"GOOD TIMES"' "AND GOOD WAGES"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 74, 28 March 1914, Page 9

"GOOD TIMES"' "AND GOOD WAGES"

MR. MASSEY IN THE SOUTH. FINANCE AND OTHER MATTERS. (•I TMJGRira— mtS AISOCIATWJt.) TAPANUI. 27th March. The Prime Minister visited Tapanui •to-day and was entertained by the Borough Council. In proposing the toast oT the "Local Bodies," Mr. Massey referred to the large amount of work done by such men in the interests of the community and sakl he had. recommended to His Excellency the Governor that something should be done for such men. Addressing a large public at which the Mayor presided, Mr. Massey said that so far as finance was concerned the Government had had a very great deal of difficulty since they came into office. When they came into office they found the Treasury cheste had been depleted. After tho General! Election it became the duty of the Government in power to go on the London market for the money it required for public works, and the lending departments, but the next Government in office after the- election considered it no part of its duty to attend to this. The Government resigned at the end of March and a new Government came in which'only lasted a few months, and it failed to go to the money market, but the next went to the market for a loan. That Government came into office and ,he would give them one instance of what it found. It was its business to lend money to local bodies to carry on developments aod the Government found that there was £77,000 of commitments to local bodies, and only £17,000 to meet them with. They would recollect that previous to 1912 for several years money had been reasonably cheip and there was no difficulty of borrowing in London, but in "1912 a sharp Increase, in the rate \of interest took place, the reason being a European war, the effects of which were still felt. A number of countries made up their minds that they wanted money for development purposes and they went to the London money-market, and the rate of interest vsjent up because the law of supply, and demand came in. The present Government made up its mind that it would take no risks and made arrangements for Mr. Allen to go to London. .He * went in tHe early part of 1913 and placed a loan for 3£ millions on satislactory terms. The most serious diffi- * cr.lty in the way of financing was that for' some time past there had been boriowed money on short-dated debentures, anything up to seven years. When the • last' was raised by the Minister in office it was raised for two years, and cost nearly £200,000 to raise, and the present ' Government had to pay it off. They xound that £6,000,000 was required to pay off short-dated debentures. That was* a serious 'position to face. Many people in London approved of these short-dated debentures because so long as the security was right they were the better for them. There was £12,000,000 to be' raised altogether, and they had commenced last year by placing a loan of ty millions. They had to pay for it, but compared with other countries they got it on very reasonable terms. LOANS. Then they arranged with their financial agents to be ready to place a -loan whenever the proper opportunity came. The opportunity came, and they sent a cablegram 1 to place a 4$ million loan. That loan was placed, and they were offered ;£26,000,000. (Applause.) 'He did not' recollect' anything of the sort taking place in this country or in any other country. (Applause.) He had the .results of the flotation of loans by other countries. These Mr. Massey proceeded to refer to, and showed that with regard to South Australia, South Africa, Canada, and other countries, a large percentage of the money to be raised had been left on the hands of the underwriters — in one instance as much as 80 per cent. At present they felt that die credit of New Zealand stood high, •mil that the investing public in England had every confidence in the Dominion. (Applause.) LENDING DEPARTMENTS. As to the lending Departments, the financial position when the Government took- office was that no settler, no matter how good his security, could possibly ■Obtain from the lending Department more £500. What was the reason? It was 1 part of the policy of the country to lend money to local bodies. A large sum of money was available in 1911, and in that year any local body could get almost as much money as it required. He knew of one local body that borrowed £116,000. The result was that when the Treasury-w as almost empty the Department had to reduce the amount lent out. The present Governmerit bad increased the amount, which now stood at £1000, and it was hoped that in a few weeks it would be £1250. (Applause.) The Government had, therefore, doubled the limit of lending since coming into office eighteen months' ago. The Government had lent to settlers, workers, and local bodies the sum of £2,472,715 in a time of scarcity, and therefore the Government had done its duty by the people and by the local bodies who required money to carry on their operations. (Applause.) SAVINGS BANK. The Post Office Savings Bank was a - good index lof the condition of the" Dominion, and recently the deposits had greatly exceeded the withdrawals, showing that the country was in a prosperous state, (Applause.) Before the Government took office there were many doleful ' predictions. It was said that if they, "the Tory crowd," came into office there would be depression, bad times, low prices, low wages, that everything" would go wrong, and that there would be scarcity of employment. What had been the result? The country was never more prosperous than it was to- j day, and the outlook was never brighter. (Applause.) The policy of the Government, summed up in a few words, was — good times, good wages, and equal opportujiifcy- for all. (Applause.) The country was a hive of industry, and anyone who did his best would do well for hhnsejf and for the country. (Applause) - - GOVERNMENT'S RECORD. The fioveinment had no' reason to be ashamed of .its legislation or of its administration of the last twenty months. Tlts 'Government was out for development of 1 the Country, and to do that it was necei>saiy to boirow money. We must borrow money, but the Government wpujd tee that the taxpayers got j full value for every shilling b'orrowecl \ a'.\d expended on their .behalf. (Ap- j ]plnu&e } It had also been' said that ' money was being spent ' unnecessarily. • As a mattur of fact, when tiie. Government took office they found that the railway men in the Second Division were not being paid ordinary labourers' wag'eh. -Theie was dissatisfaction and unrest, and . the Minister of Railways had ' recom- ; mended that the wages of these men be increased, to which recommendation Parliament had agreed. The right thing was 'done, because during the strike trouble there was no more loyal body of workers in the Dominion than the railway employees. (Applause.) Teachers salaries had been increased, and more would yet be done for the teachers, and the pay of the police bad also been increased.--** tio

far as the Public Service was concerned, the Government believed in thd principle that good men were entitled to good wag^s, but they had no time for the wasttrs who were \lear at any price. (Applause.) If the, Opposition did not believe in that principle,' let. them move a want-of-confidence motion, and he was prepared to abide, by the result. (Applause.) ' On the land question Mr. Massey said he had already laid the foundation-stone of their policy, and built a substantial structure on it, one Ihat ■would last for centuries to come. (Applause.) The policy of the Government was, to convert ' the land policy of the country from leasehold to freehold, and they had done it. The effect of the legislation of the Government had been to promote settlement, and to give settlers confidence, and between 19,000 and 20,000 settlers who were Crown tenants had now the opportunity of becoming freeholders.. There was a provision in last year's Land Bill that, when a number of settlers went into the backblocks and took up land, every penny they paid by way of interest on capital waa to be used to give access to their land, but even that was not enough, and he proposed to ask Parliament to do something more important in the forthcoming session. He did not propose at present to disclose the Government policy in that, particular matter. (Applause.) During the year the Government had purchased no less than £550.000 worth of land, with an area of between 140,000 and 150,000 acres, and nearly the whole of it had been settled. There were one or two blocks in the South that did not go off so well as expected, but in the great majority of cases when the land was opened for selection every section was taken up, and as a rule by a very good ctass of settlers. The Government proposed to continue that sort of thing. I As long as there was a demand for land they proposed to make the land a.vailable. They did not propose to do any injustice to the land-owners. They introduced an amendment of the Laud and Income Tax Act in 1912 and passed it into law, as a result of which revenue was increased to the extent of £40,000, but the Government were out after revenue. They wanted to show those land-owners who held large blocks that it was their duty to subdivide the laud, and that it was ..better to subdivide it than to hold it in large blocks, and the legislation of 1912 had had that effect. He 7 intended to lay a return on the table of the House in * connection with this mau-er that would surprise a. good many of those who had been criticising what the Government had done in regard to the land. (Applause.-) Mr. G. H. Stewart (Crookston) moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Massey for his 'address, and of continued confidence in the Government. Mr. G. Howat (Tapanui) ( seconded the motion, which was carried with ringing cheers.