LAND AND FINANCE.

Grey River Argus, 8 July 1926, Page 2

LAND AND FINANCE.

THE MORTGAGE AND THE PL~ LJC DEBT. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr 'H. E. Holland, M.P.) dealt briefly with the land and finance question during the course of his speech on the dress-in-Reply. He said: — There is just a faint reference to closer settlement in the Governor’s speech, but the position with respect to aggregation is not improving as the years go by. THE PROBLEM OF AGGREGATION. At the present time, with 434 million acres of occupied or rural lands, we have nearly 30 millions of that area in the hands of less than 7,000 landholders, aiid we have less than .14 million acres in the hands of some 79,000 landholders. We have 5 million acres distributed between 60 landholders in this country, an average of over 80,000 acres per landholder. Mr McLeod: You know perfectly well what those lands are. Mr Holland: I know that these figures include large pastoral areas, but even members on the Government benches, including the mover and seconder of the motion, have declared that land aggregation prevails in New Zealand at the present time. In addition to that, look at the financial position with respect to the man on the land.

THE MORTGAGE EVIL. With a total capital value of less ihan £569,000,000 we have a. mortgage liability on that capital value of ncar•y £270,0D0,000 —a mortgage of nearly 50 per cent on tho total capital value. Mr Lysnar: What would you do about it?

Mr Holland: It is not what I would do about it, but what the Government, who have such an immense majority in this House, will do about it. What have they done about it? They have been able to carry on, not always with a majority, for the last 14 years, and in that. 14 years, while the capital value has increased 60 per cent., the mortgage liability has increased 175 per cent. This is the way in which the farmers’ friends are giving ex urcssion to their friendship through ♦4io results of their legislation: What docs this Parliament exist for if it is not to so write tho laws as to make it possible for the men who arc doing rhe actual work of the country to get the fullest measure of benefit from the work they do, whether they arc on the farms or in tho mills, mines, work shops, or factories?

THE PUBLIC DEBT. Refori'nec had been made to the national debt Even there the mover of the motion could not h'flp striking a note of dissent- He said, “Wc have nothing to be proud of in connection with the position of the national debt.” Did the honourable gentleman stop to think that the national deb’ has grown out of all proportion unde r the Reform Party—the Reform Party that came with a thunder qf shouting against the Liberal party because of thq latter party’s borrowing? In 1905, when the Liberal party had been 15 years in office, it was soundly denounced by the Reform Party because in that period it had increased the national debt by nearly 19 millions. Bat what is the position under the Re form Party? It came, as I have said, with thunders of denunciation against the Liberal Party because in 15 years that party had increased the national debt by nearly 19 millions, but the Reform Party has increased the national debt in 14 years by over 66 millions. Mr T. W. Rhodes: For war pur-

poses. Mr Holland: That, is apart altogether from the war debt. I have not time to go into the figures, because I havr other things to say. THE ANTi- BORROWERS. But let the honourable gentlemen on the Reform benches and especially th>' new members, look up the figures, and they will see for themselves what the position is. I want to know from the members of the Government, were they wrong when they denounced the Liberal Party for its borrowing? were they wrong when they declared themselves an anti-borrowing party, or are they wrong now? The question is for the Government and no one else to au swor. What is the position that their

financing has brought us to? We have to-day to take one year’s revenue out of every farce years’ revenue to find the interest on the public debt. In addition, including the 16 millions sterling which fell due on March 31 of this year, within the next five years, ending March 31, 1931, we will have loans amounting to over 80 millions falling due. How are the Government going to make provision for those loans? Will they make a legitimate endeavour to meet the liability or will they borrow more money to pay oil’ what we already owe? While the Government are preparing that answer, 1 ask also when it will honour the promise given to one set of our settlers—--1 have numbers of cases, but I have no time to deal with them in detail: I refer to the Rangitaiki swamp ratepayers. A definite promise was given to these settlers, but it has not yet been honoured. The Minister of Lands will probably tell us something about it.