THE REFORM CANDIDATE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 November 1928, Page 8

THE REFORM CANDIDATE

Mr F. \V. 0. Smith, the Reform candidate for tiie Kelson seat, addressed a meeting of electors at. the Theatre Royal last evening. The Mayor (Mr \V. J.' Moffcitt) presided, and there was a i'air attendance. The speaker was given an attentive hearing, although there vvue a few good-natured interjections; and at the close a vote of thanks was carried by acclamation. In introducing the candidate, the chairman said they were on the Inst lap of the campaign, and he had no doubt, that Mr Smith would have- some information to give his hearers. The candidate, who was cordially received, remarked that a great deal of polities had been talked throughout New Zealand during the past few weeks, and lie intended to cull as far as possible some of the most interesting points. A political speech' was more or less a' dry affair, and he did not think that the size of an audience was an indica tion of the interest taken. .Many of the electors read the papers, and he considered that a great many had already made up their minds as to how iacy would vote. Although there might be a variety of political opinion present, he thought all would agree that they wanted to make the world a better and a brighter one, and although they might differ as to how this was to be brought about he believed that if they honestly east their votes in the direction which they considered was in the best interests of the country then they certainly would never go far wrong. •UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM Mr Smith went on to draw attention to the unrest apparent in almost every country to-day since the war. It was natural that after such a great struggle there should be a period of difficulty and perplexity. Having won the war we expected a period of prosperity; but unfortunately this had not been the case. The world 'was. faced with problems which had never been tackled before, and one of the greatest of the problems was that, of unemployment. Years ago this problem came only periodically and was only temporary and soon passed away. The younger countries knew very little about unemployment, but unfortunately the time had come when the question had to be faced, and it was 'for these younger 'countries to find out tire cause and the remedy. Dealing with the older countries, Mr Smith pointer! out that Great Britain had a quarter of a million unemployed in the coal in dustvy, and the tragedy was that these men were trained for no othe; occupation and what was'' to be done with them? That was the problem. The dole had been instituted, but was regarded as only a temporary measure until some scheme could be found to overcome it; but it had come to stay. Other lands were experiencing the same difficulty. The U.S.A. during the war made tremendous sums of money in supplying munitions and food and built up a tremendous amount of wealth. Yet in 1923 one million farmers walked off the land and in 1921 there were 10,000 bankruptcies amongst farmers. And this in a country which was the very richest country in the world. It did not appear to matter what government was in power—Liberal, Conservative or Labour —the problem was tin; same. In Labour "Western Australia an. employment was more pronounced than in New Zealand, and, quite a lot of remedies had been suggested. The leader of the Labour Party said that public works should be gone on with at the usual rates of pay. If this could overcome the difficulty it would be a simple way out. But unfortunately no government'could borrow money and give employment at full wages as the problem would go on increasing. Some- other scheme must be found. He could give one: In the British Isles there were today at least 7 or 8 million people more than the country could profitably absorb. At the same time millions and millions of acres of the most fertile land in the dominions—this did net apply to New Zealand as most of the best'land bad been taken up—not settled. In the Australian States, South Africa and Canada there were millions of acres of the most fertile land producing nothing. What had land been given the people of the earth for? To produce food. That was. the great difficulty facing the nations of the world to-day. If the surplus populations could be settled on these waste spaces it would largely help to solve the problem. The best brains in the world were puzzling over the question. The difficultv was that those who were old could not be sent out—the old were not easily transplanted, and-therefore the young people must be brought. In this connection the work being carried on at Flock House was instanced, as well as institutions at Home which were training young men and women for service abroad". If these schemes could be expanded it would be one way oi solving the difficulty. POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND Turning to New Zealand Mr Smith said that when he spoke a lew weeks ago he mentioned that the country was essentiallv an agricultural and pastoral one. This was absolutely true. But wo had tremendous deposits of minerals and metal. Geologists had said that every known metal and mineral was to be found in the dominion. He believed the time had come when the Government of the country should pay more attention than it had done »in the past to these deposits which were lying around us. He believed that if a number of experts were employed to. prospect the country there would he great possibilities which might be developed sooner than was thought. At Onakaka a very fine industry had been built up, and' the Government had done much to assist 'the industry. They must not lose sight of the fact that iron and steel was bringing £l4 a .ton, but as scon as the local product- was put on the market it was found that other countries which emplovcd black labour—brought it down to £6" a ton, which was lower than it could be manufactured for, and unless the Government had come to the rescue of Onakaka the industry would have gone out. This brought up an aspect of trade and commerce which demanded the greatest attention of the authorities. Great Britain, years ago became free trade, and although .it had distinct advantages in those days, Great Britain had 'become the dumping ground of Europe. Continental countries worked longer hours than Great Britain and lower wages were paid. There was no .doubt that New Zealand would have to build trade barriers to protect her industries as they developed. So far nearly all the industries in the dominion had been built up by private enterprise, and in this connection the Wai-utu go-Id mine was instanced. which had won about 331.510,000 of gold and paid in dividends £133.740. and in addition to ibis maintained a small township. It could not be Miime-ed for one minute that one thousandth of the gold ' r minerals awaiting development had been discovered, and there wei e vast poiisiibiiities uj this direction.

MEETING AT THEATRE HOYAL

CRITICISM OF SIR J. WARD'S PROPOSALS

LAND SETTLEMENT AND OTHER MATTERS

MND SETTLEMENT Thel'C had been more controversy during the election about land than anything else. The Government had been criticised very severely, ami every party had put forward a programme which was going to do wonderful things and overcome all difficulties and perplexities. The land problem was facing every British country, and in most cases to a greater extent than it was facing New Zealand. Anyone who had followed the question would have, read Sir Joseph Waid's manifesto which declared that money was required in. this country to assist the people who were upon the land, but one of the greatest difficulties they had to face, to-day' was one of .finance. Mr Smith admitted that this was the greatest difficulty. In nine cases out of ten. it was because too much had been paid for the holdings, ami it- was impossible for any private individual or government to come to their assistance. He instanced a case where a man had a moil gage, equal to £IOO for every cow he possessed. The. trouble was because of the high prices they were carrying such a burden that it was impossible for anyone to help them. The loan proposal of Sir Joseph Ward was the most spectacular proposal that had been placed before the electors of New Zealand. He was going to borrow £60,000,000 at 4h per cent., at £95 to the £IOO and lend' it at. 4;1. Mr Smith read from tiie Manifesto as follows: "Future settlers and many of the present settlers should have an opportunity to secure money at 4f per cent, to enable them to stav on the laud. People were being driven off the land, and in very many instances this was due to their inability to obtain advances.'' This .was perfectly true, went on Mr Smth. Settiers could not obtain finance because' their mortgages were already so high that it would be impossible for anyone t to assist them. Sir Joseph Ward had said that the country should be able to absorb between 300,000 and 400,000 settlers in the next few years, but that the chief necessity for adequate settlement was cheap money, which would enable the immigrants to have something under their feet.

"It is very satisfactory to know," continued Mr Smith, "that they will have something under their feet, because they certainly need it.'' He went on to say'that Mr Amery and the Minister.of Lands had gone fully into the question of immigration ami had come to the decision that a settler could not be put on the land with" a capital of less than £3OOO. Mr Smith added that he did not altogether agree with this. If it was going to cost £3OOO to settle each man on the land it would cost twelve hundred millions to settle the number proposed to be brought out by Sir Joseph Ward, and vet he proposed to borrow £60,000,000.' THE RAILWAYS Sir Joseph proposed to borrow £10.000,000 to construct authorised railways. The word "authorised" should be marked. Air Smith went on to quote from Sir Joseph's speech in which he mentioned the lines that should be completed were the Cheviot-Picton one and the Napier to Gisborne one. Mr Smith said that he had noticed that his opponent severely criticised the Minister of Education for not making any mention during his speech in Nelson of filling the gap. Sir Joseph Ward had also carefully refrained from mentioning anything about filling the gap in the course of a speech which occupied three hours. Mr Healv. the United Party candidate for the "Marlborough seat, had

slated that he would ml vole for another penny to be expended oil tilling the gap. This was the opinion of a United ratty candidate's policy of Sir Joseph Ward's. MORIS ABOUT Till'. LAND Revolting (,i the iaud question, Mr Smith i.aid' that Sir Joseph had criticised the Government Cor not acquiring more large runs and stations; but Mr Smith pointed out that, there were very few runs ami stations remaining. In 1890 I here were .160 people holding more than ''o.ooo sheep, j„ ign there were 75; ami iu 1928 then- wore 26. The number holding 15,000 sheep had been reduced in less than 60. The speaker went on to deal/with Sir Joseph's land settlement scheme in which :t was proposed to set aside 25 acres s o that a home could be provided for anyone wanting it. 'Anvone who; knew anything about farming in New Zealand commented the speaker, would know il was absolutely impossible to make a living off 25 acres unless it was the rich est land in the'dnmiiiion. One of the reasons why so many people had cone oh (he land was because their holdings were 100 small. In the Sounds district the oilier day he had come across several holdings which had been abandoned. There was n very, small quantity of crown lands in the dominion left'that could he occupied—in the Auckland province. On the 25 acres of laud which it, was proposed to give the settlers a house and certain outbuildings would be Accessary, in addition to fencing, and some steel;— not ninny would run on 25 acres. It would cost "£930 to erect a house. \"of mUch less than £2OOO would he necessary. Fancy putting people on a holding of 25 acres costing £2OOO. It, was a silly, impossible and impracticable scheme and would rally land the country in a vortex (1 f misery. Within a year nine-tenths of the holdings would he abandoned. The scheme was wild and mad. out of all reason, and contrary to eommonsense.

Sir Joseph Ward and those associated with him had very energetically condemned the Government for its borrowing policy. The Ministry had been constantly under a cross-fire, one side saying too much was being borrowed and the other not enough. And after this cross-firing had been going on for three years Sir Joseph came along and said he was going to put things right, and proposed to borrow all these millions. Sir Joseph Ward had stated that the money he proposed to borrow would not cost the country a cent. He was going to borrow -at 4J, per cent, and lend the money out to settlors at 4| per cent. It had to be remembered, however, that the loan would have to be raised at a discount of 95, and there were also considerable incidental charges such as brokerage, exchange, ete v and all these charges reduced the actual amount that would be received for every £IOO of the loan. The charges would certainly amount to more than the -\ per cent, margin allowed under Sir Joseph Ward's proposal.

Mr Atmore had stated that there would be a profit on re-investment of the money, but the speaker asked how this could be possible. Any money that was repaid would be re-lent at 4J, percent, again, the same rate as at first. Sir Joseph Ward had proposed to conduct wonderful enterprises such as completing the railways by paying the contractors not in money but in bonds bearing interest at 4i per cent., and this would mean that the contractors knowing that they could not discount the bonds at their face value would increase their tenders. The hist and strongest reason why Sir Joseph Ward's proposal should be, discarded was that the time had come when the borrowing of this country should begin to_ taper oh. The Reform Government had borrowed extensively, but a great deal of that was for War purposes and inevitable. The country should now come down to borrowing annually something in the neighbourhood of £4,000,000 or £5,000,000 instead of the £10,000.000 that had been borrowed of recent years. Those who found the money in the London market had sounded a note of warning by r stating that the time had come when all the money fur loan to settlers should be borrowed within the Dominion

CONFIDENCE IN LAND All that was wanted in this country was a reinstatement of confidence in broad acres. There was at present great difficulty in getting people to lend money on land. It was not because there was not plenty of money about. When the City Council advertised debentures for sale they were taken up at once. There was plenty of money, but people hid lost confidence in. lending it on kind. The question of constructing new railways wa.s (hen dealt with by Mr Smith, who said that the time had' come, when New Zealand in common with other countries must consider the construction of new railways because of the great influence! of growing motor competition. Last year in .England the proprietors of the railways (they were privately owned (here) and'their employees entered into an agreement to reduce wages all round because the railways were, making a heavy loss. The same thing was happening all over the world. It was a question whether the time was not very far distant when the branch lines would have lo be scrapped. There were; no less than five blanch lines in ..New Zealand which last year made a loss of £oCO,OOO.

Sir Joseph Ward's political history was then briefly dealt with by Mr Smith. Sir Joseph Ward's reputation, ho said, was obtained during the timehe. was associated with Richard Seddon. Ward was then Colonial Treasurer and with Seddou handled the finances of this country for many years. When Seddon died lie left one of the finest parties that ibis country has ever known. Sir Joseph Ward became its leader in 1908. In 1011 his party was driven from office, but sonic years Inter he came into the National Cabinet for a. time with Mr Massey. In 19.19 he elected to leave Mr Massey and appeal to the country,, and on that occasion he held up a picture, similar lo that he was holding up today. His proposals then also contained plans for huge borrowing. Put at the election he lost his seat and his party was scattered. "FILL THE GAP" Air Smith said with regard to the "lill the gap" question that although the people of the district had been agitating ior the completion, of the Nelson railway for 50 years they had not made very much progress in that direction. Mr Smith wistied to point out that what he had said about branch lines did not apply to main railways. The chief use of railways was to carry heavy goods. They could do so at the rate of i>d per ton per mile, whereas motor transport could not do the work under Is 6d per ton per mile. For that reason Railways would always be necessary for long distance haulage. It was true that the line to fill the gap would not open up any useful land, but the same could he said of other railways such as the Auckland-Wellington line which passed through barren and valueless land at some points. Those lines paid because of the connection they made. Air Smith said he did believe that, a supreme effort should be made in the direction of filling the gap. When deputations were sent to Wellington some time ago they always had the support and sympathy •of a large number of members of Parliament, but when the last deputation went over a few weeks ago there was not a Canterbury man in. the room. Those men who used to be there had swung over to the East Coast proposal.

"INDEPENDENT MEMBER USELESS" The electors had to remember that unity was strength. It was only when there were a number of men m sympathy that they could do anything. Today Nelson was isolated. "An independent member in the House to-day is absolutely useless to any constituency," said Mr Smith. (Chorus of dissent from the back of the hall). Could any one man or even two men go to the Government and threaten to put them out of power unless certain requests were granted? It was only by joining a party and by having the assistance of that party that a member of Parliament could do anything.

A denial was made by Air Smith that the taxation in this country was iu favour of the rich man. In war time fort instance when special taxation was levied in many cases the rich man paid 250 times more than the small man. An interjectur asked why some o'f the big landholders were treated leniently in taxation, but Air Smith said that if any one of the great landholders in New Zealand to-day were to sell his land and invest the money then he would pay very much less iu income tax than he paid in land tax. A voice: "What about the wool kings?" Mr Smith replied that there were not many wool kings in New Zealand. Thero were only 26 men who owned 20,000 or more sheep. ]f the farmers of New Zealand were making money they were spending it. If any class of people in New Zealand circulated the money they received it was the people on the land. The speaker concluded his address by briefly summarising some of the thing's the present Government had done which he considered merited the confidence of the people. The Town Planning Act, the Local. Bodies Loans Act, the Family Allowances Act, the Rural Advance's Act, the Intermediate Act and the various pensions laws formed part of Ihe beneficial legislation that had been put on the Statute Rook by the Reform Government. Mr Smith also pointed cut that the Reform Government o'f New Zealand to-day was the only Government left in the Empire that was in power during the War years. » A voice: "They were not on their own, mate, they had the National Party with them." Mr Smith: Yes, and they deserted them like rats deserting a sinking ship." NEW ZEALAND'S CREDIT The credit of New Zealand in the money market, said Mr Smith, 'was higher than it had ever been; the country's exports were increasing. (They amounted to £54,000,000 last year); the people of New Zealand had lent £107,500,000 to the Government; there were huge sums on deposit in savings banks; and there were other signs of increasing prosperity. Mr Smith said that he noticed the other day that Mr Wilkinson, who was a. member of the United Party, said that if he got into Parliament he would do all in his power to' stop assistance being given the apple industry. QUESTIONS Mi' Smith said he had been asked to reply Lo two or three questions put lo him by the League of Nations. The first asked what policy he would support a.s to New Zealand's attitude to the League. Mr Smith said that he would advocate New Zealand's support to any movement in the direction of world peace. He was asked if he favoured a direct representative of New Zealand, on the League in addition to the High Commissioner. Air Smith answered this question in the negative. In answer to the last question of this group Mr Smith said he did favour a New Zealand representative being sent to tin; International Labour Convention. The organisation was out for world peace and industrial peace and so deserved support. A man in tiie audience asked Mr Smith if he would be in favour of the lii'e of Parliament being extended provided the present Government was reelected. .Mi' Smith said that there was no doubt thai the Reform Government would go back again. He thought an extension of the life of Parliament would be an advantage. Elections cost a °Teat

deal of money and reducing (he frequency of elect ions would he a saving. At the same lime it was net, a question about which he felt very strongly. Mr Joseph Taylor asked the candidate if he was in favour of Continuance, State Control or Prohibition. Mr Smith pointed out that thai was a question which bad been left to (he electors (o decide lor the past 30 years. He. was strongly opposed to candidates pledging themselves lo any party on the liquor questio >. At Hie same' lime. he. would willingly state Ins own views. lie did not think the Stale Control issue was in. any way necessary. He was absolutely opposed lo a bare majority. No measure could be enforced unless it had the backing of a majority of the people.

Ah 10, 11. Thomson then moved:— "1 have much pleasure in proposing a very hearty vote of thanks to Air Smith for his excellent address. It has been my pleasure to be associated with him on semi-public bodies interested in the progress of this district. A keener and more sensible worker for anything calculated to advance the province, it would be difficult lo find. We all know his sterling worth as a member of the City Council and other local bodies, ami thoiwl'oro we need have no hesitation in entrusting him with the extension of these activities. His instructive address has been listened tit with the attention that such an able exposition of Hie Reform platform deserves. We know exactly where he stands. The electors have now a chance of having a capable representative who would be "on the light side of the fence." Let us back the right, horse for once." The motion was seconded by Mr J. W. Marris and earlied by acclamation. A vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding concluded the meeting.