POLITICAL PROBLEMS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 189, 15 July 1925, Page 8

POLITICAL PROBLEMS

address-in-reply debate. SPEECH BY MINISTER OF LANDS. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, July! 4 - The debate on the Address-m-Reply was resumed in the House ot Repre sentatives this evening by the Hon A. D McLeod (Minister of Lands) «no said he held no brief th « lar k| land holders of the country, but he said the haphazard quotations of fag ures could only be misleading. as large holdings' of lands capably of sub-division were concerned, the Min ister maintained that a greater reduction of the number had taken placduring the Reform period of office than under anv previous Government. Generally speaking, where sub-divisions of leasehold land had been maue tbe iesult had not been satsifactory even though the rentals were brought down to af low as one farthing per acre. A better guide to the position was to take the Hock statistics. In 1911, before the Reform Government came__ in, there were in the back country to flocks of 20,000 and over, while to-dav there were only '26. The respective numbers of flocks of from 10,000 ™ 20,000 were 291 and 154, and of from 0000 to 10,000 were 831 and 6; 6. FARMERS’ FINANCE. Regarding the difficulties of farmers’ finance, a great deal of deflation in the higher priced lands must take place before final stability could oe secured. The Government had done more to assist the primary producer in the matter of finance than any other country. The burden of mortgages was condemned by the opponents of the Government as the cause of the farmers’ troubles, but they did not show how they would remedy' matters. Did they propose to repudiate these mortgages? As a matter of fact, after examining the figures relating to mortgages, he could find no figures in the world which showed that the mortgage rate had- been better kept in hand than in New Zealand. What the Government had done by introducing cheap money had considerably improved the position of every mortgagor in the Dominion. He deprecated the frequent sales of farms, which tended to create an altogether false idea as to tlieir Value.

“USEHOLD” NOT POPULAR. He did not wish to speak disrespectfully of the “usehold” tenure advocated'by the Labour Party, but the fact was that, it was a tenure bred in the cities and no body of farmers would ever be got to agree to it. As to the aggregation of land, he agreed that the policy of the late Prime Minister must be carried out even if more drastic steps had to be taken to stop aggregation. Much had been done to place soldiers settlers on a sound footing, and in, some cases the Government valuation had been reduced below the level of the surrounding valuations, but everything that could lie done to help the soldiers was being done. THE HOUSING QUESTION. He recognised that something must be done in the matter of housing in the large cities, but he was determined thav if one section of the community was to be assisted at the expense of another then the public should be told plainly what housing was costing. As to undeveloped lands he did not begrudge spending public money on them because in time the country would get its money back. He did not think, however, that pumice lands could bo profitably developed if the labour necessary was to be paid for at its proper value.

Mr Mcllvride dealt with the slum conditions in the Old Country and said the first duty of the Government was to look after expectant mothers and children. For that reason proper housing was essential, houses in which the future citizens could be reared in wholesome and sunny conditions. Mr Sykes dealt with the housing problem, contending that matters could not rest until every man who required it had a home he could call his own. At the same time, the statistics showed that even the workers preferred to have their homes under the freehold tenure, and he did not think the Labour Party would ever be able to convince them otherwise. He predicted that the majority of soldier settlers would make good. The debate was adjourned on the motion of Mr Savage and the House rose at 10.30 till 2.30 to-morrow.