the Labour Party -was the only alternative to the present Government. Cheers were also given for Mr. Semple.