FINANCIAL DEBATE SPEECHES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 277, 19 August 1944, Page 8

FINANCIAL DEBATE SPEECHES

Continuation In House Of Representatives DISCUSSION OF PETITIONS

Hollowing discussion of petitions returned to the House of Representatives yesterday from the Public Petitions Committees, and winch occupied almost two hours of the forenoon sitting, the debate qn the Budget was resumed and continued for the remainder of the day. Three more speeches were delivered, making the total of members participating -8 in the two weeks since the debate opened. „c oQn nT n The House rose at 5.30 p.m., and will resume on 'Tuesday at -.30 p.iu.

The' intention of the Government to introduce legislation providing for slum clearance throughout New Zealand was mentioned by Hr. Armstrong- (Government, Napier). He said that such a measure was overdue, as members repre- ■ renting city electorates knew only too well. , .Ur. Armstrong said that a Bill dealing with shim clearance should. euable owners of cheap houses to obtain the necessary finance to make improvements if they had not the resources themselves to do so. The Government should have the power to request a landlord to bring his property up to a proper state of repair, and failing that the Government should do the job, and take the rent till the cost of the repairs was paid for. He had been given to understand by the Minister of Works, Mr. Semple, that he was going to bring down a Bill and have it made law before very long. Some people in New Zealand were living under terrible coudtiions. The decentralization of industry and housing in Napier was discussed by Mr. Armstrong. Housing, he said, was more acute in Napier than in Auckland or Wellington. At present there were only eleven units under construction in Napier, though there were more in some of the other Hawke’s Bay towns. Unless something were done in the direction of decentralization the smaller towns were going to be forgotten so far as ■housing was concerned. The depopulation of the larger cities was required, and a transfer of people to secondary towns like Napier, Timaru, and Gisborne. He could not understand' why the Bureau of Industry had turned down an application by Thompson and Hills for a cannery in Napier. If the licence were granted that firm would shift part of its machinery and staff from Auckland to Napier, and that would mean decentralization of industry. War Administration.

Mr. Armstrong criticized the action of members of the Opposition in withdrawing from the W ar Administration. One of them, Mr. Polson (Opposition, Stratjord) had addressed a meeting of 400 fanners in Wairoa as a representative at that time of the Government and Parliament in connexion with the drive for an increase in primary production. Half-way through the meeting he had asked if the Press were present, and on being told that it was, that some remarks he wished to make be not published. He then made the statement that the meeting would be aware there was a Socialistic Government in power which had taken unto itself regulations which could be used to confiscate their farms. Mr. Polson: That is entirely incorrect. No -such regulations were promulgated at that time, nor was any such statement made.

Mr. Armstrong said he had a note signed by four residents asking him to expose the tactics used by the member for Stratford. Mr. Polson : You were at the meeting and congratulated me afterward. Mr. Armstrong: I don’t believe you would have made the remarks you did if you had known I was there. Mr. Polson: Nonsense!

Mr. Armstrong said he was liaison officer for the National Service Department at. the time, and reported the incident to the Controller of Manpower. It was to the credit of the farmers generally that despite the tactics of the member for Stratford they had increased their production from the start of the war to the end of 1942 by £34,000,000. The member fog Stratford had not been fair enough to say that the regulations would only be imposed in the case of farmers who refused to grow those things Great Britain required, and that they were identical with those in operation in ■ Great Britain. It had not been neees-, sary to use the regulations in New Zealand. ' ' Farmers and Land Sales Act. The method adopted by the Government in calculating the productive value of farms under the Servicemen’s .Settlement and Land Sales Act was definitely against tile farmers aud was causing them to withhold their properties from sale, said Mr. Sutherland (Opposition, Hauraki). The availability of land had to be taken into account in connexion with rehabilitation. He urged that interest on rehabilitation loans be reduced and that the grants for the purchase of a business be raised from the maximum of £5OO to £lOOO and furniture loans be also increased. In urging the development of all lands suitable for production lie said that farming must be made more attractive and more of the city amenities made available to those in the country. Mr. Sutherland said he did not think the farmers would allow the Government to get away with it's assertion that the moneys received from Britain were payments to balance New Zealand’s economy. He asked what would happen if the Government told trade unions that all their overtime was to be put into a common pool. “It would be wrong if we encouraged ■ returning men to think that they have -only to lean back and just suck syrup I from the State,” said Mr. Lowry (Govern■ment, Olaki), in speaking of reliability'lion. He added that it was necessary 'that ex-servicemen should be assisted in •Wry way' possible to re-establish themselves, but they should be given opporItuiiity at the same time to strike out 'for themselves in wahtever calling they chose to adopt or to return to. It was necessary for all concerned in rehabilitation to realize that they were dealing ' with flesh and blood and not with numbers or mere units when the men came back. It was quite wrong to promise the men things that could not be fulfilled in the rehabilitation scheme. Mr. Lowry, in speaking of the desirability of rural life, connpended the Opposition member for Temtika, Mr. Acland, for an article he had written in a weekly paper about the joys of living close to tlie soil and of farming as a way of life. ‘‘lf more of our people realized the artificiality of life in the cities there would be less of a drift in that direction,” said Mr. Lowry. “I have always striven to bring town ami country , together, and if we pull further and further apart there will be chaos in this Dominion.”

.Mr. Bolson (Opposition, Stratford) : Lid you vote for the Local Bolls Bill? Mr. Lowry: Yes, 1 did and also Ihe Land Sales Bill. I consider them no injustice to the farmer. Mr. Lowry said he agreed with the Diader of the Opposition that there was need for happier relationships in industry and agriculture. But was tlie .situation helped by an advertisement calling the farmers together at Feilding to hear an address by the Opposition member for Manawatu about the use of the produce agreement funds? So long as dissension was being sown, among the farmers happier relations could never be brought about.

Mr. Polson: Don’t y'u want the farmers to get their money? .Mr. Lowry: Yes; that to which they are justly entitled. .Mr. Lowry said ho. wished to assure the Opposition and their friends that he was anxious to achieve a better understanding with tlie primary producers. Replying to a statement by Mr. Alorton, Opposition member for Waiternata. that be looked forward to the time when New Zealand would be governed by New Zealanders, Mr. Lowry said lie would. remind the honourable member that Richard John Seddon was a native of Lancashire. Another very great man. William .Ferguson Massey, was horn in Lister and many other people who had served New Zealand with distinction had been born in’the Old Country. "'lf New Zealanders want; to govern New Zealand there is nothing to stop them," said .Mr. Lowry,