AN OPPOSITION ATTACK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18244, 10 November 1922, Page 10

AN OPPOSITION ATTACK.

LAND POLICY CRITICISED.

MR. H. SKELTON'S S VIEWS.

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

(Extended Report by Arrangement.)

The Opposition candidate for Roskill, Mr. A. Hall Skelton, addressed a crowded but very orderly meeting at the Epsom Library buildm* last evening. Mr.. W. J. Hammili presided. In his opening remarks Mr. Skelton sketched the career of his parents <ae pioneer colonists of Panaroa, in the Kaipara district, 60 years ago, and his own experience as a boy in the back blocks. Comintr to politics, he uaid the only question worth considering in New Zealand politics, economics, or sociology, was the land problem. Tho present financial crisis had resulted entirely from the Government's mismanagement of the land. New Zealand was to-day desperately near to a position, resembling the crisis of 1890, which produced John Ballance, who had the courage to attack the wealthy landowners, and who laid the foundation of a taxation policy which restored New ZeaJand into a position of prosperity after an era of distress and soup kitchens. Under Richard John Seddon New Zealand became ono of tthe most prosperous countries in the world, an example to the world for its humanitarian fegisla&ion. To-day, on the other hand, vre war© r#? garded abroad Just as jn IU9O. * Sufferings from Taxation.

The retrogression began in 1912, with the advent of the Reform Government, and it brought ruin to both .the farming class and the business community. In 1912 capi. tal value of. rural lands of New Zealand waa assessed at £315.000,000: by 1922 it was raised to £518,000,000. At Pukekohe, however, Mr. Massey had at last admitted that a revaluation must take place.

Auckland province was paying onethird of tho total direct taxation* of tho Dominion, an amount equal to that collected in the whole South Island. Thfl people of Auckland were stabbed to the heart with the land tax owing to the high valuations. Moreover, the rates levied by local bodies were based upon the inflated Government valuations. Those who advanced money had trusted these valuations, but they found that the whole thing had collapsed. In the Waikato district alone, two and a-half millions of advances had not paid a shilling of. interest for the last twelve months. It was the same in and around Auckland. Widows arid spinsters who wore depending upon income from their investments were unable to get in their interest. All over New Zealand thousands of farmers had been sold up. Hardly a week passed without reports of a number committing suicide. The mortgages of the country had jumped from £90,000,000 in 1912, to £209,000,000 in 1921. The Government had deliberately designed the inflations of valuations in the interests of the land-sharks and speculators, who now held 25,000,000 acres of land. Further, it had aided and abetteS the land-sharks to rob the natives of their land. The Government had not raised a finger to protect tho Maoris, but had rather helped to rob them. The Native Land Act of 1913 was the most, barefaced piece of political trickery ever perpetrated upon any coloured race,. Effects <tf Taxation Policy. As regards the effect of the Government's land policy toward the Europeans, the candidate said the Reform Party had designedly held hack the Crown land in order to raise the value of privately-held land, in the. interests of speculators. While the production of the Dominion in 1912 was £17 Is 10s per head, it had fallen in 1921 to £16 16s, a drop of 6s 5d per head of the population. On tho other hand the taxation had risen from £11,000,000 in 1912 to £34,000,000 in 1921. In 1912 every State department was paying handsomely, while in 1921 every department was losing heavily—; again a result of the mismanagement of

land. In 1912, land paid one-third of the total taxation, and commerce two-thirds; while, in 1921 land paid only'one-seventh, and commerce the other six-sevenths. The Government remissions of taxation, made recently for election purposes, would not amount to 2fcd per head of the people per annum. No wonder that the people of the country were not prospering. Small wonder, also, that the banks called in, their credit, as they were bound in caution to do so. Another evil of the failure of the land policy and o£ inflated values was the increase of rents and the crowding into dwellings in the cities, and the ; effects of these were to be seen in the in* crease of illegitimacy and divorce. Land for Young Ken. Under Ballance and Seddon the sons of poor men were able to obtain land readily, but to-day a young man needed to have a father with a big banking account in order to get land at all. Tlie> opening-up of the land to the young men, who were now crowding into the cities as the result of the Government's land policy, was the only way of saving the country from bankruptcy. Instead of encouraging agricultural education in order to incres.se the productiveness of stock, the Reform Government had. closed down the Ruakura Farm School established by the Liberal Government, and only this week the educationists and agriculturists had appealed to the Prime Minister to reopen it. There ought to be a stud farm in every dairying district, but nothing in that direction had been done by the Reform Government. The private wealth of the Domiaion in 1912 was £450,000,000; in 1920 it was £510,000,000. In 1912, iiffer the Government had taken what it required in taxes, it left £33,000,000 to divide among the people. But in 1921, after the Gfovernment had extracted its huge taxation bill, it left only £17,000,000 to the people. Here was the reason for the shortage of *the money market—the reason for the straits to which householders were put in their daily dealings^

Mr. Massey as Financier. . - The success of the financing of New Zealand during the war -was due to the fact that in the Coalition Government, the Liberal members held aIL the responsible portfolios. Every business in New Zealand was paying handsomely in 1918, but when the Coalition dissolved and the Massey Government came into powe., the manager merit of finance passed into the hands of a man whose training had been wholly that of a farmer. How could it be expected that such a man could handle the intricacies, of finance? New : Zealand was paying dearly for its selection of Mr. Massey as its chief financier, and it would yet have to pay more dearly still. Coming to the education question, the candidate declared that Mr. Parr was one of the worst enemies of the people of New Zealand, because his policy tended to produce an, increased number of clerks, ana-lesß primary producers. The Govern-, mont had also shown its inefficiency by its handling of the wheat and flour questions. Then in its customs taxation it heavily loaded the family man, brought about the emptying of the cradles, and provoked the increase of immorality in the cQnwcinitai The social eyßtecj «f Now

Zealand Was broken, because- the cOndi* tioris conducive to marriage were wanting, and all through the evils of the land eystem. The• immigration system was attempted by the Government as a palliative, but it consisted of the.hroadcaßt' ing of misleading information in Britain, cruelly misrepresenting the condition of affairs in New Zealand. Again, the failure of the Government'a land' policy.^, With regard to the retrenchment policy, Mr. Skelton described it as the last refuge of political mismanagement, and declared the -" hardship' clause/' to havo been a cruel misleading of the dis* missed officials, in that mcmt of them were never given a hearing. The system_ was|i tbo' resource of men who did not know their business. ' Outside war expenditure altogether, said Mr. Skelton, the Government had borrowed £46.000,000 in ten years, or more than half the total borrowings of all previous Government* since the colonisation of New Zealand. Mr. Massey's allusions to loyalty to the flag were described political .camouflage and warmly denounced. With regard to soldiers' «s*tlement, Mr.:Skelton stated that in refusing to place before the House a full Bt ate-1 ment of the vendors of soldiers' land, the; Government had covered up one of the, greatest scandals the country had ever; seen- He named several blocks of land as having been quite recently bought by Reformers at low' figures, and then sold to the Government for the use of soldiers at greatly advanced prices,- and Gaid the setting up of boards, whose inquiry was not to be completed till after the elections were over, was merely a piece of political deception. On this and other points, to did not say that Mr. Massey was a dishonest man, but that ho was an incompetent man, and one who did not know .his business. Concluding, Mr. Skelton pointed out the importance, even if the present Government were to be continued in office, of returning a few fighting men on the Opposition side, Answering questions, Mr. Skelton declined to state his views on the licensing question, stating that that was a matter for thfc secrecy of the ballot. He favoured a State bank, but would distrust the management' of such an intricate business by the present Government. A heartv vote of thanks was given to the candidate.

SIR F. LANG'S CAMPAIGN. THE MAftUKAU SEAT. MR. MASSEY'S LEADERSHIP. The Reform candidate for Manukau, Sir Frederic Lang, opened his campaign last evening, when he addressed a meeting of electors' at the Mount Roskill School. Mr. G. E. Tansley presided over an attendance of about 100. Sir Frederic said he had reprosented the electorate for 16 years, and prior' to that he had represented Waikato for 1,2 years. The time demanded a strong party and a strong leader. Mr. Massey nad experienced during bis term of office 10 ysara of abnormal conditions, and ho was well qualified to deal with'important matters. The candidate referred to the Government's retrenchment scheme, immigration, and labour legislation. At the conclusion of" the meeting, cheers wore given for Sir Frederio, who-was accorded unanimously a vote of thanks and confidence.

LABOUR IN MANUKAU. MR. JORDAN'S ADVOCACY. " NOT A PARTY MAN." The official Labour candidate iot Manukau, Mr.. W. J. Jordan, opened his election campaign in the Parish Hall, Ellerslie, last evening, Mr. IX A. Moore, chairman of tho EUerslie Town Board, presided. Mr. Jordan said he would go into Parliament not to follow any man" He would go to represent the people of Manukau. If bo were going to * follow a man h* might as well give the leader power to vote for that electorate while he re*, mained at home. Tf returned he would endeavour to form a committee bo that' he could come beforo them each year and get a lead from the people as to how be should vote. The candidate criticised Air. Massey in to proportional repreiwntatio!?. His one fad, which he would emphasise, -said Mr. Jordan, waa the education system. Health was the next consideration. The candidate dealt with a number of questions of the day. Mr. Jordan requested that the electors withhold any expression of confidence until they heard his opponents. A vote of thanka was carried with enthusiasm. ENROLLING ELECTORS MANY CLAIMS RECEIVED. DIFFICULTY WITH SEAMEN. The electoral department is ■ still receiving many claims for enreltoent, and the Auckland staff is fully employed checking and rechecking th& applications with the main and first supplementary rolls, with a view to compiling the second supplementary roll, which io to cloae next Thursday. The time for the closing of this roll has been fixed at 6 p.m.., and all claims for enrolment in the hands of the registrars at that hour will be considered valid, but any which have been posted and are in transit will be disregarded. , In view of the fact that the Postal Department purged " the original roll r and} made a thorough canvass of the various electoral districts in and around the. city the. number, of claims for enrolment still being received daily is fairly heavy. The system of handling these claims at the office of Mr. J. Hay, the electoral inspector for the Auckland district, has been developed to a very efficient point. On being re- ; ceived the claims are indexed, so that 6hould there be any complaint as to the non-appearance of any name on the completed roll -a full record of the receipt of the application and its subsequent, treatment is available. The claims are checked and when approved are carded and acknowledged. , The handling of' transfers is entailing considerable labour in the "earohing of files for the whole Dominion, but the staff, Is keeping pace with the applications. One of the great difficulties being experienced lit in the number of cases of duplication. This is thought to be due to the keeness of the workers interested in the various issues to be decided at the coming poll. There has been much duplication in the case of seamen, and hi uuny instances the forms have been filled in and presented without reference to the existing rolls/ Tho investigation of these eases has proved both difficult and lengthy, owing to the majority df such applicants having-no settled place of residence. It is stated,-however, 1 hat thero is a more serious aspect to some,of tho duplications, and it is likely that some prosecutions will follow. There is provision for dealing with objections to enrolments. An -vector may lodge an objection to the name of any f>erson whora ( he thinks is ineligible beng retained on the roll, while the registrar may also-call upon an applicant to prove hiß claim for enrolment. If in either case the applicant fails to prqve that his claim is valid the application? may be referred to the clerk of the Court and it then becomes necessary for the applicant to appear before a magistrate and substantiate his claim..,

WELLINGTON NOBTH. THBEE CANDIDATES IN FIELD. [B* TEnEOKAPH.-r-OWN COBBESPOMWBNT/f WELLINGTON, Thursday. The Labour- candidate for Wellington North, Mr. H. E. 'Oombs, who come into prominence lately ub secretary to the Post and. Telegraph Officers' Association, and who fought hard for linking up with the Alliance of Labour, does not seem: to be making great headway in his election camSaign< He is contesting the Wellington 'orth seat against. Sir John Luke, who is also opposed by an Opposition candidate. At the last election Sir John Luke had an easy victory over, the Opposition, and Labour «andidatc9 s