LABOUR PARTY'S POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19148, 14 October 1925, Page 13

LABOUR PARTY'S POLICY

ISSUE OF MANIFESTO. MANY "REFORMS" PROPOSED. OUTLINE OF LAND POLICY. [BY TELEGRAPH. .PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WEI, IA K GTON, Tnesdn y. The .New Zealand Labour Party has issued a manifesto to the electors of New Zealand. It is signed bv Messrs. 11. E. Holland (chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party), Brindle (national president). and Nash (national secretary). The statement first refers to the fusion negotiations between the. Reform and Liberal Parties, and says it is an open secret that the Reform and National Parties will come to an agreement after the election. "The Labour members,'' it continues, "have been the only real Opposition in the past throe years, and while there have been three parties there have been only two contending forces, the lieform and National Parties, supporting privilege and monopoly, which the Labour Party is attacking." The objective of the Labour Party is the socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange. Steps toward the attainment of this objective are set out in the planks of the party's platform. The method which the party adopts is the conquest of political power, local and national, try constitutional means; the extension of the organisation of the workers, in industry, together with the co-operation of all who render social service, to the end that society may be controlled in the interest of all the people. The platform provides for proportional, representation, initiative and referendum, the removal of all the political disabilities of women, and full civil rights to all State employees. The Land. Question. The party's land policy is designed to give the farmer and the householder absolute security of tenure so as to end the holding by squatters of large areas of the best type of land, which could be put to better use by closer settlement ; to abolish speculation in land; to secure communitycreated value for the community; to secure to each occupier the full value of his own improvements; to stop the presentwasteful methods of private exploiters in utilising the timber resources of the Do minion; land settlement to be encouraged so as to secure the fullest possible amount, of primary production ; no financial assistance to be provided by the Labour Government for speculators; the taxation on city lands to be adjusted to prevent the. exploitation of small business men through excessive rentals. To meet housing needs Labour would acquire large areas near the cities for building purposes, and properly planned residential districts would be established on a scale sufficient to overtake the house shortage at the earliest possible moment. Labour's aim in this connection would be to secure happy homes for the people. Free education would include free books and the removal of all barriers to the highest educational grade in technical, classical and cultural spheres. The manifesto condemns the ordinary insurance system as wasteful, absorbing too great a proportion of the premiums in charges, so that the insurers against accident receive little more than half for the benefit of the victims of accidents. Yiews on Taxation. Under the heading of taxation the manifesto says that during the past four years the Government have reduced the tax on super incomes from 8s 9d m the £ to 4s od in the £, and the revenue has been kept up to normal bv increasing the customs duties. A table is given purporting to show that in the last four years customs taxation has increased by £65.316,160 and income tax has been reduced by £7,009,445. Of income-tax remissions 61A per cent,, goes to taxpayers with incomes over £1.0,000, while customs duties have, increased since 1921 troni £4 os 10d per head to £5 lis lid. The Labour Party supports the eftorts made by the Alliance of Labour to secure a Roval Commission to investigate the cost of living and the. basic wage. L also condemns the assistance given by the Government to the Employers' federation to force workers under the jurisdiction of the Court while the Government, refuses to abide by the decisions themselves. ~. , The Government's pioposal to establish a system of family allowances is strongly condemned and the Labour Party s Motherhood Endowment Bill is advocated instead. . A readjustment of pensions and the introduction 'of wireless on all sea-going vessels are ether planks in the platfoim. The Banking System. Dealing with banking the manifesto objects to the great profits made by tf.n banks and the dominance oi the Lank or New Zealand. It savs the financial system of to-day is so powerful that, no community can afford to allow a body of six men to exercise, financial control over the communitv so long as their first principle is the making of profits for the purpose of paying large dividends to the share holder.-,. ° The ability of public servants to organise and administer finance e!li ciently for the benefit of ail sections of the community is exemplified m the Public Trust Office, in the State Advances and other departments of State, and the. Labour Party's policy is the establishment of a State bank, which would benefit both traders and exporters and through them the whole of the people—traders, by charging reasonable rates on c>verdrafts. and exporters, by a reduction of exchange rates to the. level which covered the cost of service rendered. Full co-operation is urged with all branches of the British Empire to ensure the free-will organisation ot its resources

for the benefit, of each constituent part so that the English-speaking peoples may make their contributions through the League of Nations to the peace and goodwill of the world. The. coming election is a crucial test for all electors. Summarised the labour Party's policy is:- Immediate, restoration of wages and salaries t" the 1914 standard : full inquiry into the cost of living for the purpose of readjusting the hash- wage in accord with a icasonable standard of comfort; immediate house erection on a large scale to overcome the existing shortage: everv possible assistance to the working farmer; every assistance to all forms of cooperation; agricultural research; closer settlement to get the maximum number of people on the land: a State-owned shipping service; free hospital treatment ; extension of the benefits under workers' compensation insurance, and ;i State .monopoly: extension of the State Fire Insurance Department to combat the present exploitation l;y private corporations; endowment of motherhood; living; readjustment of taxation; casing the load nn customs and an increased graduated tax on super-im omes; full provision of wireless facilities to safeguard the lives of seamen and passengers; a State bank, with a rural credit, branch, to organise the credit facilities of the Dominion and to charge reasonable fees: an educational system that is free enough to ensure the. fullest, development of every child regardless of the income of the parents; a sound immigration policy after the existing housing shortage has been overtaken; a commission to consider the best way <>i reorganising the resources of the British Commonwealth for the benefit of its people; every effort, to bring all Governments into the League of Nations, and the, settlement, of disputes on the basis of arbitration. AUCKLAND EAST CONTEST. MR, j. A. LEE'S CAMPAIGN. THE LABOUR LAND POLICY. A full audience at. St. Andrew's Hall last, night listened to an address by Mr. ,1. A. Leo, M.l'.. Labour candidate for Auckland East. Mr. Lee followed the hues of lus earlier speeches, but gave a little time to education, complaining of the neglected state of the Parnell and Newton East Schools, and of the Govi raiment's failure to provide children with free school books. He said that so far as university education was concerned, the South got all the plums, although the Minister for Education came from Auckland. The Auckland University College was largely a school for manufacturing solicitors. He would favour at the very least a liberal system of bursaries to enable Auckland students to take medical, dental. and engineering courses in the South. Mr. Lee denied afresh that Labour's land policy was directed at any land except the largest estates. "Sir James Parr, out in Eden, says thai Labour wants to take away the homes ot the people," he said. "Our policy aims only at taking over the agricultural estates of a value of over C2Q.000. There are IGoO of them. We do not think it right that they should he held, as they could be cut up and settled. We are going to take them from time to time, cut them up, and let them t<> farmers and farmers' sons at a rental of about- 5 per cent." Mr. Lee said that most of the £20,000 estates had improved values of about £IOO,OOO. They carried one family each. Labour believed" tlu-y should carry whole chains of families. Sedcion, Balla.nce. and Grey had all broken up such estates. " The Reform Party had had authority last vear to spend A/50.000 on acquiring lands ior settlement, but it had spent only C.120 or £I2OO. lie could not remember which. \et this was the party which said. "Put us back into power and we will settle the lands of New Zealand." He remembered that Mr. W. E. Parry had once made a good reply to someone who suggested that Labour wanted to lake the peoples homes. He had said. "It we tooK them, what would we do with them Would we lock them up and make you sleep in the streets ? The thing is absurd. Mr. Lee urged his hearers to work in order to win Auckland, and ultimately New Zealand, for the cause of Labour. The candidate received a vole of thanks and confidence, with three dissentients. Cheers were given lor the Labour Party. QI'IET TiME IN MARK DEN. A THREE-CORNERED CONTEST. [U V TELEG R A PH.---* >W S COM IIESPON 1> K NT. J \V liA NO A REI, Tuesday. So far the three candidates in the field i'or Marsdeu have not can-ad a, turoie of enthusiasm such as has been the ease in the past. The sitting member, Mr. A. J. Murdoch and the Government nominee, Mr. W. .J. ncs, are must in the limelight,, but they and Mr. A. 8. Richards', the Labour nominee, have contented themselves with addressing gatherings of electors in outlying districts. Mr. Richards has spoken to an audience in the Whangarei Town Hall, but it- was neither laree nor enthusiastic. Messrs. Jones and Murdoch are both receiving good hearings and votes ot confidence in the smaller centres. TAITJANO'A NATIONALIST. TE PUKE DISTRICT VISITED. [ f.Y TEI.KOKAI'H. -•' >WN CO!.;II fiSI'ON*PENT. j TK I't'KK. Tuesdii:-. The Nationalist candidate for Tnnrai'ga, Mi'. 1!. Coulter, addressed three meetings in this district yc.-.lerday. one at I'aengaroa, one at the (,'uarry and the third ii? the Allium e Hall here in the evening. At each of the meetings he received a.