Mr Paikea s Maiden Speech

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 171, 22 July 1939, Page 5

Mr Paikea s Maiden Speech

Thanks Extended To the Government

GRATITUDE OF THE MAORI RACE Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, July 21. The debate on the Address-in-Reply was continued by Mr. T. D. Burnett (Texnuka) when the House resumed after the luncheon adjournment at 2.30. There had been a great deal of loose talk about the conditions of the average sheep-farmer in the South Island, said Mr. Burnett. Never iu all his experience had their position been so serious. It had become most acute in February. He proceeded to quote the financial returns of a section of the sheepfarmers in the South Canterbury district to illustrate tbo fact that they were making little or nothing from their holdings. Their chief difficulty, said Mr. Burnett, was excessive taxation. Money which the farmers should be retaining to increase production, was being sent to Wellington in the form of taxation, to be used for centralised spending by the Government. Young men were leaving the farms, he continued, because they were offered no inducements for the future and there was a growing tendency on the part of farmers to neglect to obtain the maximum production from their holdings. Could one wonder, he asked, that the farmers were beginning to listen to rumblings of direct actionf He did not blame them, and if God spared him, he would lead them in the procession. He suggested that the Government should remove the land tax, see that rents were manageable, reduce hospital taxa tion, increase the 40-hour week and abolish compulsory unionism. “Exactly the Same Policy as Before” Mr. J. W. Munro (Dunedin North) said Mr. Burnett had enunciated the policy the Opposition would pursue if it were again returned to power; it would be exactly the same as last time. They would cut wages and salaries again, and accentuate a slump. Never again would the people of democracies submit to starvation in the midst of plenty. He did not want to see a revolution in any British-speaking country, he said. Referring to Mr. Burnett’s contention that the farmers were listening to rumblings of direct action, he did not know whether he .should take what Mr. Burnett said as a th r eat or a bubbling over of us exuberance against the Government. Mr. Burnett had said he would lend the farmers in revolt. Mr. J. Thorn: Hitler! (Laughter). Mr. Munro then referred to finance, stating that, ns long as higher liuance was controlled by private interests, there could bo nothing else but the policy enunciated by the Opposition, except when Labour was in power. With regurd to the raid on Loudon funds, he said that possibly the Government bad been over-trusting. The Government thought the people would be patriotic enough to see that money made in New Zealand would be invested here. It would not make the same mistake again and would put a fence up, although it was deplorable to have to do such a thing. In his maiden speech Mr. P. K. Paikea (Northern Maori) said the Maori people as a race had received a great deal from the Labour Government. He complimented the Government for the introduction of the social security benefits, for broadcasting tho proceedings of Parliament throughout the country, and for the avenues it had provided for the education of tho Maori people. The figures showed that the Government was mindful of the fact it had a duty not only to the pakeha, but also to the Maori. To day the Maori people took off their hats to the Labour Government. Even though the Government might spend thousands on Maori education, lie considered there was still a danger point—the age of adolescence. If a boy or girl did not have any encouragement to go into the industrial world, or to any other sphere, then tho money would be wasted. '1 he development work started by the member for Eastern Maori had been carried on by the Labour Government. Rapid progress had been made with Maori housing, but he would like to draw attention to the fact that the department was building houses wihout regard to the number in the family. Waitangi Redresses Sought In conclusion, Mr. Paikea made a plea to the Government that, as a Centennial gesture, it should gi' e iedress to the grievances under which the Maoris had been labouring since the Treaty of Waitangi. Charging tho Government with having failed to live up to its undertaking to keep interest rates down, Mr. J. N. Massey (Franklin) said local bodies to-day could not borrow money at 3* per cent., yet the Government had been talking about making money available at 1 per cent. He did not l>clie\e local bodies could to-day borrow money at less than 4* per cent. County councils from one end of New Zealand to the other were strongly opposed to increasing the burden on ratepayers and realised they must operate according to the ability of ratepayers to meet the charges. Ho asked if New Zealand could afford to pay for the high standard of the roads now being demanded ]iy The Main Highways Board, the Public Works Department and the travelling public, and asserted that more money should be spent on the roads in the outer areas. The time had come, he said, to review the whole question of local body taxation, which was increasing by leaps and bounds, and he also thought there should be an overhaul of the system of hospital rating.

The House rose at 5.30 until 2.30 on Tuesday.

So far during the debate 37 Government members, 39 of the Opposition and two Independents have spoken.