"USEHOLD" FALLACIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19149, 15 October 1925, Page 13

"USEHOLD" FALLACIES

AN EX-FARMER'S ATTACK. CANDIDATES " DODGING." j MR. OLDFIELD IN GOOD FORM. I In the course of a very animated meet- | ing in the Church of Christ, Ponsonby | Road, last night, the Government candij date for Auckland West, Mr. S. Oldfield, | gave much attention to the Labour land j policy from the viewpoint of an ex-farmer. ! Naturally enough, he bad to meet a bun- | dam heckling from the Labour supporters j who attended, i According to the Labour Party, he j said, the policy was the only land policy | worth the name. Usehold had been sub- | milted to the public in the. Franklin byj election, and the electors had decisively j turned it down. "I say." he declared, j "that the electors of Auckland West will ! be as emphatic in turning down this at- | tempt to rob them of their homes as i the Franklin farmers were in resisting i any attempt to rob them of their farms." This utterance evoked loud Labour disI sent. | " Now, the Labour candidates all | around Auckland are dodging," went on j Mr. Oldfield. "They say the policy ap- ] plies only to estates of £20,000 and upj wards." A \ oice : Quit <• right. Mr. Oldfield: I have here a copy of ] the Labour Party's platform. It. says | nothing about exempting small holdings i from the operation of the policy, j There was more uproar, which led the j candidate to remark. "You do not like | it because it is the truth and the truth j is sometimes uglv." Labour's Golden Spoon. | Mr. Oldfield read the clauses embodyImg the policy. "Messrs. Lee, Savage, | Jordan, and the others are all trying to j put it over you that it does not affect ; anything but the large estates," he said. { This led to a noisy cross-fire between j Labour and Government supporters it; i the audience. When comparative quiet i reigned, Air. Oldfield remarked that the I policy would mean enlarging the National | Endowment lands, which were, by comI moo consent, one of the worst possible | investments for public money, and were ) breeding grounds for noxious weeds and i rabbits. What, he asked, was the mean- | ing of tenure "by occupancy and use?" Did it. mean that a man might squat on i 100 acres and work only one acre? Did he have to work on the property himself ? The fact was that Labour wanted to be fed with a golden spoon on Statedrawn rents. (Loud dissent.) Mr. Holland had said in Parliament that if the farmer got his due there would be nothing left for the mortgagee. Ho would show what that meant. Probably everyone in the hall Ixid money in the Post Office Savings Bank, the Auckland Savings Bank, a building society, or a friendly society, and was drawing interest on it. To pay that interest the institutions he had named had to invest their funds in gilt-edged security—-farm lands. Consequently, the savings of the people were what Labour was attacking. Inheritance Not Safeguarded. The usehold policy applied to the homes of the people. The Labour platform said nothing about safeguarding inheritance, in spite of all the candidates' professions. That platform had been adopted in 1924 and confirmed as recently as April last. Supposing that a man had a farm worth £SOOO, with a mortgage of £3OOO, and he were compelled to sell, the State would be the only buyer. It would buy on its own valuation, and the owner would be lucky if he got £3OOO, the amount |of the mortgage. He would certainly | never get his £2OOO equity. | The candidate analysed Mr. Savage's J comparison between a farmer's payments j over 30 vears in liquidation of a mort- | gage and his payments under the usehold [ tenure on a 5 per cent, rental. He | held that the difference between the total i payments was less than Mr. Savage made j out, and that at the end of the period | the farmer would have his freehold if be j were paying off a mortgage, whereas i under usehold he would to set to land pay the same sum (£7500) all over j again. A man in the audience challenged the j comparison, declaring that the rental would be based on the unimproved value only, whereupon the candidate produced a cutting from Hansard of a speech by Mr. Savage, wherein the latter cited a similar case and based his calculation on the capital value. Developing Resources. " The result of this scheme would be that the good improved properties would be snapped up at their unimproved value," said Mr. Oldfield. " The people who occupied them would not put. up a fence or put in a pound of fertiliser. They ! would take all that was in the properties i and return them to the State ruined. | All the ' dud ' farms, growing blacki berries and rabbits, would be pushed ! on to the State, which would thus increase I its national endowment," said Mr. Old- | field. " The usehold would mean the end !of production in this country. A man does not take an interest in a leasehold farm. You can always tell one at sight." In the towns, only leasehold houses would be obtainable, and the party in i power would be exposed to the temptation 'of bribery and corruption. They would !be tempted to give the best houses to ! their friends. i "We must develop our natural resources ! v ,.j('n the loyal and patriotic manhood of ' the'country'," said Mr. Oldfield in conI elusion. "We have the finest sod, the | finest climate, and with a, few exceptions ■ the finest people in the world. Let us j stand together against the common enemy ;.r;d show the Empire, that we stand for | sound government." T HA MES fiOLT )FIEL!)S. HOLDING UP OF CLAIMS. MR. A. M. SAMUEL'S ATTITUDE. fr,Y TKI.EGIUPH.-- OWN OOP. RESPONDENT. J Vv AIHI. Wednesday The (iovernmcnl candidate for Ohinomuri. Mr. A. M. Samuel, addressed a very largely-attended meeting in the Academy Theatre, Waibi. last evening, and was fiveu an attentive hearing. He spoke. mi the lines of his opening speech. Touching on the mining industry, he said it seemed a pity that so much ground should be locked' in on the Waihi field, ground ihat in development would give employment to a considerable number of workers, and might with exploration materially en rich the district. He recognised that lart'e capital was required 'to work propositions in these parts, and that it was consequent I v necessary to look for money in London.' For this reason he was not f fll . ~.,v action likely to harass the big ~, n-erns operating, or for frightening awav outside money, hut he thought claims should not be held up indefinitely. The oo'-at'cn might be met by the insert ion in' the Mining Act of an amending clause insisting upon the working of these properties within a reasonable time. 1 ' <\flcr having answered a number of questions the candidate was given a vote of thanks for his address. fBI.UK MINISTER'S TOUR. IN WELLINGTON TO-DAY. fjiV TF.I.EGKA PIl. PRESS ASSOCIATION.] CIXRIS T(' I ITT RC H, Wednesday. The Prime Minister spent a busy time in Christehurch to-day. In the morning he addressed a meeting at Taitapu and in the afternoon, gatherings of farmers and of women in _ the city. At each he expounded the Reform policy, and resolutions of thanks and confidence in the party were carried. He left this evening for "Wellington.