WEALTH IN DOMINION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21817, 4 June 1934, Page 12

WEALTH IN DOMINION

CONDITIONS OF PEOPLE LABOUR M.P.'S VIEWS "The main cause of our trouble is applying a policy of scarcity 'to an age of plenty," stated Mr. H. T. , Armstrong, M.P. for Christchurch East, national president of tho Labour Party, addressing a meeting organised by the Labour Party at the Strand Theatre last evening. Mr. W. T. Anderton prosided over a good attendance. Mr. Armstrong said that whatever tho cause of distress in other countries there was no excuse for such a condition in New Zealand, whicli had a superabundance of what the people actually needed. Ho contended that tho economic depression had been man-made, and brought about largely by the mistakes of Governments. As far as private wealth in tho Dominion was concornqd a total of £137,000,000 was reached in 1933, a vastly greater sum than was recorded in 1918, 0110 of tho most prosperous years in the history of tho country. Tho speaker contended that wealth belonged to the people who produced it, and said that at present that circutnstanco did not apply. Wealth, on the contrary, was controlled by a section of the community. Mr. Armstrong also dealt with tho relief camps for single men, and stated that, from his personal observation, tho conditions called for instant betterment.