Dairy Leaders Have Never Helped, Says Stewart

Northern Advocate, 7 November 1946, Page 2

Dairy Leaders Have Never Helped, Says Stewart

The Labour Party candidate for ! Marsden (Mr J. S. Stewart) addressed j an enthusiastic meeting at the Whan- | garei Town Hall last night. The Mayor (Mr W. Jones) presided over j an audience which filled about ninei tenths of the hall. ! For the first half-hour the candidate j received a quiet hearing, but later inj terjections became more frequent. Ho j turned most of them to good account, ! and at the conclusion, he was accordodd a vote of thanks and confidence proposed by Mr D. L. Ross and carried with acclamation. No dissenters were heard. Dealing with farming problems, Mr Stewart said in the depression years, when farmers were struggling under very adverse circumstances, they had asked the leaders of their industry lor assistance and guidance. The leaders had not been able to assist. "The leaders of the industry are still there today and they have never done anything to help the farmers.” he said. The farmers then turned to the Government of the day, but it was bereft of ideas and could not help.

GUARANTEED PRICE

When the Labour I'artv was elected to office it introduced the guaranteed price, and he had never heard of any farmer who was prepared to renounce or jettison this system, which was Labour’s solution to the problem. Before Ihe guaranteed price was put into operation a dead burden of £8,500,000 had been lifted from the shoulders of farmers by the passing of the Mortgagors and lessees’ Rehabilitation Act, which had put the farmers of New Zealand on a sound financial basis.

While the National Party was in power it had never endeavoured to repay a single penny, and between 1921 and 1935 it had borrowed from overseas at the rate of £4,500,000 :ach year. The Labour Party had reduced New Zealand's overseas debt by 25 per cent and in another 15 years external debt would be extinguished if the present ate of progress was maintained. "We do n t believe in remaining in o ndnge tc overseas bondholders or usurers,” said the candidate. USE OF MONEY ii’ made brief reference to the im’roved standard of l ! ving and incensed spending power of the people f New Zealand. Wi.at is the use of nr nay if you ■ nnot buy goods with it?” asked an "terjector.

Mr Stewart: The goods will come. "But not when they are wanted,’’ answered another interjector. Commenting on employment, he said that although many thousands of ex-servicemen and women had been demobilised since the end of hostilities, no unemployment had resulted, owing to the planned switchover from wartime to peacetime industries. There were 8000 jobs waiting to be filled in New Zealand, and it was necessary to bring people into the country to fill thesQ positions. This immigration would not affect those who were waiting for houses. HOSPITAL BOARDS’ FAULT Nurses were urgently needed. The low wages obtained by nurses was not the fault of the Government, but was the fault of the local hospital boaids, which determined the wages and conditions of work for nurses. If they were employed by the state conditions and wages would be better. Male labour was needed, particularly in the building trades, and men j brought Into the country for this pur- i pose would be housed in hostels built j on the sites where they would be working. Two such hostels had al- i ready been commenced in Auckland. Mr Stewart also dealt with Now Zealand’s education system, which he said compared favourably with any in the world.