THE REFORM CANDIDATE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 26 October 1928, Page 6

THE REFORM CANDIDATE

Mr 1 Smith said first, of all. that he agree* with/Mr Atmore's statement on Tuesday n'iglit, that, the next, election would be one of the most critical in the history of New Zealand,, ,'for_t)}p Government that was put into power would proiably. h ave to ace ' sonie °* tne most difficult .questions that had ever arisen in>£hj3 country. Dealing with-Mr Atmore's indictment of'the iGov'ernment-tho speaker said, it was- av poor compliment to the intelligence, of the people- of New Zealand to state that the Government that they had voted-to power for 16 .years was not .fit for the.job,' and-that there was nothing in-its-.past achievements that called for commendation. The Reform Party dur-ing-its time in power had passed through a .very.' difficult period,; including the Great-War, which brought this country face to face with an experience of which it knew nothing. ~ In spite of that the Government had men in camp within four days after hostilities commenced, and very soon New Zealand contingents were crossing the water on their way to undertake a share of the fighting.. It was something tjie credit of." Ne\y- Zealand with a population a little over a million that she had been able to put in the.field, a force o£ 100,000 men,,,the fine achievements of whom the speaker haii no need to recount. 'THE RETURNED SOLDIERS

Wjuxt..happened when these men .came back to-,New,.ZqaJand? , Some scheme had: M, Ke/.devi6ed :under- : which..they could be repatriated into civil life in-the shortest possible-time.- The-., Dominion ;vas:-a /cqiintfy- that depended entirely upon its agricultural and pastoral industries'; its secondary/industries were hard-ly-worth; talking 'about; • and. the Govfirtgntnt- considered-, that the only course op'ftn ; was tojattenrpt to settle the returne&'araen on ,the land. •.', Unfortunately before those t men came back a.-land hoom had 'begun. It was not • any fault of. the , Government,., but was tho natural result \of ecbn'onjic-causes. The primary produce of ii'ew 'Zealand began to realise prices higher than, had been known..before. As, always happened when, such a state,of things, came about the price of land., (hoi., its, value)- began to go up, The popple, had Jgot, it into their minds thajt the high prices for/primary,produce were., going to f continue.. Experienced farmers; w T : |,heir .land ,at..unheard X)f;,prices and buying more land at a kill Higher> figure.; !u: ;,, .; r;; ; The inevitable happened; --the bubble burst, and ~many.. were jn.the ensufag,. slump. ;i ,The speaker remembered v meeting a-hard-headed farmer who, assured him that butterfat would remain at;-;25,6d, a.-.pound Tor. at least 5. years. Within a year it was less than Is a pound, i '::; lands for settlement

before;that came about, continued the speaker, the: problem of repatriating the retluvheld, soldiers had to be solved. The Government could not.wait, and accordingly a board was appointed composed of"men-whom the Government had rea-son-to believe were the best experienced iij; the Dominion.. The Dominion believed those men would give reliable advice. The Board made its recommendations to Cabinet, and many blocks of land,-were, purchased at r a price which Was-now known to be above the land's productive value. '..Then .the slump .came and. the bottom feirout of the prirnary produce- markets. Prices fell so low thai'tbe dearly bought farms became unpayable. Not only the • soldiers but everyone who had bought -in ; .at high,.prices was affected. .Ajttswerihg an interjector Mr Smith, referee! .to (he estate. There was that in recommending its.'purcnase the. Board jnladefa mistake. Thedand, was. quite unsuitable to be subdivided at* the, price . charged.. ''But suEelyV* said, Mr Smiih rW "yon are not going, to, condemn, a Government because it'made a.mistake ifl.one .particular, transaction,, acting,pn, .the. Board's advice,'' a number., of soldiers got' into .difficulties but they,were ,not left with. their itVoubles, and those..,who hung.on ■ vjefe, noyi'.on the,,right, side.of things, iheir farms had been re-valued and ninete,nths,.pf on the land were now making, comfortable .livings. Everyone knew..now,that, a mistake, was made, ,but the- speaker wished his audience to remember that it,was a mistake in,. wbiqh,. u many...of.,,the, hardestdie'aded business, men and farmers in New Zealand shared. Silt JULIUS VOGEL'S SCHEM'e

Mr. S.mitTi again referred to. Mr A timbre's .remarks on Tuesday, about Sir Julius. Vogel's action in 1870 when he b'r'otfght down.his.famous Public Works policy. The speaker .said that .the scheme was a proof of Sir Julius Vogel's statesmanship, but when the £10,000,000 asked for, was granted he did not realise that he had created.a power lie could not control. The money was intended Jor the completion of a main trunk railWay from one end of New Zealand to the other, but when the money was obtained "there was a wild scramble for it on the fioor. of the Houseof Representatives. '■' The Government of-.the day with its small majority was unable to risk the loss of votes by refusing members' requests for: branch lines. . In this way not £10,000,000 but £20,000,000 was expended and then the trunk railway was not half completed. - The speaker used this as an example to point out what would, in his opinion, happen if this country embarked on a scheme of borrowing such as that suggested by Sir Joseph Ward. It would bring about not only a slump, but also the greatest disaster in the history of New Zealand. Another evil effect of Sir Julius Vogel's borrowing scheme was a land boom which began with the building of the railways and ended with a slump when the borrowed money had all gone. Tho bottom fell out of things just as it did a few years ago. "There was then,'' said Mr Smith, '"'much more distress in New Zealandjthan any of you know anything about." Men were offering themselves as labourers for 3s and 4s a day. . DISCOVERY OF COOL STORAGE

About 14 or 15 years later Richard John Seddon came into power, and while paying a tribute to that man's ability, Mr Smith criticised Mr Atmore's statement that Seddon's accession "began the glorious times that the Liberal Party brought to New Zealand." Mr Smith pointed out that it was just about then that a method of freezing meat and keeping dairy produce in cold storage

ADDRESS TO ELECTORS LAST NIGHT MR SMITH AT THEATRE ROYAL GOVERNMENT AND SOLDIER SETTLEMENT PROBLEM - • Mr t W. O. Smith, Reform candidate for, Nelson, delivered an Address to electors at the Theatre Royal last night The theatre was threeduarters full but the attendance would probably have been larger hid th,e weather not been wet. The Mayor (Mr W. J. Moftatt) presided and introduced the speaker.

was discovered. That gave to the Dominion's primary products wide markets and began an undreamed of era of prosperity., The man who discovered that freezing. process was of more value lo this country than any statesman. , Mr Smith saiu that throughout its history New Zealand had had good leaders on both sides of the House of Representatives. He paid a special tribute to the work of Richard Seddon and told how he had recognised the debt that the country owed to its pioneer settlers by bringing in the Old Age Pension scheme. New Zealand's comparative position in the world as regards per capita taxation according, to Mr Atmore's speech on Tuesday was referred to by Mr Smith. New. Zealand was certainly second on the, list,., but a comparison with the United, Kingdom with its huge load of war debt was unfair as was also a comparison with the European countries which were fully developed, as regards railways, roads, etc.j and did not need to spend money in that direction as was necessary in the Dominion. The question the people of New Zealand had to answer ,was, had the country or had it not been borrowing more money than it was justified, in borrowing for developmental purposes ?, The speaker also pointed; out that when considering the' magnitude of the country's debts it was necessary to disassociate the £81,000,000 borrowed for war purposes. ; Speaking of the United Party, Mr Smith said that although its leader, Sir Joseph Ward had done good work in the past there Was no getting away from the fact that he had become aged and that he was no longer physically, fit to lead the United Party or any other party to success. "He is a man who has lost his grip of public affairs," said Mr Smith. "He does not realise the far-reaching effects that the realisation of his policy would have on this country." What had happened-before woujd happen again. A boom with the inevitable slump in its train would follow the borrowing of the money. There was < also Sir, Joseph Ward's immigration policy. ■, What was going to happen to the 400,000 immigrants he, proposed bringing into the country. .Once th e, loan, mop ey was ended they would, help to make unemployment worse than it had ever been before. /Development along sound economic lines was the only successful;way. Mr Smith referred to a Budget Speech made by Sir Joseph Ward in 1927, when lie stated: "I warn you that this country is piling up debt at an unjustifiable rate. . . .." Sir Joseph realised then that the time had come when the country should follow an ordinary prudent course. Mr Smith, said that if the present Government had erred in any direction it was in spending too much money. He realised, of course, that the completion of the main trunk line in the South Island, closer land settlement, and development of the country's resources were necessary, but he wished to stress the fact that borrowed money should be primarily for increasing the Dominion's industries, for the development of hydrpelectric energy, and generally for expenditure on works and developmental schemes that would at least pay the interest on the money invested. , THE COATES GOVERNMENT

Proceeding, the speaker . said it >hacY been asked, What had the Reform Goy- t ernment done?. He would tell his audience what it had done during its seventeen years of office. It would be foolish to say that a party had been on the Treasury benches for- 17 years without doing something to provide for the development of the country and the welfare of the community. If the Government had not done these things it would have been turned out, otherwise we would have been an exceedingly foolish

people. The present Administration had gone a good deal further than Mr Seddon was able to do in h'S time. Ho reminded liis hearers that though 10s a week in those days was a welcome addition to old people's income it did not go so tar now, and the Government, realising this, htul reduced the age from 65 to 60 when women were entitled to it, and' had increased the .pension to. 17s 6d a week, and a married qotipjo were allowed at iiie same time to own a house worth £SOO without being penalised. Old people had been given a measure of comfort that would add lo I heir happiness in their declining years. The'Government had increased the pensions of widows with young children from £3O a year to £2OU n year. The family allowance also provided 2s a week for each child up to 14 years in excess of' two where the average weekly income of the parent did not exceed £4. It was not very much, but it was a. help. The Government had also made provision for workers' homes. A condition of things was creeping into Mew Zealand which was not desirable—the beginning of shun areas. The greatest thing a man had to face was rent, and in the large centres rents were jumping up which, were quite out of reach of the average working man. Mr Coates recognised this, he went into the homes of the people themselves, talked with them, and said, "This is not a fair thing, and must be slopped." The Government borrowed money ..and had ilent nearly £6,500,000 to provide homes |for workmen costing about £930 each, Mid rented them at a price which just 'paid the cost of the money. There was in the breast of every man the, desire to have something of liis own. That was tho spirit that wanted encouraging.,.m this country to-day—a spirit of independence and thrift—and then there would not be the dissatisfaction apparent to-day. A contented and prosperous people should be the aim of all legislation. | The Government recognised that men on the land were having a hard time, and had lent £30,000,000 to settlers which had enabled, them to top-dress their lands and effect other improvements so that our exports .had,increasedmuch more than they were a few,.ycars ago. The index of a people's prosperity was shown by the volume of tho exports, which had been steadily mounting up year after year, until last year they amounted to £52,000,000. The money raised for hospital and charitable institutions had,,been subsi-; dised at.an increased rate from 14s to, 24s in the £. To-day it was the, privilege of every person, in the country to take full advantage of the hospitals, and if they had no .money no charge would: be made for their treatment. Mr Smith also mentioned what had been for the welfare, of , the . young life of the country in the provision of dental clinics, children's courts, and the) subsidising of the Plunket Society. ' THE PUBLIC DEBT

The Public. Debt, it ,was pointed out, amounted to £251,000,000, and the total taxation to £16,500,000. Of tho Public Debt, a very large amount was raised to pay for the war, and also to repatriate returned soidiers, and these factors mt?st be taken into consideration. 'The ordinary debt was chiefly money to build hydro-electric schemes, etc., while other debts .were dead-weight debts. The Public Debt had been reduced £10,000,000 within recent years. Of the Public Debt £107,500,000 had been lent by the people of New Zealand, and had not the country been prosperous they could never have lent such a tremendous sum. EDUCATION

Touching on education, the speaker said that £3,500,000 had been expended on this last year. So far as the schools in the Nelson district were, concerned they compared more than favourably with those in other parts of the Dominion.. There was some complaint that; the classes were too big, and it was hoped that they would be reduced .to 40. ~Mr Smith mentioned several other points on the subject of education. THE RAILWAYS,

The Mayor had made rather a point concerning fdling the gap. He (Mr Smith) thought all were agreed that the sooner it was filled the better. Ho noticed ho had been charged by _ some anonymous writers with not.doing as much as he might, have done in this matter. He did not honestly think that there was any man who had.done more to urge the pushing on with the line than he had. He stated that some 30 years ago he had gone to Wellington

with a deputation to urge its progress more expeditiously. After recalling the I fact that as a boy he had seen the first I sod of the line turned at Stoke, Mr I Smith said that the deputations which

visited Wellington in the early days had had the support of the. Canterbury members of Parliament; but at the last deputation not one Canterbury member was present, and their sympathies to-day were with the East Coast line. A determined effort should he made to win back the sympathy of the Canterbury members if we were to succeed. As to Sir Joseph Ward's proposal to borrow £lO,000,000 to complete ; tho- main; trunk lines, Mr Smith considered that history would repeal itself. When Sir Julius Vogel made a similar promise he created a power which he could not control, and every member of Parliament asked for a snare of the money. Were members oif Parliament . going to sitdown and allow Sir Joseph to complete some lines and to stop others? The.line had been pledged and promised to Nelson since 1070, and Nelson had done its best to get it completed. Ik: denied the allegation of Mr Atmore that he had changed his mind since the recent deputation went to Wellington, lie wenl on to explain that at a conference of the Nelson and West port Progress Leagues it had been agreed to urge upon the Government to push on expeditiously with both the Nelson ami tho Inangahua-Wesfpoit lines simultaneously. It was agreed that Mr Darkness should conduct the case for the Duller section, and so much did he impress tho ■Minister that it was decided to expedite that line. What he (Mr Smith) had said was that since "both parlies had jointly agreed to make representations that botli lines should be proceeded with simultaneously, it was not unreasonable fo say that 'the £BO,OOO for the Buller section should be regarded as an amount contributed lo both lines. At the. same time ho admitted that the £20,000 for the Nelson end was quite inadequate. Reference was made to* the fact that the Government had instituted a motor service from Glenhope to Murchison which carried freight find passengers at railway rates. Even . if Sir Joseph ■ Ward got into power —and lie would not—he did not think there would be any nioro chance of.getting the gap expeditiously filled.

In conclusion Mr Smith said it was the duly of the electors to consider impartially the measures put before them, and to think of the future of New Zealand. Would it bejter lo proceed quietly and cautiously than to attempt rash speculation which would end in failure and land us in disaster? QUESTIONS

Replying .t0.,-. Mr , J. Taylor, as to whether he would advocate State ironworks, the candidate, said that "without going into the matter very closely ho wa,s not inclined to, advocate the State. undertaking .anything that could be,carried out by private enterprise. . Answering another question from the same source, Mr Smith said ho did. not think tl|e i State should; embark on the manufacturing of , munitions. He did not think the time had... come for this, ah although it opened up a very big question. Our wonderful mineral deposits were going lo.be a source of wealth and were going to make New Zealand a great people and a great nation. In reply to another,question, from the back of the dress circle, Mr Smith said ho did not agree that the Government should have a monopoly of the banking business.

Asked if he was in favour of restoring tho "cut" in wages, to Civil Servants now that the country had been stated to be in a 'prosperous'condition, Mr Smith said he was satisfied that the country was now in a prosperous state, and that if the request was fair and reasonable he would consider it most carefully. If there had been a hardship and the time; had come to restore the "cut," then it; should be_ done.; From the information he had gathered from the returns, it was probable, that the time had come. "Will you try to increase the rates of cay on the Wangamoa Hill works or leave them as they are?" was another question put. In reply, Mr Smith said it had never been intended that the work should be treated as a relief one. He explained the attitude taken up by the City Council, stating that everything had been done to obtain the award rates of pay. He did not think the work should have been treated as a relief one, and considered that the award rates of pay should have been given.

In moving a vote of thanks to the speaker for his address,. Mr H. Chisnall said that Nelson was very fortunate in, having so ablo a man as Mr Smith to stand in the interests of Reform.

In seconding the motion, Mr G. Wharton said it was time Nelson was represented by a man who stood by a party. The motion was put and carried with applause, after which a. vole of thanks to the chair terminated the meeting. (Extended report published by arrangement.)