N.Z. LABOUR PARTY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 14 October 1925, Page 5

N.Z. LABOUR PARTY.

POLICY AND IDEALS,

AN ELECTION MANIFESTO.

(by TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.) . WELLINGTON, Oct. 13.

The New Zealand Labour Party has issued a manifesto to the electors of New Zealand in connection with the 1925 election. The manifesto is signed by Messrs H. E. Holland (cUairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party), T. Brindie (national president), and W. Nash (national secretary). The document opens with a statement of the circumstances under which the Reform Government held office for the past three years by the aid of members elected to oppose them. It then proceeds to say: “On the day of Mr. Massey’s funeral negotiations were commenced for the purpose of amalgamating the Reform and Liberal parties. The progress and result of the negotiations \are recent history and do not require recapitulation. They broke down owing to differences regarding how they were to cut up the loaves and fishes amongst them. The Liberal Party having passed away, the remnants have taken the name of the National Party, and it is an open secret that the Reform and Nationalist parties ‘ will come to au agreement after the election as set out by the leading Reform organisation. “The Labour members have fought strenuously against the Government’s policy of subsidising shipping corporations to bring immigrants whilst unemployment was rampant and the housing shortage so acute. The party did everything possible to extend the provisions of the moratorium so that struggling fanners who were not able to finance their mortgages would have an opportunity of making good. When the Land and Income Tax Bill, providing for wholly exempting income derived from land, was under discussion the party moved to confine exemptions to farmers with assessable incomes not exceeding £750 per annum, but the motion was defeated with the aid oi members .of the Liberal Party. The party also endeavoured to confine reductions in income tax to persons with incomes below £BOO per annum, but was unsuccessful.”

The land policy is designed to give the farmer and the .householder absolute security of tenure so as to end the holding by squatters of Large areas of the best type of land, which could be put to better use by closer settlement; to abolish speculation, in land; tc secure community created value for the community; to secure each occupier the full value of his own improvements; to stop the present wasteful methods of private exploiters in utilising the timber resources of the Dominion; land settlement to be encouraged to secure the fullest possible amount of primary production; no financial, assistance to be provided by a Labour Government for speculators; taxation on city lands to be adjusted to prevent the exploitation of small businessmen through excessive rentals. To meet housing needs Labour would acquire large areas near the cities for bui'ding purposes and properly planned residential districts would be established on a scale sufficient to overtake tlie house shortage at the earliest possible moment. Labour’s aim in this connection will be to secure happy homes for the people. Free education would include free books and the .removal of all barriers to the highest educational grade .in technical, classical and cultural spheres. Under the heading of taxation, the manifesto says: ,During the past few years the Government have reduced the tax on super incomes from 8s 9d in the £to4s6d in the £, and the revenue has been kept up to normal by increasing the Customs duties. A table is given showing; that in the last four years customs have increased by £6,316,160, and the income tax'reduced bv £7:009,445. Of income tax remissions 611 per cent, goes to tax payers with incomes over £IO,OOO, while Customs duties have increased since 1921 from £4 8s 10 per head to £5 11s lid. The Labour Party supports Ulie efforts made by the Alliance of Labour to' .secure a ‘ Roy4l Commission to investigate the cost of living and the basic wage. It also condemns the assistance given by the Employers’ Federation to force workers under the jurisdiction of the Court, whilst the Government refuses to abide by the decisions themselves.

Summarised, the Labour Party’s policy is the immediate restoration of wages and salaries to the 1914 standard ; a full inquiry into the cost of living for the purpose of readjusting the basic wage in accord with a reasonable standard of comfort; immediate house erection on a large scale to overcome the existing shortage; every possib'e assistance to the working farmer; every assistance to all forms of co-op-eration and agricultural research; closer settlemen't to get the maximum number of people on the land; a Stateowned shipping service; free hospital treatment; an extension of bepefits under the Workmen’s Compensation and Insurance Act; an extension of the State Fire Insurance Department to combat the present expuoitation by private corporations: the endowment of motherhood; adequate pensions based on the cost of living; a readjustment of taxation to ease the load on Customs, and increased graduated tax on super incomes; full provision of wireless facilities to safeguard the lives of seamen and passengers ; a State bank with a rural credit branch to organise the credit facilities of the Dominion and to charge reasonable fees; an education system that is free enough to ensure the fullest development of every child, regardless of the income of the parents: a sound immigration policy after the existing housing shortage has been overtaken; a commission to consider the best way of reorganising the resources of the British Commonwealth for the benefit of its people; every effort to bring a 1! Governments into the League of Nations; and a settlement of disputes on the basis of arbitration.