"TO BE ENVIED"

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 15, 18 July 1923, Page 6

"TO BE ENVIED"

NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION

INCREASE OF PRIMARY

PRODUCTS

REMARKS BY. PRIME MINISTER.

"You -have • suggested that I should do Mmethintc to assist the agriculturists —the farmei'B and producers of this country—in connection with the present conditions,"''remarked the Prime Minister, in the course of a most interesting address to a-representative gathering of the.; primary of. the country, at the Dominion Farmers' Institute to-day. \ "I am doing the best I.possibly can in; that direction,"^ added Mr. Massey. "II havo always thought that the proper thing for the Government of this eoun- ; try to do is to assist the producers in every possible way. because in assisting ; the producers the Government is assist- ; ing the whole community. That is the line whioh'l have .taken, and'which I am endeavouring to follow now.. Of course there are lions in the path; so to speak, and I have to get rid ? x oi. them j in the.bast.way I.can. . Although' there are difficulties before the producers and, the country to-day,, those difficulties are small compared with what, they.' were a couple of years ago. A couple "of years ago the outlook was very bad,, and'l told a deputation of farmers then to po back to their farms and take their coats off ■ and show". an example to the rest of the country, and that, if they did so we would very soon get out of our difficulties. They took my advice—probably they would have got to work, even without my advice —but they did pet back to work, and I am glad to think that the -country is in so good a position to-day." - DEMANDS ON THE TREASURY. Mr. Massey said if those present would study the Financial. Statement, which he had recently presented to Parliament, they would see that this country, compared with the position of other countries, was in a position, to be envied. "I know/".- added- Mr. Massey, "that, we have to keep our finances right, or else we will not go very far." The Prime Minister pointed out that the Government. reduced the taxation of the farmers, as well as other people, last session. He said, the demands on the Treasury from all quarters were very numerous. "I have to sit on.the : Treasury chest all the time, and I am afraid I shall have to continue to do so," he "added, amidst laughter. "We got through last year, and instead of in- '• creasing .our indebtedness, as we have! been doing; for many years past, we . actually reduced our-indebtedness. The ' indebtedness of the country was reduced by practically a million and a-half. -I \ think that is something to be proud of-1- ' it is something to be proud of, at any rate, from my point of .view." ■ . EXPORTS DOUBLED IN ELEVEN YEARS. Bi eleven years we. had doubled our exports, he'added. Mr. Massey stated that eleven years ago- when on. a' visit to Timaruhe attended a-luncheon. At j that luncheon, the then member for the district, his old friend Mr. Graigie, made a, practical suggestion. He said the first thing 1 we should do was to increase our exports. In a rather joking way lturned round to Mr. Oragie and said: "If we can increase our exports td r thirty millions, will you support the Government?" (Laugh tc-r.) He'replied', "I will." "Well," remarked Mr. Massey, amidst renewed laughter, "we got our . exports last year up to forty-seven millions. I expected a good year, but I did not think our exports would reach forty-seven'mlilions. That means that we are going to pay our way. And 97 per cent, of that export comes from the products of'the soil." We had to con- j gratulate ourselves on the particularly prosperous-past two seasons. He would like that to continue for a few • more years, because if the prosperous seasons continued it meant that all the assets ' of the country would produce more, and we would tßus gain more than we would J under other circumstances. • He did not I chut" his tyes.to the fact that we had a 1 large debt, but, on, the other side, wo : had revenue arising from assets nearly ' equal to the total amount of our debt; and as time goes on those assets would be worth more than they were to-day. They were a splendid set-off. The increase the number of our sheep by 700,000 was" a mater for congratulation. He trusted.that the recent snow storms would not result seriously in the higher country in.:the South Island. Mr. Maseey then alluded to the unsatisfactory tenure of many of the runs in the South' Island, and pointed out that the legislation passed last year had had a beneficial effect, inasmuch sas it encouraged the sheepfarmers to keep up their improvements^ VALUE OF PHOSPHATES. He spoke with warm approval of the greatly increased use of Nauru phos-.j phates. That had been a material factor in expansion of the volume of our primary industries, and gave a striking instance of-the result of the application of phosphates to the land. We had now I got our importation- of JS'auru phosphates > tip to 30,000 tons a year, but if we wanted 100,000 tons we could <*et the • supply. ;_; . ° THE MORATORIUM. There were many men in Parliament and but of it who were very anxious about the moratorium. He would have been quite as anxious as anybody had he not taken tke opportunity of looking into the actual position. We had nearly eighteen months to go as far as the moratorium was' concerned. Whon talkinoabout the moratorium, let us not forget that it did' not apply to any mortgages entered inta-sine'e October, 1919. That took 'a big sfice out ... of the amount of the mortgages which had to be dealt with. The different lending departments of the State held a great many themselves. The officers of the Departments informed him that arrangements ... were. being made every day between the mortgagee and the mortgagor. The Departments were ' helping in every possible way. He spoke ot the unreasonably high price given in many instances for dairying land, in some ■ cases £80 per acre for land worth about £35. As the result of work done by the Valuer-General, satisfactory „ arrangements had been made between 150 pairs of mortgagees and mortgagors. If such a spirit were displayed right through, hr. did not think there would be much difficulty at the end of next year. He knew, of course, .there would be. some difficulties, because in some cases the securities were not what they should be. He then ; alluded to the assistance given to settlers by the lending departments of the State, and added that the Government was in a much, better position to assist settlers at the present time than they were-twelve months ago. It was intended br new legislation to increase the amount that may be lent from £2000 *? T r°- The Prime Minister remarked that he would have to ask local bodies to go slow in their demands. He Hid not say they were,going to close ,down on .advances to local bodies altogether,

but they .would .have to reduce the amounts which had been advanced. SOLDIER SETTLERS. The difficulty. with regard to soldier settlement was then alluded to, and Mr. Massey announced that follovrf.no- the inquiries which had been.made by the Land Boards throughout the Dominion, legislation would be introduced which would result jn putting soldiers on the land in a much better position than they were m ■ to-day. He spoke 5n high terms of praise of the work done by most of the soldier-settlers.'; In the e.-ie of the men who worked the Government would not let them down. His view was that our soldiers? settlement scheme would result in a great increase in the numbers of prosperous settlers in this country. REDUCTION OF; TAXATION. The paramount importance of reducing taxation was then emphasised, and the Prime Minister staited what had been | dene by the Government and the object ;they had in view in still further reducj ing taxation. Tlu-y should endeavour, ;in his opinion, to as far as possible "reduce or remove the taxation which was imposed for war. purposes.. As, to in- : come tax, the argument., was always,based on the maximum. The maximum was :7s 4d. He hoped to. reduce . that from. -.-is 4d to ss. A great deal was said about the cost of living, but the- cost ot living could not-be materially reduced taxation v;as: reduced. There were I now indications that money was be- | coming more • plentiful and easier. As j ! tar as the Government was concerned I tney wanted to make it easier for the man who required money and had good security. . 6 Referring again to our exports, he emphasised the fact that Great Britain was our best market. Allusion was made to the importance of the Empire Exhibition, and Mr. Massey said the Government had promised £60,000 to commence with in connection with' our part m that exhibition. Our expenditure for that purpose would-probably amount to £75,000. If we took advantage oi the opportunity of advertising our produce in Great Britain, in his opinion tbo benefits would be worth the amount expended. .

"I think the outlook is all right as far as New Zealand is concerned," remarked Mr. Massey in conclusion. "The citizens of this country are people to be envied. It is a great country. Thank Providence, and take courage!"