GOVERNMENT PROGRESS

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

GOVERNMENT PROGRESS

"FINANCES N EVER BETTER,"! MR. HARRIS OUTLINES RECORD. | k REDUCTION OF TAXATION. Opening his campaign for Waitemata, j Mr. A. Harris, member for the district for the last 14 years, addressed a large gathering of electors last evening at the Foresters' TTa.ll, Takapuna. Mr. .1. 1). Morison, Mayor of Takapuna, presided and at the outset called upon the audience to stand for a minute in silence in memory of the late Mr. Massey. New Zealand, said Air. Harris, v.'as faced in the near future by a critical period in having to make its choice between opposite platforms. Never previously had any Government carried out so much legislation tending for the benefit of the people of the country and the maintenance of its prosperity, than that accomplished by the Reform Party. Mr. Coates, he believed, was going to he one of New Zealand's great Prime Ministers, from the ability and patriotism he had already displayed. The finances of the countiv were never in a better position than now. its trade was good and its credit stood high in the eyes of the world, and the outlook was in evcrv wav hopeful. The success of the last -C4.500.000 loan, which was floated at the same rate as that of the London County Council, was proof on this point, as was also the rate realised, £4 15s 3d, as against £5 Is 6d in the case of the contemporaneous loan of the New South Wales Government. The revenue of the j country was buoyant, in spite of the reduction of £3,000,000 in direct taxation last year, and also of the reversion to penny postage, the surplus the last year being £1,243.000. Economy in Administration. The Government believed the only way to maintain prosperity was to keep taxation down to the minimum of public requirements. The reductions accomplished had been brought about by judicious economy in administration, and still further economies will be carried out on the same lines. The Government had been accused of removing taxation from the wealthy and putting it upon the poor. A Voice: Quite rightMr. Harris said the interrupter's statement was both incorrect and absurd. Ithad been said the Government had transferred the taxation from land and income to the customs. It was true there had been increases in regard to fur coats, motor tyres and other articles of luxury, but as regards everyday consumers the taxation through the customs to-day was less than ever before. The policy of the Government was to remove taxation from the necessaries of life and articles of everyday use, so far as was consistent with the maintenance of our secondary industries. The Reform Government had come into office pledged to give everyone a square deal, and he challenged anyone to say he had not leceived it. The Interjeetor : I say so. Mr. Harris said he was not concerned with liis friend's opinion, for he was speaking of what he knew. New Zealand could show a higher exemption from income tax than any other country in the Empire. The Interjector: Why, the Government is living on borrowed money. Acting on Easiness Lines. Mr. Harris said every penny that was being borrowed was being spent on reproductive works—works that were interestearning. When the capital was spent on workers' homes, telegraph and telephone extension, hydro-electric works, railways extension, and other matters that paid their own interest, what did it matter if the State did borrow ? The administrative expenses of the country had been reduced from £28,068,000 in 1924 to £27,400.000 last year, in contrast j with increases by millions in the Australian States—no less than £7,041,000 in New South Wales and £7.298.000 in Victoria. This was because the New Zealand Government now acted on business lines, and the departments were well controlled and were required to show balance-sheets similar to those produced by commercial concerns. The public service was more efficient to-day tiian ever before—no private business could be better conducted and the taxpayers were getting full value for their money. Moreover, the public service was efficient and contented, knowing as it did that efficiency and attention to duty were the avenues lo promotion. On the question of national debt, Mr. Harris said that exclusive of the war debt. 80 per cent, of the total was inter-est-earning. Although the gross debt had been increased by £21,000,000 since 1921. it- was not costing the taxpayers a penny more than it did before 1921. With regard to housing, he claimed that no country in the world had done more to house its people decently than New Zealand had. As to the loans to workers made by the State Advances Department, it was lending money to workers and settlers at 4Js per cent-., which no other lending institution in the world was doing. Up to date the Government had, in the last six years, provided through its various departments for the erection of 33.365 dwellings, at a cost of £20,164.000. That was proof that things were being done, and without increased cost in administration —another proof of the business ability of the Government. A Straight-out Issue, With regard to the party situation, he claimed that the Liberal Party was a spent force—it was now off the political horizon, and not seriously to be considered. The issue to-day was between the Reform Partv and the extreme Labour Party. The Liberals' change of name was probably the last- straw— in the coming election"they would be wiped out of existence. The true Liberals were to be found in the ranks of the Reform Party. The only political leaner m sight was the Hon. J. Gordon Coates. It was not in the interests of the country that the threeparty system should continue. The question* of'the moment, was one between law and order on one side and Bolshevism and chaos on the other. it was a suicidal policy that the people of Liberal political thought in the country should be fighting one another and so playing into the hands of the dangerous elements now so much in evidence—elements that wore, however, so much organised that they voted as one man and one woman, and thus obtained representation out of proportion to their numerical strength. The Labour platform put forward for election purposes was something very different from what the leaders of the party had advocated at other times. Why. anyone could subscribe to it. In contrast, Mr. Harris quoted extremist statements made by Labour leaders in Parliament, in their press and their conferences and elsewhere. Their platform utterances of to-day could not be taken seriously. They were designed merely to cloud the issue and did not show the speakers in their true colours. He asked the electors to think twice before they supported the party which had sent condolences to Russia on the death of the monster Lenin; and to return to Parliament supporters of the Government. Numerous questions were put. In reply to one, the candidate said he would support the elimination of the third issue from the licensing ballot-paper, giving a straight-out vote between prohibition and continuance. On the motion of Mr. T. Hanna, seconded by Mr. P. S. Gee, a resolution was passed thanking Mr. Harris for his services to the electorate for the last 14 years and expressing continued confidence , in him and the Government.