THE FRANKLIN SEAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19027, 26 May 1925, Page 11

THE FRANKLIN SEAT.

/ OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN. LABOUR CANDIDATE'S SPEECH TRIBUTE TO MR. MASSEY. v . NATIONALISATION OF LAND. | /; ! The Labour candidate for the Franklin sent., Air. .7. S.- Montgomerie, opened his campaign last evening in the Public Hall, Otahului. The building was filled, about, 400 people being present, and the candidate received a /riendly hearing. Much of his speech was given up to an exposition of the Labour land policy as a remedy '/ for the present-day farmer's difficulties. Tho Mayor of Otahuhu, Mr. 11. 15. Todd, who presided, said he bad known Mr. Montgomerio for over 30 years, and though they were on opposite sides poliI tically, bo had a real esteem for the candidate, who, lie was convinced, would ' do his very best for all parts of the electorate if he were successful. Mr. Montgomerio said he was sincerely sorry for the occasion which had brought tiio by-election about—the death of the late Prime Minister. Ho had known Mr. Massey ever since his own boyhood—more than 40 years—arid he and others had appreciated bis sterling worth long before it, was apparent to the general public. He felt it due to tho Labour il Party to say/ that if any son of Mr. Massey had stood for the seat, tho party would not have put forward a candidate. He would like to express tho sympathy of Labour with Mr. Massev's family in their bereavement. (Applause.) Evils o! Speculation. There was no' doubt tho farmers of New Zealand were dissatisfied with the present condition of their industry. The annual mortgage interest bill of the Dominion 'was £17,000,000, of which £9,250,000 was on farm mortgage;;. The whole community was affected, but naturally the man on the land felt tho burden most. Much had been said in tho newspapers about the woes of soldiersettlers, but.' for-every soldier who walked off his property, at least a dozen civilians did and there was no one to help them. The basic cause was land specu- / lation. In the five years ended 1923 there were 188,235 transfers of property, affecting 14,803,708 acres, only 163,348 being town and suburban land. Tho consideration was £234,850,937, and tho commission and stamp duty amounted to £11,750,000. One property ho knew had been transferred six times in a few years and the j cost of the transactions amounted to £lB 6s 3d an aire. A Wellington city block had been bought for £II,OOO in 1910 and sold for £21,000 in 1914, no improvements having been made in the interval. What could be said in favour of the freehold ,system, which allowed such abuses as these ? Surely any system which enabled a man to make £IO,OOO in a few years without earning it was wrong. The Labour Remedy. The Labour Party proposed to end thisonce and for all by preventing all sales of land except to the State, at a State valuation, , which was to be the measure of the owner's, interest in it. He could think of no better method. The Farmers' "Union harFonce advocated something approaching it, but had not gone far enough. The owne/Was entitled, under the Labour plan, to the value of all improvements made by himself, but not to the increased value created by the community. It had been claimed that the freehold gave security of tenure, but under present conditions, failed to do so. What was more, a farmer who was obliged to walk off his property lost the value of his improvements. This would not bo undei tho Labour plan. Labour's "use-hold" tenure assured the farmer of the full fruits of his labour. It aimed at making it easy for a man to get on to the land and easy for him to stay on it. The freehold tenure to-day inade it hard to get on to the land and easy to get off it. (Laughter.) Land Without a Deposit. An overseas visitor, a Mr. Lock, had tieeri right when he told the newspapers recently that New Zealand was done as a farming country because no one without more than £IOOO of capital could hope to start farming and make a success- ot it. The country wanted more production, but it could not be obtained because of the obstacles now placed in the way of settlement. Under the "use-hold tenure a man would be able to obtain land without a deposit, and the proposed State agricultural bank would assist him as time went on. ~ , Agricultural credit banks, Air. Montgomeric said, were advocated >y Country Party, which, however, had stolen the idea from Labour. The, difference was y that the Country Party was working for a section of the community only, v-hereas Labour was working for the whole community. (Applause.) Referring to the Labour objective—the socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange—Mr. Montgomerio said there was no intention of rev olutionising industry. Opponents taunted Labour with being Bolshevik, but if no Labour Party had existed public opinion would have trended in the ' same as was shown by the growth of co-operation and the export control schemes, which had been introduced bv a very conservative Govern merit —with the help of the Labour Party. Not Revolutionary. The Minister for Agriculture had quarreled with the Farmers' Fertiliser Company because its prices were too high, and his threatened remedy had been State enterprise, which was what the Labour Party proposed to do in any event. Labour proposed to make fertilisers a State monopoly, and to use State Ft earners for bringing phosphate rock from Natfru. He believed that in this way the' fertiliser could be supplied to the farmer at a' very cheap rate, not about £5 2s a ton, as at present,. Some timid and ill-informed people are afraid of tho' Labour Party." lie went on. "They call us Bolsheviks ami revolutionaries, but all that we have in mind we propose to do by constitutional methods. We also propose democratic safeguards, including proportional reprewhich will ensure the repiefentation ■<><" every section of the comrni'"itv in Parliament. 'T did not always belong to the Labour Party," remarked Mr. Mortgoinerie, in conclusion, "but let, me say that I did not make any sudden change. I have been going that way for some time, and J have given the party my support for the oast five or six years. I would as:<: what'- is the Conservative Party doing for the peopled? They have been humbugged 100 long by the old party cries, but T believe that politics can be made oi real benefit to nil classes of people. The candidate answered a number of nuestions, large!v about details of the Labour land policy. He was accorded a vote of thanks a,id 'Soi 1 dencp cnrfieri without, d' Mr. Mont gomerie will bold further rneehiv's as follow: — ll n ll. tbis rv n nirif; Dmr" Hall; to-morrow; Uethodist Hall. Papakura, on Thursd'<v: and Picture Theatre, Manurewa, on Fri[ljiv, Aj, ,>•<»,.lin" r,f f-iends "nd Reporters will be held tics evenitu.r at St. Andrew's Hall, Station Pond, Otahuhu.