THE POLITICAL WORLD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 21 June 1924, Page 5

THE POLITICAL WORLD.

PROBLEMS OF THE MOMENT. MR. HAWKEN AT ELTHAM. A political address of considerable interest was delivered to a fairly large audience at the Elthqm Town Hall last night by Mr. O. Hawken, the member for Egmont. Mr. G. W. Tayler, Mayor of Eltham, presided. He said it was rather uncommon for a member of the Egmont electorate to give a speech before the session opened, and Mr. Hawken was therefore to be congratulated on making the move. Personally he thought it very desirable that a member should give an account of his stewardship. Mr. Hawken, in opening, said it was as the chairman had stated, somewhat uncommon for a member of the Egmont electorate to address the electors before the session, but there had been a lot of speech-making by the Opposition for some months past, and it- was just as well that he should put the position before the electors as' he saw it. The difficulties of the positions of the parties in New Zealand to-day were causing a great deal of thought amongst the people generally, and it was rather difficult to arrive at the true position. However, a speech would make things plainer. PREFERENTIAL DUTIES.

Mr. Hawken referred to the recent vote in the Old Country on the preferential duties which the Imperial Conference had recommended should be passed by the British Government. He could not help feeling disappointed at the duties being turned clown, as the result of the voting was rather a slap in the face for those people who thought that this Empire should he united and the different parts work together under one head. They would know that the Prime Minister of this country had always advocated that the nation should work together as a team, opposed to the rest of the world if necessary. PARTY STRENGTH.

Coming to the position in New Zealand, Mr. .Hawken said that matters had become much more difficult since the last election. The Government now had 38 members?, the Liberal Party 21. and the Labour Party 17, while Independents numbered 4, In the previous Parliament there were 49 Government members, and legislation could be put through much easier than will be the ease this coming session. Nevertheless, in answer to those who thought that the Government was likely to be defeated and an election take place shortly, he would like to say that he coulcl hardly believe that to be the position. He believed that the independent members, such as Mr. Isitt, would stick to the Government, for they could see the alternative to the present party in power. They knew that by voting against the present Government they would be voting for the Labour Party. They knew that there was only one division line in the House, and that was the division between Labour and anti-Labour. He thought those independent members took up a sound attitude. THE COUNTRY’S CREDIT. Mr. Hawken said he believed that the Government’s finances were in a sound condition. He could see by the last loan thai& New Zealand’s credit was as good as that of any other country. However, at the same time there was a good deal of discontent amongst the people owing to individual financial troubles. They had been through the boom, and the slump had left a world of trouble for the individual. Some blamed the Government, but he knew the Government had done its best. STATE ADVANCES.

State advances legislation had heen amplified and extended,/'tliie Government having passed a Bill which provided for advances of ffe per cent, np to £'1250 for housing,; and 75 per cent, lip to £3500 on the value of farms. During the war housing had been neglected, and of course the shortage had later to be made up. He considered that the present Government had done all that a Government could do in the matter. The Government had during the last few years lent for building purposes a tremendous amount of money, which had caused the finances of the country to become strained. Previously there was the Advances to Settlers, but in those days there was little lent for building houses. Continuing, Mr. Hawken pointed out that as a result of the Government’s action in lending money for this purpose, rents had fallen, but they were still too high. This policy of lending money also had its disadvantages. People who were building houses stopped,; as they could not compete with the Government’s policy, while, at the same time, instead of people saving up to buy a house, they took advantage of the cheap money offered by the Government. The result was that the whole weight of providing houses for the people had fallen upon the Government, and that could not continue. The number of applications which the Government had received had heen enormous, and he did not think that any Government could cope with them ail. EASING TAXATION.

“Probably the most_important legislation last session,” said Air. Hawken, “was that involving the easing of taxation.” There had been a pretty hard fight, hut the result was that the farmers were relieved of the income tax. The income tax had been placed on farmers during the war, it being promised at the time that as soon as finances would permit it would be removed. The Taxation Committee had just been collecting evidence throughout the country, and it appeared that the evidence collected was in favour of farmers paying only income tax. Personally he believed that such, a tax was a sound one—a man should pay on his whole wealth. The taxation of companies was a sore point, but his opinion was that there was so much money going into companies for trading and other purposes that it was very difficult to allow company taxation to escape. With a low rate company taxa. tion would yield a good deal of revenue*, while if companies were relieved individuals would have- to pay a very much higher rate. Before the war, and during the- years the Liberal Party held power, 76 per cent, cf the taxation was gathered through the customs —the poor man’s tax —and the remainder was derived from direct taxation of wealth. During the war and directly afterwards the position was reversed; hut recently the position had changed again, so that the revenue from direct taxation of wealth was only a little greater than that derived from customs duties. However, it showed that the Government was careful of the poor man. The Government considered it right to tax luxuries, and to tax to protect industries in New Zealand which gave employment to the working man. He did not agree with some of the protective duties hut at the same time nearly the whole House had agreed to the duties in question.

DAIRY CONTROL. The next important legislation last session, according to Mr. Hawken’s estimation, was the Dairy Control Bill on the same lines as the Meat Control Bill. These Bills were somewhat of an experiment, but the- Government -considered that by bringing them into operation they would allow the dairymen to follow up the marketing of their produce in a much better way than previously. The idea was to keep down the charges and look after the produce until it was sold to the consumers at Home. That the principle was sound had been proved by the beneficent operation of the Meat Control Bill. Charges from the paddock to London had been reduced by os 3d •on a sheep, and we exported nearly 3,000,000 sheep annually, 3s 6d on a lamb, over 4,00D,000 of which were exported from New Zealand annually, 10s on a 1001 b pig, and from £2 15s to £3 per beast for beef. THE, MOR ATORIUM.

Dealing with legislation to' he introduced this coming session, Mr. Hawken referred to the moratorium, which had been in force during the past ten years. No doubt the provision had been a benefit to many, but he believed that at the beginning it had been unnecessary. The moratorium was first put on for the duration of the war and six months thereafter, but when the time for lifting it came the position was difficult. However, while some contended that the Government sho.uld not have protected those who borrowed, he believed that it had been necessary. The Prime Minister now proposed that those who wished their mortgages to be continued could, if their case was one of hardship, make an application to a Supreme Court judge for an extension. Tt was fair that money that had been borrowed on mortgage should be paid back, but unpaid purchase money was in a different position. It was strange, although it was true, that m many cases both the purchaser and the seller put their names to a debt which both knew could not he carried out. The trouble was that now the debts remained, and 1 many would-be ruined if they had to pay them. Still, as far as the moratorium was concerned, he helieved it should be finished as far as possible. Very little money had been lost where it had been advanced in the ordinary way, with a. reasonable margin, this being borne out by the fact that the Advances to Settlers had Tost very little money, if any at all. AGRICULTURAL BANKING. There had been -a lot of talk about an Agricultural Banking Act. Last session Mr. Wilford had introduced a Bill, but it contained many provisions which would be unworkable. For instance, there was no difference- made between trading money and investment money; the hank that- mixes up mortgage money and trading money gets into difficulties. Personally, he believed in the agricultural banking system, and Mr. Massey had said that if lie could find a sound proposal he would introduce it into the House. Recent statements that money could be raised in England at per cent, he regarded as pure fabrication.

MAIN HIGHWAYS

A Bill passed at the session before l last had caused a lot of trouble in Taranaki. He referred to the Main Highways Bill. He could see that that Bill was incomplete, and improvements must be made before it was workable. Taranaki had made most of its main roads, and through that very reason it- looked as though we would he shut out of some of the benefits of the Bill. Taranaki paid about 9 per cent, of the rates paid in New Zealand, and that was a fair basis upon which the Main Highways Board should allocate the money. At present the Highways Board could allocate the funds to districts that were not so progressive as Taranaki, and there was a danger of this province being left out.

SCIENTIFIC DAIRYING

A very cheerful feature of the position in New Zealand to-day was the wonderful way in which production was keeping np. The value of the annual production of the New Zealand dairying industry to-day was £24,000,000. He did not know whether it would be better for the Government to provide for scientific investigation in regard to the article which the dairymen produced, or whether it would he better for the dairymen to attend to that matter themselves, but of one thing he was certain, and that was that the time had come when greater care had to be taken of the scientific side.

three important measures. There were three important measures that- would be coming up at the next session that were not what would be called Government measures. They were the Licensing Bill, the Gaming Bill and the Electoral Bill. The Liberals were strongly in favour of the Electoral Bill, but he did not think it would be passed. He believed that the best system was that of “first past the post,” and only two parties to choose from. A Gaming Bill came before the House last session, but after <a long struggle it was dropped, as there was not time to put it through. He thought- that the present system was acting unfairly to some districts, and there was room for improvement. As far as the. Licensing Bill was concerned, he did not know what the provisions were. THE RAILWAY STRIKE.

All - . Hawken said he had been .against the railway strike right from the start. and he considered that the men had been ill-advised. He contended that the Government had no right to pay its civil servants better th,an the outside public- were being paid. Every Government would like to do so. but they bad to consider the whole of the people. The Government had been forced to do some disagreeable things. Air. Hawken deplored Hi© attitude of Air. Wilford in stating that no man under £320 per annum should lie reduced in his salary. Such was not the utterance of a statesman, but the words of a politician who was making a desperate bid for votes. A STATE BANK. Air. At ilford, who had got very little to propose in the way of new legislation, hal proposed a State Bank. 'Suc-h a hank, however, would not be sound or necessary fn New Zealand. LIBERAL CRITICISMS. One of the Liberal Party’s criticisms was that the Government had got a surplus. When a party became so hard up for criticism that they had to criticise a surplus they were in a. poor way indeed. “How can you reduce taxation, as Air Wilford says it ought to be reduced, if you have not got a surplus?” said Mr Hawken. Air Wilford also said that New Zealand should foster trade with the East. The Control Board had already investigated this, and it had been found that such a trade would he a very difficult one to work up. Our great market was the Old Land. China had very much more meat than we thought; in fact, they had meat to export, and there were more cattle in India than in any other country in the world. However, a big Auckland company was working up a little trade in butter.

THE POLITICAL SITUATION. In conclusion, Mr Hawken said that the fact of there being three parties in the House Avas rather confusing to the ordinary man. He saw' that the cleaving was between the Labour party and the rest of the House, and yet they had the middle party often- voting with Labour. They would vote with Labour to put out the Conservative party, and he believed that a great many people at last election did not understand that. That was why a man like Mr Isitt would not follow Mr Wilford. There was a distinct reason wiiv both the Reform party and the Liberal party should, oppose the Labour policy. People asked why the Reform party did not join up with the Liberal party, but he wished to point out that Reform was still holding the majority in the House. If after the elections the Liberal party had been the dominant party then he believed it w’ould have been the duty of the Reform party to fall in behind it. There were thousands of Liberals in New Zealand who, if they understood what was going ro happen, would take up a different stand. For the sake of the country he hoped that the three-party system in New Zealand would end. (Applause.)

On questions being invited, Mr Cocker referred to the scholarship money which had accrued from the Opaltu reserve, and asked if it could not be used for agricultural scholarships. He pointed out that Taranaki had not been able to use the W'hole of the money because by the time the scholars w r ere prepared to sit for the scholarship all but a few of them Avere ot'er age. Mr Hawken replied that- it Avould be a most dangerous thing to touch the existing legislation, as someone might move an amendment and so upset the Avhole thing. Undoubtedly Taranaki Avould in the future AA'ant all the money.

There Avere no further questions, and on the motion of Mr Cocker, seconded by Mr A. C. Pease, Mr Hawken Avas accorded a very hearty vote of thanks for his instructive address.