BUDGET DEBATE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 16 August 1924, Page 16

BUDGET DEBATE.

MR CORRIGAN’S SPEECH. Mr Corrigan (Patea): I wish first of all to congratulate the leader of the Opposition upon his speech on the Budget. I think it will be admitted bv all sides of the House that it was the most statesmanlike speech made in this House for years past. The replies' that have been made from the Ministerial benches have, on the other hand, been very weak and cut no ice whatever. The Finance Minister, like the captain of a ship, is one who closely studies navigation. There is no doubt that on his last trip to the Old Country the right honourable gentleman did study navigation very closely. Anyone who has travelled on an ocean steamer will have noticed that very often on the chart of the vessel appear the letters P.D.” or “P.C.” “P.D.” means position dangerous, and “P.C.” means position cloudy. I notice that the right honourable gentleman has put P.C.” on this Budget, and there is no doubt that the position is cloudv. Every page of the document is clouded with mystery. It practically contradiets itself on every other page. Before I entered this House I always took a Budget to be absolutely authentic— I thought there could be no misrepresentation or inaccuracy in it. We find, however, that its purpose is really to try -and mislead the public. The position set out in the Budget is not the ■ position obtaining at the present time. There is no doubt in my mind that the critics, of the. Budget on these benches will show before this debate is finished that the Government are really not conversant with the conditions that obtain in this country at the present moment. I have listened to the debate, so far as it lias gone, with great interest. Only one man on the Ministerial benches had the eourage to say what he conscientiously thought, and that Avas the honourable member for Waitaki when he made the remark that trusts were operating in this country, and that they were getting away with the swag. . Speaker: I am afraid that was m a previous debate.

Mr Corrigan: I am sorry if that is so. However, it is the truth. At the present moment the trusts operating in this country are numerous, and. the greatest of them are . the financial trusts, which are crippling the primary producers in every possible way. We have only to look at the position as it obtained last year. Our exports in the year have been larger than ever before, and the prices they have realised have been good, but the primary producers who produce that wealth were never shorter of money than they are at the. present time. What is the reason for this? The reason is that the financial trusts are getting away with the swag, and getting away with more than their fair share of it at the expense of the primary producers of this Dominion. The men who are producing the wealth are producing it at a loss, because the'cost of production has not come down in proportion to the price of commodities generally. I hope that we shall be able to show, during the debate, how it is possible to get over some of these difficulties. The financial trust that is operating in this country affects one of our greatest primary industries—the dairying industry. In that industry people work from daylight to dark on seven days a week, yet the mortgage is still there, the farmers have still to borrow money, and they are in the hands' of the Philistines all the time. We cannot hope that the price of products will go higher—in fact, the tendency is that with competition from other‘countries the prices may drop. And what will be the consequence? We shall have the primary producers who produce onethird of the export wealth of the country absolutely ci'ippled. I will give an illustration. There is a dairy company of which I know; there are 250 suppliers, and eighty of them never see the cheques, they earn. There are orders on the cheques put in by loan companies and other financial institutions. Actually a third of the suppliers who do work never handle the money. The rates they are charged for advances run from 12 per cent, down to 8 per qent.; I do not know of one lower than '8 per cent. This is not an isolated case; it is very general with dairy factories; in a great many cases they* are really debtcollecting institutions -for the financial trusts of this countrv.

An hon. member: It is a disgrace. Mr Corrigan: Yes, it is a disgrace, and until something happens to bring about a more reasonable rate of interest for these people we are. not go- ' ing to have the prosperity in the country that there should be. The constituency of the honourable member for Egmont adjoins my constituency. Our constituencies are the most fertile spots in the Dominion. It has been proved that we produce more wealth per acre than any. other part of the world, and yet what do we find to-day? Everybody is short of money, and nobody is thriving. The place might be said to be in a state of bankruptcy as far as commercial business is concerned. The Prime Minister was in the district six or eight weeks ago, and on his return to Wellington he circulated the statement in the Press throughout the Dominion, “I have been in Taranaki; everything is prosperous, there, and everybody doing well.” The only sign of prosperity he saw in the town of Hawera was that there are two new banks being built for the purposes of the huge trusts that are in operation to enable them to continue their exploitations. The old buildings were not big enough, and larger buildings are required for their operations. That is the state of affairs that the present .Government has run us into through not developing State and agricultural banks in this country. The administration of the present Government puts me very much in mind of an old wornout axle of a cart. You will see a wheel going round, wobbling this way and that way, and every time the box touches a part of the axle friction is set up. That is exactly the position the Government have got the country in at the present moment. They try to remedy one thing, and in remedying it they give another wobble, and they set up friction somewhere else. I have been amused at some of the speakers on the Government side saying that we Liberals have no policy. It seems to me they have been in the habit of sitting quiet and stealing somebody's policy—all the good parts of their policy they stole from the Liberals. But this time they have beeu disappointed, and they have got no policy at all. They cannot gather up threads of anything from which to form a policy. Anybody who listened to the honourable member for Egmont could not but admit that he made one of the most conservative and autocratic suggestions in his speech that could be made by

anyone. He said, “I do not believe in cheap money.” He made that remark. What more autocratic announcement could be made than this, “that we want dear money?” Is dear money going to help this country to get back into the condition it should be in? Never. It will get into a worse position, and that is the respect in which I liken t-lie administration of the present Government, to the worn-out axle of a cart. It really wobbles' away, and it takes a bigger slice out of the producer’s income by a higher rate of interest, and it is consequently putting us back every day. My own experience is this: I have been farming for many years. I have been producing and not speculating in land, and I can assure you I made more money in 1913 with butter at Is Id per pound than I can make to-day off the same land with butter at Is 7d per pound. The reason for this is that taxation - and all other charges have gone up, and although produce has risen in price it .is not in reality bringing in as larcre a net return; other primary producers are in the same position. The Minister of Education the other night said that produce had gone up 400 per cent.' He must have made a mistake. It has gone up about 40 per cent. But the cost of production has gone up 100 per cent, in some cases, and in other cases 60 per cent, to 80 per cent. You cannot possibly get the same net return now for your year’s work that you could do in 1913. Let me take the wheat growers and the farmers in the South Island where the cereal crops are grown. The same thing is in evidence down there. They cannot produce the cereals at the price which they are getting for them, otherwise they would surely grow more. I noticed when I was in Southland, at. the beginning of this year that there was scarcely a paddock of wheat to be seen. It is not that the country is not fit to grow it, but the people said it would not pay them to grow wheat. That is the position. It is a sorry position for, us to be in a country like this, which has the necessary fertility, and especially a district like Southland, where the soil is equal, I think, to that of anv other provincial district in New Zealand. But there it is. We are menaced in that and other ways, and yet the Government of the day have the audacity to say, “We are running this country, and we are making it prosperous in every possible way. ’ ’ I have been unable to see where the prosperity they claim to have brought about exists, with the exception of the financial trusts of this country. Now I would just like to say something in reference to the manner the Government assists producers in the backblocks to make ends meet. I hgve communicated' with the Minister of Public Works on the subject,- and I have presented a petition to him askhim to try and do something to assist settlers in the backblocks in my electorate. I have been very disappointed with the result of his reply. Hie settlers to whom I am referring took up land some twenty-five years ago, and they have, been working away there ever since; nevertheless they have not got a road to their holdings vet. The settlement to which I am referring is twenty-five miles from the nearest place—Waver ley. I am referring to Moeawatea Valley, and also Whaririki Roads. The valley is thirty miles from Douglas, and forty miles from Eltham. As a matter of fact, those people are literally buried there. There are several settlers; they produce wool, mutton and lamb to the value of £7OOO a year. Four years ago a grant of £2500 was put on* the estimates for the road and bridge, but nothing has been done—there is no bridge, at present; the money voted has been frittered-away, and;the timber and iron brought there has been allowed to rot on the ground, and the grass is growing over it, They fcpve got to get their supplies in the best way they can; there is also great difficulty in-getting the stock out. They are getting in new hardwood timber from Australia to replace the timber that has been allowed to waste and rot. The wire rope has been lying there so long that it is now practically perished and would be dangerous to use for construction of the bridge. There you have a little band of settlers that have gone in for pioneering, trying to produce wealth for this country, and that is how they are treated. The Hon. Mr Coates: The Liberals started the work.

Mr, Corrigan: “The Liberals started it.” The present Government let it rot. They put on some men the year before last—l 922 the number of about twenty-five, and in consequence the settlers ’ hopes ran high, believing they were going to get their road at last, but they were disappointed. After the election, like a bolt from the blue,' the men were dismissed. Of course, I do not know the reason for dismissing the men, but one is bound to feel that the action of the Government was influenced by the result of the election. What I ‘have described is only one of many instances of what is going on in New Zealand at the present moment. I now come to the question of mortgages, of which we have heard so much during the course of this debate. The Minister of Education, when speaking the other night, told the House that the country was mortgaged collectively and individually to the amount of £500,000,000. When you pause to consider the amount of our indebtedness it makes you wonder what sort of country we are living in to be able to pay interest on that vast sum; the interest has to be found. Do you wonder at the, Government putting “P.O. ” on the Budget, which means “position cloudy.” Yes, Mr Speaker, we are well mortgaged, and it will require very careful administration of this country’s affairs to put us iu the position that everyone is prospering. It must be patent to any unbiassed mind that the ■ present administration in power is not .capable of doing it. You will find on page 9 of the Budget that there has been increase in the revenue “Dutv on instruments” of £77,933, and this is what it huvs: ‘ l lie increase derived from duty on instruments indicates increased activity in buying and selling property.” It i s deceiving; it is nothing of the sort. It shows the increased trouble and indebtedness producers arc getting into through having to mortgnge their securities to get alono-. How long this state of affairs is going to last goodness knows, but it cannot go on much longer, and I do not wonder. at the Minister of Education putting out a warning the other night, telling ns to be careful, and pointing out- the indebtedness of the country. Now there i s just another section that I would, like to refer to, ami that is the Agricultural Department. At the present moment we arc not getting, as we should, the best out of the Department. Whether it is because the Department is starved for funds I do not know, but I rather, think so, because I feel certain that the Minister of Agriculture, would never be so bard on the primary producers of this

country as to deny them their rights, or refuse to assist them in the interests of production. Now we have an industry that in spite of all the drawbacks and the small assistance it has received from, this Government lias gone ahead, and the Government will not even spend a few thousand pounds t,o assist the producers with laboratories for research work. The industry I refer to is the dairy industry, and if we could only get a laboratory established in every province to teach the manufacturers of our produce their business scientifically we could save the producers thousands of pounds. We do not want anything elaborate, such as a college in the North Island and a college in the South Island, but merely small laboratories in the different provinces to assist in educating our manufacturers up to their work, and making them efficient in the manufacture of produce from the raw material that is produced. If that were Mone it would assist the hardworking people of the country who have been responsible for mortgaging their securities and increasing the stump duties on instruments. Now, Sir, there is just another question on - which .1 would like to touch, and that is the national debt. The Budget says in one place that we have reduced our national debt, but notwithstanding that statement the figures in the same Budget, which are undisputed, show that it has increased by £1,568,265. There is no getting away from the question that it is there in print and cannot be disputed. The Prime Minister may think he can gull us in this way, and wants to try and show that because he has lent the Advances Department some £2,000,000 that this amount has to be taken off. But that has not to be taken off. The national debt has increased by £l,568,265, and all the juggling in the world will not make the figures different. Then the question of the wealth of the country has also been referred to, but it is patent to anyone that a considerable deflation in land values will have to come about before matters become stabilised in this country. I travel a good deal throughout New Zealand during the year, and I consider that prices will have to deflate .on an average at least 40 per cent, on peak prices. In face of that we have it thrown at us from the other side of the House, “Oh, but look at the value of the country,” and yet there is nothing to support the inflated values which have, been created, if what' is considered the value of the Dominion at present was reduced by 40 per cent, then we could get at something near the correct value. The asset is really 40 per cent, lower than what it is trotted out as the value to the people of this country. The wealth of the country is estimated on the inflated land values during the boom, and to show how misleading this estimate, is I was interested in securities registered at the value of £13,500, and these securities have no value; they could be purchased by any honourable member for ss, and this is not an isolated case by any means. Mr Masters: That is more than 40 per cent., is it not? > Mr Corrigan: Yes, I think so. Now, Sir, I would like to refer to the question of soldiers’ settlement. Last year an Act was passed which members thought was going to relieve the soldiers on the land, and to that Act the Budget makes reference. On page 13 the Budget says: “It is the policy of the Government to give industrious men every possible chance, and there are already indications of a great improvement in soldier settlements.” Now, I know of a case, which is not an isolated one, where a man purchased a section of land during the boom period and obtained from the Government an advance. At the present moment his advances amount to, something like £2500, and he also put in £ISOO of his own money. The Revaluation Committee visited his district, and he has now received a notice from the Dominion Revaluation Board, which states: “Referring to vour application under the provisions of the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Amendment Act, 1923, for a revaluation of the abovementioned land, I have now to inform you that the Dominion Revaluation Board has determined as follows, namely, to sustain present mortgage value.” The value of the State mortgage is £2592, and with the addition of the £ISOO that the man himself has put into improvements on the property, the Board values the security at £2700. What the. Department is doing is they are really taking the soldier’s £ISOO he put in the property to supplement the deflation value. The position is this: The soldier loses his £ISOO and gets no relief. They are going to give him no relief at all. This man fought for his country and upon his return took up this land, but could not make a success of it at the price. To prove that he was a trier, I may say that for four years he got up early in the morning, milked fifteen cows' on the farm, and then taught at school all day. As a matter of fac-t, he put two days’ work into each day. Yet,. because he has been thrifty,'he is not to get any relief whatever' from the Revaluation Beard. I undertake to say, that when the Act was passed last year it was not the intention of members of the House that our soldier settlers should be treated in this way. The intention was to give relief to everv returned soldier who was worthy of it. The position, in this case, is made worse by reason of the fact that forty ieet auay from this farm—across a road there is another soldier settler who has received a reduction in the \ nluation ot his laud to the extent £4l 6s per acre. Mr de la Perrelle: He must be a Reformer. Mr Corrigan: I know that the man • who failed to obtain a reduction is a Liberal. The valuation of the land by the man opposite was reduced by £4l 6s per acre; yet the other man cannot get Id reduction. The security is there for the Government mortgage; they do not bother, nor do they care what happens to the soldier’s £ISOO he can lose that. In the other case the security for the Government mortgage is not there, so they write down the valuation. That is the way thev treat our returned soldiers. If that is the Government’s idea of what is reasonable, it is deplorable to think that we should have got into such a state that our soldiers are treated in this wav. That is only one of manv cases of which I know. 1 know the place, and I am a fair judge of land, and I am prepared to say that as far as the quality of the land is concerned the one farm consists of just as good land as the other. Sir, I do not propose to detain the House any longer, but I must say that I am very much disappointed at the contents of the Budget. Th© position in the country is very cloudy, and it will become cloudier still until there will come a storm as the result of which there will be a collapse of the present administration.