GUARANTEED PRICES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21759, 26 March 1934, Page 5

GUARANTEED PRICES

LABOUR LEADER'S ADVOCACY ADJUSTMENT OF MORTGAGES [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION"] INVERCARGILL. Sunday The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. M. J. Savage, addressed a large audience in the Victoria Hall last evening. At the conclusion of the meeting a vote of thanks and confidence was unanimously carried. Referring to the mortgage system, Mr. Suvage said that, if the present system with its high rates of interest was allowed to continue, a big crash in the near future was inevitable. The position in which thousands of farmers and others found themselves to-day made it imperative that immediat-e action should be taken by the Government to prevent the unnecessary sacrifice of producers who, through no fault of their own, were on the verge of losing their holdings. The savings of lifetimes were in the melting pot through the ill-advised actions of those who had had the responsibility of government during recent years. Instead of aiming at a policy of stabilisation of internal prices and conditions the Coalition Government had insisted upon carrying on the policy of rigid deilation which had landed thousands into a position which was little short of serfdom. The State must face the responsibility of complete control of the mortgage system and the readjustment of mortgages on a basis which would allow production to be carried on. " Guaranteed prices for products sufficient to enable producers to meet their obligations on the new basis is the only logical way out of the difficulty," said Mr. Savage. " The only problem to bo solved is how to distribute the national income on an equitable basis."