SIR JOSEPH WARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 November 1928, Page 2

SIR JOSEPH WARD

MEETING AT DUNEDIN AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION (By Telegraph—Press Association) DUNEDIN, 11th November. Greeted by wildly enthusiastic cheering, Sir Joseph Ward, Leader of the United Party, addressed the Dunedin electors in His Majesty's Theatre last night. The theatre was packed and the doors were locked, but loud-speakers had been installed in the street, where 3000 people stood throughout the evening in spite of tlie bitterly cold wind. The meeting was singularly free from interjections, and the speaker did not have to pause once. The early portion of his address was occupied in reply to opponents who, he said, were trying to mislead the people into the belief that the United Party did not count. The Prime Minister ' and Minister of Lands, said the speaker, were the first to make that statement, but during Mr Coates's northern lour he had had only one thing to fight against--tlie United Party. Mr Coates was suffering from political fear. If be were not afraid of the United Party, why did lie pav it so much attention?

If the United Party beat Mr Coatcs, and Mr Holland moved a vole of noconfidence, paid Sir Joseph Ward, Inform would vote with Labour to turn United out, and, be might add, United would do (he same to turn Mr Coates out. Sir Joseph Ward alleged that Mr Coates was at present resorting to trickery and dodgery, and the United Party was not going to he beaten by such means.

The speaker staled he was striving to educate the people 0 f New Zealand 'into taking a different course in their method of obtaining money so that the country would not lose money ami no extra taxation would be imposed upon ilie people. lie quoted from his Jast Budget in the National Cabinet and again referred to the fact that lie bad left a surplus „f £17,500,000, stating that he was doing so because of the utter want of recognition of his party by opponents. "This country is going to be engaged in big finance soon," said Mr Joseph Ward, "and the Government may try to delude the public. But if it is in power it will not be. able to shirk ami shift as if , H doing now. if the .Minister of Finance w'ill (ell the

people what he has given instructions nbout in Wellington I will be glad/' tlie speaker added mysteriously.

PUBLIC DEBT Since the war, he continued, the Government had increased the public debt by £50,000,000, and the Government Statistician stated- that this represented an increase* of £B9 for ovejry broadwinner. The speaker had said that the Government had borrowed. £30,000,000 iu throe years. Mr VV. D. Stewart bad replied, quite correctly, that Sir Joseph Ward was wrong. The amount wtis £29,650,000. ('Laughter.) Mr Stewart, stated that in reality the Government had borrowed onlv £23,000,000, as it had paid £6,070,000 for war debts and other items, but said Sir Joseph Ward, the Government had borrowed monev to pay off that £6,000,000, therefore it was still included in the amount, and interest was still going on as before. In 1911 the. speaker had had a Public Debt Extinction Bill put through the House. It provided for a sinking fund for repayment of nil loans, out of revenue. The £6,000,000 to which Mr Stewart had referred, had been paid for out of loan money. As Minister of Finance, Sir Joseph Ward would not do that. An Invercargill resident had told him that he had had to pay £9B duty on an English motor car, worth £550. That was New Zealand's eoncession to the Mother country on'motor cars, added the speaker. Parliament had been told that this was keeping the motor body builders, but, as a matter of fact, these people were worse off than before. "I believe in helping our industries," Sir Joseph Ward continued. "I believe that our tariff is unsatisfactory, and that important alterations are required. We must help some industries by subsidy, and the duty should be taken off necessities of life' which cannot be produced in our our country. They say I can't do it. Why, I did it, and I can do it again, without injuring the country." Mr Coates had said that Sir Joseph Ward's statement in regard to.tb* possibilities of unemployment next winter were the most extraordinary and most outrageous he had ever heard. Sir Joseph Ward's reply was that the information had been furnished to him by men who knew labour conditions, and he believed them. He expressed appreciation of the brotherly interest Mr Coates was taking in his state of health. BORROWING SCHEME The trouble with Mr Coates's criticism of the speaker's borrowing scheme, said Sir Joseph Ward, was that the Prime Minister could not understand it. The Prime Minister had made a statement in Dunedin and elsewhere that Sir Joseph Ward proposed to borrow £70,000,000 in one year. Sir Joseph Ward nad made the position perfectly clear. He proposed to borrow from £8,000,000 to £10,000,000 a year over a period of from eight to ten years. He stated that he had-not been reported correctly in some papers, and added that if members of the audience cared to look up the "Otago Daily Times" of the morning after the address they would find the position stated correctly as he explained it now. The Prime Minister described the borrowing scheme as "a borrow, boom and burst policy." Yet the Government had borrowed £50,000,000 since the war as well as collaring £17,500,000 he had left. He had experienced the same criticism when the State Advances had been proposed, yet that 'department, after fulfilling its function, now showed a profit of £1,900,000. Sir Joseph Ward spoke at length in explanation of his borrowing policy. He did not propose to float the loan on the London market. He proposed to have New Zealand bonds sold there. It was a different method of borrowing, and his speeches in the House criticising the Government's borrowing had been speeches against the method by which the money was raised and used. He referred to the recent cable message dealing with the German scheme to borrow 800,000,000 dollars in the United States. The method to be adopted was exactly the same as tlie one he proposed. American financiers said that the money could not be raised by loan, but it could be done by bonds. Hundreds of farmers in New Zealand, declared the speaker, were bleeding to death' financially, because they could not get the money. He could "get it without a risk. RAILWAY EXTENSION He went on to describe his scheme to borrow £10,000,000 for railway extension. It would not cost the taxpayer a brass farthing. There should be no fear of embarking on the building scheme which would make the railways payable. He gave his audience his assurance that if he were put in power he would undertake to get the money and put the scheme into execution. (Cheers.) What had made New Zealand go ahead was its land settlement policy, but 13,000 people had walked off the land in the last three years. He proposed to make it possible for 50,000 to 100,000 people to get at least 25 acres of. land and money to build their homes. At the conclusion of his address Sir Joseph Ward refuted the allegation that he was broken down in health, and slated that he was good for years yet.

The cheering when Sir Joseph sat down lasted for some minutes, and it was renewed when a vote of thanks and confidence in him as leader of the United Party was carried, the audience rising to its feet and singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." As the crowd was dispersing a man entered the theatre and called, "We have been waiting outside ah night. Come out, and let us have a look at you." Sir Joseph Ward was loudly cheered again when he addressed the large crowd from the baloom*.