GISBORNE SEAT

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12704, 8 November 1935, Page 5

GISBORNE SEAT

CAMPAIGN IN .DEFENCE I

iArtlJ .V; V > 4 . MR COLEMAN AT OPERA house-

Opening Iris • campaign in defence ofritlie .'Gisborne .seat, Mr D. W. Co.leman, /M.P., addressed ..a moderrite gathering at the Opera Housb -last evening. The weathere conditons m'ore wholly unfavorable and the '■driving rain, over ,the early part of the evening, must have kept many away; The deputy-Mayoiy Or. H. '''Holmes, presided and • briefly introduced the speaker.

Mr Coleman pointed out that lie hud, during his :niany years in public •life,..suffered both defeats and victories. Now ;h is only inissiqn in life was'to serve the public and to better iho lot. of the people. To-day '.Labor -was •opposed vby the. -.Nationalist' party, ■which was really the same old party 'undbr'‘another name'.-'ln' years gone ! hy there were two parties in the House, but they then united and had ■continued so since. They, had intro■duced the most revolutionary legisla-; •fion in history, being responsible for reduced wages and pensions, interfered with family allowances, curtailed ;all .social services,and practical ly wiped the Arbitration Court out trf existence.- In regard to the 1 lastnamed matter, Mr Coleman contend-, cd that, while it had been valuable there was the unfortunate feature %at .one jpan. could hold up any dceison of the court. In a few short days the Government .had slashed out ol .existence the able provisions made by Seddon and the other leaders of Ib’e past. There was little else that the Government could slash into, but if there was it was simply .because: the Government hadn’t known of it. Had these measures brought prosperity P No, but they had brought bankruptcy to business men and penury to thousands of others. The Coalition, Government had asked for a blank; cheque and it, was; given them by the electors, but the result had proved to he merely a.i dishonored cheque, with something akin to disaster. Slogans and full-page advertisements had been published in the newspapers and these had been believed by many of the electors.

men ON RELIEF JOI3S

Vv’omcn were asked to vote for the Coalition and so keep their men in jobs—they did so and 'kept the men in jobs—on relief' works. In August, 1930, there were -3639 unemployed. In August, 1935.■ there were 57,371; unemployed, an increase of over 51,003'. At the latter date there was' a greater total of unemployed for August than ever before in the history of N’bw Zealand. The Minister claimed a drop ,of 14,000' odd, but actually, there was, compared with August last' year, an increase of over 7000. And all this, despite the Government’s claims to keep the men in jobs. When, deputations were asking for an increase in the relief allocation, contained the speaker, they wero told this was impossible, as the funds would not permit such a course Yet the Government had now reduced the tax and also increased the allocation. The speaker would hardly dare to say if, was because of the approaching election. The Government's handling of the problem had proved a. gigantic failure. It was utterly impossible for relief workers on the present rates to pay rent and so there/came evictions inevitably. Landlords could not- be blamed for these evictions, as they must expect a return for money invested—but- the; blame certainly attached to the .Government for allowing the people to get into such a'‘position- tliilt they could not meet their commitments, however willing they w.bfe ( tb"' work.; No girl or woman had received any help from the unemployment funds, but they must simply go along and beg a.i few shillings to attempt to .carry on. They are taxed, but- receive no assistance. All this occurred, too, in a land of plenty, a land flowing: with milk and honey, which needs only a sane and sensible administration to provide for all.- .Relief for the worker could 'iiot be given, yet some of the wealthiest’ffirms couldbe' sub- : sidised from the unemployment funds. According to the. arguments of the Minister for Employment, the standard of the worker iwas to bo brought to the lowest level.

EMPLOYED ALSO ATTACKED

Labor, proceeded M> Coleman, would provide work for all and provide a suitable standard of living. Having; failed to help the unemployed, the Government then attacked those in employment. Wages of all civil servants were reduced and much of the-cuts remained in operation. Even, hospital staffs were included in the cut, tlio 'Government compelling the Hospital Boards to tako this step by a threat of decreased subsidy. All persons were reduced. This undoubtedly did noti help to bring perity, but merely increased the difficulties.

Next, the Government decided to “peg’’ the exchange which consisted of another cut' into' the wages of the people. All these stops were taken to help the farmers—yet how could this occur when the Government took from ■ the people the purchasing power? The farmer, in consequence, landed in the ditch. Labor’s way was the only solutidn—by guaranteeing the' farmers a fair and stable prico for what they produced. Legislation. to peg the exchange at 25 . per cent.' continued Mr Cofcman, was most iniquitous and the difference had clearly to be met by the people / of the Dominion. lies cited examples of the working of the exchange rate and denied emphatically <d;that dib would mean more thei country,: The. Government's exchange policy .could be likened to a man putting money in his,pocket with one hand-, and taking .it out (with the other. The system was all wrong and. all except . the Government ■ realised that it was wrong. Attempts were made, to persuade the Government to issue credit to pay off the banks,• hut

it would not agree. Conferences were held but alt these no’ agreement could -be .reached and -so chaos continued. • .. u LABpR.’S .-SOLUTION . -,lt was .essential' !to set about finding the solution' .iwithkx New .Zealand and with- a very simple).'monetary policy Labor- could provide, abundance for all. 'fX'he .Government- had talked of borrowing, but the Dominion at present could riot -pay the debts owing;- and borrowing simply' meant adding to an already overpowering burden. Labor would control credit and :tho supply would ;be made -to fit the demand-. Apparently the- policy of the .'Government ' was not made.' in ■NJew Zealand, but was dictated.' from overseas in other-words the Government- could lid .‘likened to the man who was .not the father of in's own house. ' • | • ■'Control of- money was essential -to Any Government and it was through this'lack of control that; wo were now living in a land of plenty where many people • were' starving. Some •people were without even : coal and generally there were many sad -situations which could be blamed wholly on the mistaken policy of the Government.' I '' """

Much (was said of the Government credit, but it was well established that to-day, if these' was a run bn the State savings bank, that institution would have to close its doors. Mr Coleman dealt further with Labor’s currency ' plans' on the lines of previous addresses. Conditions were undoubtedly a. little better now, but this was only in spite of the Government and had Labor been in power the improvement would have bee... ■far more noticeable. The people mere faced with a choice between a Government which would establish finances on a .sound fbasis and a Government which would, allow them to be smashed. There was no middle course. The Democrats stood for the same as did the present Government whereas La,bor stood for a; policy which .would do the job and was the only one which would do it. The Democrats, moreover, had stated that they would not support Labor.

GUARANTEED PRICES

It was sometimes, said, continued Mr Coleman, that the policy of guaranteed' prices cannot be given effect to and the “Davycrats” ridiculed the idea., saying it was quite impossible. Yet in all parts of the world to-day there were cases of guaranteed prices. He detailed Labor’s plan .in tin's connection, stressing that guaranteed prices must bo established and that the only solution was Labor’s plan, which would ho one of the first matters receiving the party’s attention on entering the House.

Mr Coleman said that he was a strong advocate for secondary industries, because he believed this country could manufacture most of the goods required, certainly all woollen goods. At the present time the Dominion produced the raw material, exported it, and .then re-imported the completed goods at much higher prices. Given a chance the Dominion’s secondary industries should flourish, especially with thousands of children who' would, on leaving school, be in ned of employment.

Mr Coleman then produced several pairs of imported stockings and demonstrated that these were of very poor quality and not what they .appeared, despite the labels.

There was a great- waste on imported articles, commented Air Cole-, man. and it was plainly time the Dominion took up manufacture” on. her own account. This was a. matter which Labor would foster to the fullest extent. There was no reason at all why we should import goods which we could make -here. He had great sympathy with Britain and her problems, but greater “Still with New Zealand. W r e could import' Those goods which we could not produce. ;

‘LAND OF QUOTAS - ’

The speaker contended that the Ottawa agreement was responsible lor ham-stringing our secondary industries. Not only the Dominion's financial affairs, but also her industrial policy, appealed to be dictated from overseas. At one time Britain could, take all our goods, but now we lived in a land of quotas. .This -made it all the more necessary that' we should, go in for secondary as well as primary industries. Mr Coleman said that lie did not wish to criticise Mr Lysnar much, as he was more concerned with policy and party. Jle considered he should refer to his opponent’s attitude regarding wage cuts. Mr Lysnar had claimed ho made a protest in the House, but Hansard showed that he had voted in favor of the cuts in 1931.

“NO HOPE OF RAILWAY”

-Mr. Coleman agreed that Mr Lysnar had worked very hard for the Gisborne railway, but considered he had used the wrong tactics. When the speaker went to the House he found that thb railway question was regard-: ed as a joke, but the position was, quite different to-day and, if a. vote were taken, 90 per cent, of the! House would be in favor of resuming the work. Though the Railways Board was generally blamed for the stoppage of the work, actually ,it was then United Government' which took that step. Mr Forbes was then Prime Minister and Mr Veitcli was-: Minister for Railways; the latter now favored it. In the . speaker’s, opinion there was! not tho ghost of a chance of the work being carried on in tlio near future, either by private enterprise or by the Government. Mr Coleman stated that lie ’asked' Mr Forbes: whether lie met any. financiers Muring-his trip to England, and the Prime Minister replied that not once had representatives .of the financiers ,approached 1 liiuFon the question: ■Mr fßdrbes stated fAnther-:that two. company promoters in ter viewed him! a-s to the terms and that he replied' that the conditions were as set out in letters’ to Messrs' S.'-Wil-liams, and the speaker l . These promoters" suggested to Mr 1 Forbes that an, agreement shquld.he trained and', were told that. this was a legal - matter which should he dealt with by the lawyers. ’ Mr Forbes told the promqt-

ersi to' see him again ,after the agree-j ment had been .drawn'iip,“but lie had; not seen them subsequently. In a; letter ,to the, speaker, Mr Forbes tad-; tVi.sc.d- that jtlio ;promoters waited on lrimion. behalf of Mr Lysnar.and were, not the principals. Clearly. there was not much .likelihood of the line being completed .from .that direction. • -Mr .Coleman, .added- that he could give Iris pledge .that, when Labor ruled, one) ofi-tlie first jobs would bo undertaking completion of the line. He was confident it could be run at a profit and it was his; opinion that rail cars should he used, making two or three trips daily and taking lour or five hours on the journey. - Such a system could' be operated very satisfactorily without any worry over air competition. In conclusion. Mr Coleman asked the electors, to forget the outpourings of political propaganda or criticism of experts with ulterior motives. They should look back over the past four .years with its records of misery, discontent and bankruptcy. This was a.crisis In New Zealand’s history and they were at the crossroads. Decide wisely, he advised them, put La-bp.* in and so ; make this ,God's own country

SOME QUESTIONS When questions were’invited, one of the first was in regard to returned soldiers’ homes. Mr Coleman said work would be provided where the man could work and, if he could not, then lie would bo supplied with a pension sufficient to enable li:m to run a home. In regard to another question, lie said that'Labor would only cornel into power if the people desired it and, if they so desired, it- would mean they also wished a change in the monetary system. Labor, when it came into power, would certainly take over the monetary system. Mr Coleman stated ho was opposed to boards taking over the various tasks of the Government. Labor would certainly not set up boards, as it was believed it was Parliament’s part to decide the policy and do the job. Every man would be deputed tor some active part in the Government. Ministers would be appointed as now but other members would share with the Ministers their duties. Regarding taxation of superannuation payments. Mr Coleman said he was definitely opposed to such taxation as income. On the motion of Mr D..S. Thompson, seconded by Mr A. Scott, a. vote of thanks to Mr Coleman and of confidence in his candidature, was carried with acclamation.