NOT BROKEN DOWN

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10741, 12 November 1928, Page 5

NOT BROKEN DOWN

I SIR J. WARD HAS GREAT -MEETING; AT- DUNEDIN.

REFORM GOING TO'THE DOGS!

UNITEDS WOULD AID REDS TO , ... , DEFEAT MR ..COATES; _ , ; (Press Association.! DUNEDIN, Nov. 11.. ! ■ 1 Greeted by "eiithusiastw cheering Sir Joseph Ward,: leader of ( the Umted Party, addressed" the Dunedin electors in His Majesty’s Theatre last night. "'’ ” ■ j. .'At T o’clock Hie theatre was pack-" ed and the doors were locked, but loud speakers had been installed ip the street', where 300 peoplo stood throughout the evening, lnspite of a ; bitterly cold: wind. The meeting was singlarly free from interjections, arid the speaker, did not' have to pause once. . • • The early portion of Sir Joseph s address was occupied in a reply to his opponents .who, hb. said,. ; were trying to mislead the people into the belief that the United Party did not count. The Prime Minister and the Minister, of Lands were the first to make that statement but, during Mr Coates’ northern tour,__he had only one thing to fight against, the Umted Party. Mr Coates was suffering from .political* fear. If he were not afraid of;' the United Party', why did he pay it so much attention? If the United Party beat Mr Coates and Mr Holland moved a vote of no-confidence, Reform would vote with Labor to turn the United Party out, and he might add, the United Party would do the same to turn Mr Coates out. Mir. Coates was at present resorting to trickery and dodgery, and the United Party was not going to be beaten by the foolery of a party - which, politically, was going to the dogs. Sir Joseph stated that he was striving to educate the people of New Zealand into taking a different course in' Jhe method of obtaining money, so that the country would not lose 'money, and no extra taxation would be imposed upon the people. . Sir Joseph Ward ■ quoted from Kis last Budget in the National Cabinet, and- again referred to the fact that he had left a surplus of £17,500,000, stating that he was doing so because of the utter want of recognition of his ‘party by his opponents. '•‘This country is going to be engaged in big finances soon”, said Sir Joseph Ward, “and the • Government may try to delude the public, but if if is in power it will not be able to shirk and shift, as it is doing now. If the Minister of Finance will tell the people what. he has given instructions about in Wellington, I will be glad.” the speaker added mysteriously. Since the war, the Government had increased the public debt by £50,000,000, and the Government Statistician stated that this represented an increase of £B9 for every bread-winner. The speaker had said that the'" Government had borrowed £30,000,000 in three years. Mr Dovnie Stewart had replied quite cop rectly, that Sir Joseph Ward wap wrong. The ampunt was £29,650,000. (Laughter), Mr Stewart stated that in reality, the Government had bor-: rowed only £23,000,000 as it had paid £6,000,000 for war debts and other items; but he said the Ward Government had borrowed the money to pay off that £6,000,000; therefore it was still included in the amount, and the interest was still going on as before. In 1911 tlie speaker had had the Public Debt Extinction IKII put through the House. It provided for a sinking fund for the repayment of all loans out of revenue. The £6,000,009 to which M r Stewart had referred had been'paid for out qf loan money. As Minister of Finance he (Sir Joseph) would not do that. An Invercargill resident had told him that he had had to pay £9B duty on an English motor ”ar .worth, £550. That was New Zealand’s concession- to the Mother Country on motor cars. Parliament bad been told that this was keeping the motor body builders, but, as a matter of fact, those people were orse off than ' Wore. “I believe in helping our industries” Sir Joseph continued. “I believe that our tariff is unsatisfactory, and that important alterations are' required. We must help some industries by a subsidy and the duty should be taken off necessities of life which cannot be produced in our own country. They say I can’t do it, Why? I did it before and I can do it again, without injuring the country.” ... Mr Coates had said that his (Sir T. statements in regard to the possibilities of unemployment next winter were most extraordinary and the most outrageous he had ever heard. He (Sir Joseph’s) reply was that information had been furnished to him by men who knew the labor conditions and ho believed them. Sir J. Ward expressed appreciation of the brotnerly interest Mr Coates was taking in his state of health. The trouble with Mr v Coates’ criticism of the speaker’s borrowing scheme was that the Prime Minister could not understand it. The Prime Minister had made a statement in Dunedin and elsewhere that he (Sir J. Ward) proposed to borrow £70,000,009 in one year. He had made the position perfectly clear; he proposed to borrow from £8,000,000.. to £10,000,000 a year over a period of from eight to ten years. He stated that he had not been reported correctly in some papers and added that, if members of the audience cared to look up the Otago Daily Times of the morning after the address, they would find the position stater! correctly, as lie explained it' now. The Prime Minister described his scheme as a “borrow, boom and burst” policy; yet the Government had borrowed, £50.000 000 since the war, as well as collaring the £17,000,000 he had left. He had experienced the same critielwm when the State /Advances scheme had been proposed, yet that Department, after fulfilling' its function now showed a profit of £1,900,000. Sir Joseph spoke at length in explanation of his borrowing policy. He did not propose' to float ay loan on the London market; he proposed to have New Zealand’s bonds sold there. It! was a different method of borrowing and his speeches in the House criticising the Government’s borrowing had t /been speeches _of warning against the method by which the money was raised arid Used, He referred to a recent cable message dealing with the " German scheme to borrow 800,000,000 dollars! in the United. States.' The meth■od to be adopted was exactly,.; tr« same the ono he proposed,, American financiers said that the money could not be raised by loan, but ut\ could be done by bonds. Hundreds of farmers in ..New Zealand were bleeding financially to death,' 1 because they could!' not'get money. He could get it without, risk. Siri: Joseph went on to describe his scheme to borrow £10,000,000 for railways extension. It would "not I cost the': payer a ; brass" farthing. ' There should bei no fear of embarking on a building scheme which would the railways payable.'* He gave ms audience his assurance that,‘.if he were put in* pow'er, he would undertake to get" the money and- put the scheme into execution! .((Cheers). 'What' 1 : hod made 'New ’ Zealand - ;;g° ahead was its land settlement* policy, but 13,000 people had walked off the land: in the last three years He proposed to make ; it:” possible for 50,000 to 100,000 people to get- at. •least acres/ .of land .and the;men* ey tp build-theip homes. ( ,4. At the conclusiori of his Sir J.. Ward refuted an pllegfitaon that he -was : broken down in health,