CHALMERS

Evening Star, Issue 20958, 24 November 1931, Page 6

CHALMERS

LABOUR CANDIDATE'S ADDRESS AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION The Town Hall, Port Chalmers, was filled last night, when Mr Norman Campbell, the Labour candidate for the Chalmers seat, addressed the electors. Mr J. Watson was in the chair, and said that Mr Campbell had been on the borough council for many years, and he had been a very useful councillor. He had devoted himself energetically to his duties, and if he was elected to Parliament he would no doubt do the same, BATTLE OF THE WORKERS. Mr Campbell said that many things had occurred since the last election which lie thought would have the effect of turning the scales in his favour. He was not there to beg votes, but was representing a party that stood for the interests of the great bulk of the electors. It was the party that had fought the battle of the masses not only in New Zealand, but in every civilised country in the world; and though in the past that party had never had the plaudits of the crowd it carried on. and to-day they were in the position of having the forces of the vested interests on the one hand, and on the other hand they had forces representing the workers. On Wednesday week the people would be asked to cast their votes, and Mr Campbell appealed to those present to recorcf them in the interests of those who had fought their battles—those who had not an axe to grind and who were not grinding an axe at the behest of the financial organisations and banks of the country. He appealed to the electors not to be led away by propaganda that something had happened in Great Britain, China, Chile, or somewhere else. They knew what had happened in their own country. They had suffered, and that was the best means of finding out, so why bold up any other'country ?he asked. Let them decide the issue on the affairs of New Zealand. There could be no newspaper propaganda to tell them that they were living in the seventh heaven of delight, and if their opponents’ policy was based on what happened in some other country let the electors turn to a policy based on what had happened here. The Labour Party was pledged to fight the battle of the workers against the forces of the vested interests, and he believed the party would win. He believed that in Chalmers on December 2 they would have a Labour representative in Parliament for the first time. The electors would remember that in 1925 Mr Coates appealed to the electors of New Zealand to place their confidence m him and to return him as a young New Zealander and to give him a chance. Mr Campbell said that he was a young New Zealander, but he did not want to get into Parliament for that reason. He wanted to get in by reason ol the tact that the people believed he would do some good there. ~ . At the election of 1928 the United Party said that the only thing Mr Coates had ever done in public lite was to form the Junior Reform League ft said that Mr Downie Stewart had muddled the Customs tariff and the taxation adjustments. Now it had him back doing the job again. It said then that he was the biggest fmancia muddler the country had ever seen, and now it was asking the people to vote tor men like that. Mr Campbell believed that the experiences the people .had undergone had taught them then lesson, and that they would not place too much reliance on such arguments but would lot them “ deliver the goods. EXCESSIVE BORROWING. The cause of the wretchedness and depression that was overhanging the country was, according to Mr. Downie Stewart, excessive borrowing—that New Zealand had indulged m an orgy of borrowing during the last decade. The Government’s borrowing policy had been followed by the local bodies and private interests, and no one could doubt it, because Mr Stewart was Minister of Finance at the time. New Zealand had to pay an interest bill of £15,000,000 per annum to meet her financial obligations, and that was incurred largely by a man who said that one of the causes of the depression was excessive borrowing. To meet those obligations to-day, with the reduced price levels, New Zealand reqnired 40 pei cent, more production than it did in 1926 or 1925. The Goveminent that was appea.mg to the people to put it back was responsible foi that position. Another cause of the depression hati been the fall in the price-levels of the country. It had had an injurious and serious’ effect on the producers of the dominion. Farmers had been driven off the land, and that was a loss to the community. That was one of the reasons why there was unemployed in the dominion to-day. Labour had a scheme to relieve the position. The first essential of the land was to have people who could stay on it and farm it. If they could not get people on the land, New Zealand would go into bankruptcy. The high interest bill must bo paid and unless they could get people on the land, they were not going to get that' prosperity about which they had heard so much, and there could be no prosperity in New Zealand until the producer of the country. got the full measure of value for his products. The Government had to fix price-levels and to give some assurance of land tenure so that people on the land would have some measure of safety while they were there. It was futile to talk of land settlement and to put thousands of people on the land when the same conditions that existed to-day would drive them off. A STATE BANK. Mr Campbell contended that the abolition of tiie graduated land tax bad assisted only the big farmers, and quoted figures to" show that six wealthy squatters had received a present of £15,000

ii year. The only benefit the working armor received was a £IOO,OOO subsidy /or fertilisers. Tho Labour Party’s remedy was first of all that there should oe a State bank with the right of note issue and control. Sir Otto Niemeyer said that note issue, or a control bank, should be established in this country. The Government had done nothing yet, said Mr Campbell. The Labour Party had always had a policy and one of its principal planks was tho establishment of a State bank with tho right of note issue and note control. That was one of the remedies for stabilising tho primary industries of Now Zealand. Labour ’ would endeavour to get a price level at some fixed figure and to work the currency in connection with an index figure and to use that index figure in the manner that tho Arbitration Court fiixod wages. The Labour Party said that if it had a State bank it would stabilise the finances of New Zealand and give the assistance to the primary and the secondary industries that was required. The Labour Party had another remedy. It said that there should be co-operative marketing. Mr Campbell referred to the methods adopted in Denmark, which was New Zealand’s most successful competitor in the overseas markets. The success of the Danish principle in dealing with industry was due to the fact that it had no strangle-hold on the necks of the producers as they had in New Zealand. The stock and station agent was unknown in Denmark. Tho farmer was free and untrammelled and worked on a co-operative basis, and if it could be done in Denmark, was there any reason why it could not bo done in New Zealand? It would not be done unless they had a Government that was prepared to do it. It was not likely that the Tory Government of to-day was going to strangle any of the stock and station agents that were in existence. He could understand the financial institutions standing for such things, but he could not understand the workers giving them the assistance to do it. UNEMPLOYMENT. A vital question that concerned every man, >voman, and child in the country was unemployment. There were 50,000 registered unemployed in this country, but were there any women among them? How many young people who had just left school were there? Howmany men who had a few pounds m the savings bank? There were 16,000 or 17,000 young people leaving school each year, and two-thirds of them were idle. Air Campbell thought that 100,000 was a conservative estimate of the unemployed in New Zealand. That meant that one in every fifteen of the inhabitants of this country was unemployed, and he did not know of any other country that was worse off. The position could not brighten until the number of unemployed was reduced. When Mr Forbes brought down the first unemployment measure the Labour Party urged a graduated levy for unemployed. That would mean that those people who had most would pay most and those who had least would pay least, but the Government oi to-day said that those who had least paid most and those who had most paid least Ihe Labour Party said that the sacrifice should be equal all round Air Campbell criticised the provision made lor tho single man witn dependents, and pointed out that when Labour moved to have the single man with dependents placed in the same category as the married man with dependents, the amendment was lost by 33 to 30, and among those who voted against it were Messrs Ansell, Atmore, and others. Air Campbell also contended that a returned soldier’s pension should not be included in his unemployment pay. Tho 10 per cent, cut was another subject touched on, and Mr Campbell said that many of those small shopkeepers who had supported the Manufacturers’ Association in their endeavours to have that cut put into effect were sorry today, because they had learned their lesson. The people’s purchasing power had decreased, and the shopkeeper's who had perhaps saved 10s a week in wages had lost £lO a week in profits. EDUCATION, Coming to education, Mr Campbell said the birthright of the child was to he taken away. The Government was stooping to attack the little child, and. as there was an election coming on, a man in the Uppcj House had been appointed to bring in the economies Education was one of the principal planks of the Lahaui Party’s platform I'xainination had been stiffened, and the results would he that the teachers’ rdine marks would be reduced.Then, no doubt, an attempt would be "inde to pay them according to those ducetl grad na marks. RAILWAYS, The policy of the Railway Board in waiting till the railways had lost traffic to the buses before it reduced fares in an endeavour to get it back was dealt with, and Mr Campbell contended that if the second class return fare from Port Chalmers to Dunedin was Is and the first class fare la 6d nobody would patronise the buses. A similar state of affairs existed in regard to Mosgiel and other parts of the electorate. THANKS AND CONFIDENCE, At the conclusion of his address Mr Campbell was accorded an enthusiastic vote of thanks and confidence. Cheers were given and “ For he’s a jolly good fellow ” was sung. RADIO ELECTIONEERING NO TALKS FROM LEADERS (Special to the 1 Star.’] WELLINGTON, Nqvember 23. Though radio broadcasting was freely used by political parties in the recent British’ elections, and constituted a highly interesting factor in the campaign. New Zealanders are apparently to be deprived of this feature. There was a suggestion under discussion towards the end of the session that the former practice should be followed of allowing each party leader to use the radio broadcasting stations on a national “ hook up " lor, say, twenty minutes, which would be devoted to an explanation of party policy. This would involve three speeches, one from the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Holland! and one each from Mi Forbes (Prime .Minister) and Mr Coates (Ministei of Works, a- the other leader in the Coalit.on Cabinet. It was reported that the Labour Leader took exception to any arrangement which would give his opponents twice as much time before the microphone as himself, and that he suggested as a second Labour speaker a prominent southern member- This arithmetical question did not appear to appeal to the Cabinet leaders, who straight way became immersed in active campaigning. Therefore no arrangement was made. Inquiries of tiie Broadcasting Company to-day failed to secure any information regarding the leaders’ broadcasts; therefore, it is evident that, failing mutual agreement among the politicians, the Broadcast ing Company can take no action.