FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 222, 17 August 1927, Page 4

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

CONTINUATION OF DEBATE. MORE SPEECHES YESTERDAY. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Aug. 17. The dobate on the Financial Statement was resumed in the House of Representatives this afternoon by Mr J. R. Hamilton who devoted a great deal of his speech to land matters. Land values, he contended, must depend on the price of the produce from the land. New Zealand could only obtain the world parity prices and was doing so in some respects, but he complained that our butter was not getting within 20s per cwt. of Danish which experts agreed was no better than the New Zealand product. Some people advocated cutting up the large estates; but he pointed out that this in many cases was due to fallacious ideas. Critics complained of borrowing, yet those critics might be found at the same time holding out their hands for loan moneys. Almost all the dairy factories in New Zealand were on the co-operative basis and the logical corollary was co-operative marketing which had proved beneficial in apple and honey industries. He thought that the expenditure on irrigation should be investigated as it was not giving a commensurate value. The Forestry Department needed a shake up as its oppressive royalty charges were stifling sawmilling operations.

BANKS BLAMED. I Mr Jordan, commenting on Mr i Hamilton’s complaints of the burdens on the farming industry, said that the 1 blame lay with the banking institutions which were taking so much of New Zealand’s earnings in interest i and other charges imposed on its I economic operations. He declared that i the conditions under the present Govi eminent were getting into an increasingly lamentable position. In Wellington a clergyman had been appealing for clothes for men working for the Government on relief jobs. Bankruptcies were increasing and the working people of the country wore suffering hardships. From what they could see around them, members with any real feeling for the well-being of the people could only come to the conclusion that the Government was no longer filling any useful function in the country. RURAL CREDITS. Mr T. W. Rhodes urged the issue of bonds for the rural credit system and the provision of more funds for the State Advances Department to enable the farming industry to be developed. Secondary industries should also receive encouragement. Referring specially to the Onakaka ironworks, he hoped that efforts would be made, to get these going on a paying basis. If this could not be done, it would be better to close down and let the men’s energies be devoted in other more profitable directions. He made an appeal for the development of the New Zealand flax industry.

Continuing his speech in the evening, Mr Rhodes stressed the need for investigating the possibilities of utilising the waste from flax in tho manufacture of motor spirit. The fibre might also be used in the manufacture of artificial silk. Referring to the main highways control, he said that the system was a good one, but some districts were not receiving a fair proportion of the money raised for roading.

INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT. Mr R. W. Smith pointed out that while the national deDt was mounting up the country’s earning power was not showing an appreciable increase. Too great a proportion of the expenditure in the past had been on non-pro-ductive works. He cited the many thousands of pounds spent on making roads alongside the railways to compete with the cream of the traffic—the passenger section of it. The expenditure on public works, declared Mr Smith, had been reckless and had produced no useful results. Local bodies had caught the spending infection also, the effect being to add very seriously to the burden of rates on the people in the small centres of population. This sort of thing must stop and he was glad to see the Government setting up a board to supervise the local body borrowing and see that the ratepayers received some value for the money raised. Touching on unemployment, Mr Smith contended that it was degrading to the country that it should permit a position to arise in which contributions should be received from Chinamen towards the provision of relief work for unemployed white men. Referring to the difficulties of the timber industry, he pleaded that an added duty should be placed on imported timber. If this protection was not afforded the sawmills would have to go under.

MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS. Hon. K. S. Williams said that the competition of the main highways with the railways must be admitted, but people required these roads and there was no doubt that they had come to stay. The Local Bodies’ Loans Board was, he felt, likely to do a great deal of good, but there was no standard system that could be adopted for road making as the conditions varied so much in the different districts. The Government was. doing all it could to use New Zealand timber in its works, but it was not always practicable to obtain suitable timber. FARMERS’ DIFFICULTIES. Touching on the farmers’ financial difficulties, he pointed out that the genesis of the trouble was to be found in the large extrn amount of freezing works space that was called for in the early days of the war. The sooner a great portion of this was written off the better it would be. The country had over 26 million pounds invested in motor vehicles. If even six millions of that'had been spent on top-dressing in the last few years the farmers would be in a much better position. There were also between twelve and thirteen million pounds more charged against the land in the shape of local body loans. Motor vehicles were useful, but he considered that a great many motor car owners used them wastefully for pleasure when their time could be more usefully employed on their farms or in their business. The cessation of bush felling in recent years had added to the unemployment army. He hardly knew how these were to be fitted in, but possibly some could be employed in planting lands which had been found useless for any other purpose. As to deteriorated-land, the only way to deal with this problem was to let it be occupied in larger areas till it was brought into a workable condition when it might be usable in smaller areas again. At present over 10,000 men wore employed on public works, but it was necessary to safeguard the permanent men in the department. The expenditure in various public buildings was being kept down to the lowest possible level in view of the conditions prevailing to-day. Mr Howard said that he desired first

to deal with thp extraordinary speech they had heard from Mr Wilford on the subject of Singapore. It seemed to him that the member for Hutt- had jumped the claim of the Leader of the Opposition by getting hi his Singapore speech in this debate when he knew that the Prime Minister had promised to give a day for the discussion of this subject. He suggested that Mr Wilford had worked off one of the most entertaining hoaxes known for years on both Parliament and the press. Mr Wilford had stated that the Singapore base must be built hurriedly because Japan was building cruisers rapidly. Brasseys Naval Annual showed that owing to the Washington Treaty the capital ships building had been reduced. Even the cruiser building was no more than was necessary for replacement purposes, this applied equally to Britain, Japan and America. Japan had laid down no new cruising ships since 1925. Mr Wilford had spoken of the secret clauses of Japan’s 21 demands on China in 1916, but these all appeared in a book on the Chinese affairs (Fight for the Cause) written by Mr Putnam Weale. The member for Hutt had not told the House that he was quoting from a book when he said that Japan’s demands were more significant than those made by Austria on Serbia in 1914. Japan had done all she could to bring about friendliness with the British people, and Singapore was a menace to them. The six points in Japan’s treaty with China mentioned by Mr Wilford as secret were not secret at all. Mr Wilford was putting over the House a stale story as new. He (Mr Wilford) was not giving this information to the world for the first time, but it had been known to every man and woman who took the trouble to inform themselves upon the subject. Discussing the Budget, he said that we were borrowing to pay our just debts, but the amount on the estimates for public buildings was not too large, at least not the £500,000 for school buildings. Many of our schools were out of date and insanitary. PASTORAL COUNTRY.

Mr Burnett discussed high pastoral country in the South Island, which he described as a great asset of the State, which he also said had been “bungled”’ and “blundered” with until within the last few years and the Dominion was suffering because of the depreciated carrying capacity as a result of this neglect. He quoted figures to show how seriously sheep had diminished in these areas because of the bad tenure and over subdivision. The improved tenure instituted by the present Government had, however, brought a new spirit of hope amongst the settlers who were rapidly improving their positions. Tho adjournment of the debate was moved by Mr Bartram and the House rose at 11.25 p.m. till 2.30 to-morrow.