TORN TO SHREDS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10740, 10 November 1928, Page 5

TORN TO SHREDS

MR COATES ANALYSES UNITED’S POLICY.

REFORM HAS LENT £48,000,900 IN ADVANCES. WH AT COULD N.Z. DO WITH 400,000 MIGRANTS.; ‘RAILWAYS WOULD BECOME IMMENSE RELIEF WORKS:. (Special To The Times). WOODVILLE, Nov. 9. Referring to the contentions | of the United Party that it would provide advances out of the. £60,000,000 loan, the Prime Minister pointed out that, during the last three years, the Government had provided £15,000,900 through the State. Advances Office. in 17 years the old Liberal Party had provided only £15,500,(100. He asked how did this compare with the .Reform Party’s record, for, since the Reform Party eame into, office in 1912, it had provided no less a.sum'that £43,000,000 Therefore, no one could sa.v that, the Government had not made use of the legislation, the- main object of which was to reduce the rate of interest being charged on advances to the primary producers and -workers. Dealing further with the United Party’s “borrow, boom and burst” policy, Mr Coates said that the Government’s policy was to taper off borrowing and to let the country settle down to a normal basis. The Rural Advances Act and the Intermediate Rural Credits Act provided the machinery for financing farmers and they, were being made use of. The Government had directed its energy to bringing the price of land down to its true value—the productive value —but, if the United Party’s plan were adopted, the inevitable result would be to send up the price off land, without the commensurate increase in the value of the products. This value was a matter determined by the world’s markets and not by any legislative action. The United Party had also. said that it would assist certain industries by the payment of a subsidy and that it would reduce the Customs taxtaion. New Zealand obtained about £8,000,000 a year from the Customs- and, if that revenue were going to be cut down, where was the United Party going tp obtain the money to pay the subsidies. The Government said that its tariff was a scientific one, but the Uniteds said it was a muddle. They did not make any reference to the items on which they would abolish the Customs dues. Since they suggested that the Customs dues were to he reduced, it was fair to ask it they were going to make up the revenue by an increase in the income and land taxes. The people were entitled to information ou these points but not one member of the United Party had vouchsafed it. Sir Joseph Ward had said, in bis latest speech, that New Zealand wanted 300,000 or 400,000 immigrants in the new few years and that they must have money under their feet. The real business, said the Prime Minister, was to get our own New Zealanders on . the land. (Applause). New Zealand must have immigrants, but there was no need to rush an immigration policy. We must know exactly what we were doing. . The Prime Minister said the United Party’s proposal to complete the railways in three years meant turn ing the whole of that construction into immense relief works ..and, • at the end of three years, there would be 20,000 men to find work for. Sir Joseph Ward had said that some of the lines should be cut out, but he had not given any indication as to which lines should be deleted from the programme.. As ai moffte.r of, ia'ct. there was no member of the United Party who had been over all thw works.

Discussing the railways, tho Prime Minister 6aid that, if he were left alone, he would have the railways paying their way within ten years and, so far as he could see, he was the only one who had suggested any definite scheme for doing that. , The Prime Minister received round after round Of applause when he outliped what the Government had done in fulfilment of its 1925 election pledges and dealt with its future policy and the cheers which, were given- when', a motion "of ...thanks and confidence was'- carried were repeated when he' left Woodville for Dan-"* nevirke.

PREMIER AT DANNEYIRKE

TRENCHANT CRITICISM OF UNITED PARTY.

ITS RAILWAY PROGRAMME CONDEMNED. tPresa Association.) DANNEVIRKE. Nov. 9. The piemier (Mr Coates) addressed an overflow meeting at the Town Hall to-night, about 1300 people being in the hall and many outside. Tlie Premier, Mrs Coates and party were heartily applauded on entering the hall and a presentation of bouquets to Mrs Coates, the Mayoress, and Mrs Smith, wife of the Government candidate for Pahiatua, formed an interesting preliminary to wliat proved a good-humored meeting throughout, with a fair number of interjections by the same few individuals. Mr Coates said he made no ex cases for addressing a Dannevirke audience. He believed he could still serve New Zealand and that he would do so after the 14th.—(Applause.) After considering the criticisms and declamations of his opponents he said the fair inference was that the present Government was about as nearly perfect as any that had ever existed. The Government had a; big majority, but nobody could say it had abused it. It had legislated for the Staple as a whole without consideration for class interests. He defended the sliding scale of wheat duties and, replying to an interjection, he said he would never agree to the farmer paying two taxes. Either lie must pay land tax or income tax. They must give an incentive to men to go oil the land, as primary production was the great standby o'f this country. Mr Coates said Sir J. Ward’s statement at Christchurch that next winter they would have between 30,-000-or 40,000 unemployed was an exaggeration no responsible man in this country ought to make. He had exaggerated, and greatly exaggerated.

Sir J. Ward’s railway programme was, he said, about as silly - as anything ever proposed. It was weak, ill-considered and uneconomical. He roundly condemned Sir J. Ward’s statement’that lie proposed to bring into the country 300,000 to 400.000 people in the next,Tour years’. This did not seem to him to he logical. It was ill-considered. What would they do with the 400,000 people. A voice:' “Put them on the land.” 7\lr Coates replied:', “Have nothing to do with tliat. The .best' farmer was j the young citizen of the Dominion, who should have a show. The Jeremiahs and croakers had blamed the Government for past depression, and, surely, the Government was entitled to claim credit for having pulled the country through that depression. The croakers, and Jeremiahs, had not gauged the spirit of the people and .their capacity to pull New Zealand through the worst depression that might befall it, not only m the past,'but in the days to come, i Replying to an interjection • aboxijt

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