CANDIDATES’ ADDRESSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19623, 29 October 1925, Page 6

CANDIDATES’ ADDRESSES

WALLACE ELECTORATE. THE NATIONAL PARTY. M# EDIE AT ORAWIA. ■ Mr leorgo Edie. the National candidate lor the -Wi llaco seat, spoke at Orawia on Saturday night. f Mr Edie said that at the request of a large number of electors from all sections of the community he had consented to coi e forward os the National candidate He had served on local bodies in Southland, and had always taken a keen interest m the progress of the province. The aim ot the National arty was to unite those who desired to see the interests of the country placed before those of party and to bnng together all who would work for the return to Parliament of represntatives pledged to support the establishment of a Government absolutely national in character and spirit. TJUe National Party was striving to end the present unsatisfactory three-party position, which was preventing the passage of necessary legislation and causing weak aoministiation with its attendant evils, ino party stood for all the people not a section of theni, with a policy to build up a strong, self-contained, united, and prosperous Now Zealand. discharged soldier settlers. The candidate proceeded to condemn the system followed by the Government in purchasing land for soldiers. The Government could not get away from its responsibility in the matter. As was said bv the leader of the National Party: Ihe ■wholesale expenditure 'by the Government of millions of money within a short time had the effect of adding to the value of the land The Government took not the slightest ’ notice of the warnings they received ; they went on spending money and forcing up the price of land until they made it, in a great many cases, impossible for the men to make a living on the land. This was what was said by the commission about the land purchased in Otago: “Prices paid for land for subdivision too high. Properties purchased were not generally in good rotation, being worn-out pasture over-run with twitch and weeds.” reform party criticised. A sure sign of the decadence of a political party was furnished when that party became introspective—when it began to look within itself and to question its infallibility. What did the rank and file of the Reforfn Party think of some of the actions of the Government? The Hon. Mr M‘Leod (Hansard Yol. 204, page 1247) said that the Maruia land had been revalued, and between £17,000 and £IB,OOO written off. Mr Witty, member for Riocarton, nefsv a Reform 'supporter, said he could mention instances where the Government had purchased land for £6O an acre for which he •would not. have given £2O. Mr Field, a former Liberal under, Seddon and Ward, who joined the Reformers under , Massey, said - only describe some of the purchases of which I have knowledge as being absolutely grotesque. I have seen soldiers endeavouring to make a living by dairying on land debited to them at about £35 per acre for which I would not give more than £lO. This kind of thing could not continue, and that is the reason why some time ago I was the first to -tronglv urge that revaluations should take place.” Colonel Bell, Reform member for the Bay ftf Islands: “Once a Government is in power for 10 or 12 years it gets into the hands of the big financial institutions. If the Government is not prepared to take some action to protect the producers of this country it is time fqr it to make room. There is no reason to believe that the brains of the country are wrapped up in the present Ministry.” These being the views of prominent members of Reform, surely the time had arrived when a change should be made.

BORROWING should be restricted, unless the money was to go into reproductive channels. There should be the strictest economy in the cost of government and the application to the administration of all Government departments of business methods. The necessity economy could not be too strongly cmptjfiSteed in .view of the huge increase in departmental expenditure. Out of 40 Government departments no less than 20 showed an increase for the financial year ended the 31st March, 1925. The total Increase for expenditure was £1,003,158 after alloiying for dfedreascs in 11 departments. ..The incrcastf' In the previous year was £407,586. The following figures showed our rate of borrowing from 1020 to the present:— 1920 to 1024, £5,000,000 annually. 1924 to 1925, £6,000,000 annually. 1925 to 1926, £7,000,000 annually. Total for six years, £33,000.000. NATIONAL DEBT AND EXPENDITURE. In these days when the available taxation margin of the wealth of the country was causing concern to those who were subjected to taxation, the figures relating to our National Debt and the alarming rate at which that debt and the local Government expenditure were mounting up, should interest the electors. The population of the Dominion for the census preceding 1914, 1,053,300, and 1925, 1,271,000, increase 212,700. PUBLIC DEBT. 1904 £57,000,000 1914 95,000.000 1925 228,000,000 ‘ Of the increase between 1914 and the present year £76,000,000 represented debt incurred in connection with the War. The Reform Government was, therefore, responsible for £57,000,000 or over £5,000,000 a year. This was not bad for a Government which professed to *be a non-borrowing one, and whose > policy when in opposition was to limit borrowing mid to denounce every borrowing proposal. The public bodies’ debt in 1904 was £10,000,000, in 1914 £24,000,000, in 1920 £30,000,000, and in 1925 £47,000,000. This class of debt had quadrupled in 21 years, and almost doubled in the period of the Reform Administration. The interest charges amounted to nearly £9,000,000 on the National Debt, and to nearly £2,000,000 on the public bodies’ debt. Taking the two together, the interest bill was nearly £0 a head. DEBAR TMEN TAL EX IE N HIT U RE. In 1914 the departmental expenditure totalled £11,825,80-1, and in 1925 it was £27,390,000. or an increase of £15,573,336. There was food for thought, and very grave thought, in these figures. The war, however else it might have affected the mental attitude of politicians, had certainly familiarised them with big arithmetic. It would not be easy to get back to pre-war relations and proportions in the National Budget. But the fundamental factdTs of a slowly increasing population, a stationary position in regard to wool and meat production, a more intense world-wide competition in dairy produce must make the leaders of political thought in this country pause and consider whether some of our public activities were not premature and therefore extravagant. EDUCATION. He supported the present national system of education —free, secular, and compulsory, the providing of school books at cost price, and greater assistance to backblock schools. RAILWAYS. Taking the figures for the last two years only, the railway revenue in 1924 was £6,954,469, in 1925 £7,105,106, showing an increase of £150,657. The expenditure in 1924 _ was £5,153,141, in 1925 £5,636,683, showing an increase of £483,442. In this great department of State. the increase of expenditure was greater than the increase of revenue by £352,805: It was essential to reduce rates and fares to the lowest possible minimum so as to. make the tram services more popular and at the, same time to compete more successfully with the motor traffic. AGRICULTURAL BANK. He supported the establishment of an agricultural bank for the following reasons: It did not inflate the currency; its principle was co-operative lending and borrowing; it enabled farmers to borrow at lower rates of interest and to repay over a period of 25 or 50 years, thus saving anxiety and expense that was inseparable from renewals of mortgages at periods of three or five years; it was not a new experiment, as it had been in operation for years on a large scale in European countries; it had been a complete success in every case. New Zealand’s most pressing need was safe finance for farmers, and agricultural banks with Government guarantee would do much to ensure this. The National Party was the only one pledged to make it law. The State Advances Department did excellent work, but could not do more than help a fortunate few. POWER BOARD RATES.

Touching on this question, Mr Edie said: “This matter is nearly as important to us as politics. The rate at the present time is lid, , and I do not think it is going to stop thjpre. To. mj mind what we have, to do is approach the Government to take (ho scheme. What with laud tax.

county rates, and Power- Board rates, we are merely working bullocks for these local bodies. Mr Rodger has said that the rate will be only for a year or two, but as it has taken, 50 to 60 years to raise the population and industry to use £50,000-worth of “juice” annually, how long is it going to take to create a population and industry to consume “juice” worth £IBO,OOO annually? if I am returned I hope with the help of :ny party to get the Government to take over the scheme as is ' is morally bound to do because it stood behind it when the money was raised. ‘T stand for the grand old British flag and the Empire's constitution, ’ said Mr Edie, “and coming nearer home I will endeavour to acl vane New Zealand’s interests and particularly those of the Wallace electorate and its people.” A vote of thanks and confidence was accorded the candidate. THE LABOUR PARTY. MR J. M. MACKENZIE AT FAIRFAX. Mr J. M. Mackenzie, the Labour candidate for the Wallace electorate, addressed a meeting in the Town Hall at Fairfax on Monday night, Mr T. Halpin occupying the • hair. Mr Mackenzie said the country was on Hie eve of one of the greatest and most im portaut elections in the history of New Zealand. It was. reminiscent of the great, political contest of IS9O, when the fight was between prejudiced Conservatism and reactionary government on the one hand and democracy and progress on the other. The present election was more important titan that one, however, as the country was now to years ahead of the BallanceSeidon period. To-day the issues were between the Reform Party and the Labour Party. THE LABOUR FIGHT was against the great commercial combines and institutions, and against the distorting and misrepresenting newspaper campaigns. He had been accused of entering the political field in the Wallace electorate merely to split votes, but he could emphatically scotch that rumour as, at the commencement of the campaign, the only two - parties in the field were Reform and Uabour. It looked then as if it was going to be a stralghtrout fight. But now other candididatcs were in the field, and if vote-splitting was being tried the Liberal and National candidates were to blame. The candidate referred in scathing terms to two other candidates who, he said, were of nondescript plumage, and whose political convictions no one appeared to be able to understand. At any rate, Labour considered that the retirement _cf the sitting member, after a lengthy career, left the way open for Labour to contest the seat in conformity with its policy to contest every possible seat, in view of the general realisation that the issue at the coming election would fine down to a contest between Reform and Labour. The one time leader of the Libe rals had stated that he was standing as a Liberal, not as a Nationalist. He was repudiating the newfound title. The fact was—and he made the remark with all due respect to the erstwhile leader and to the party as a whole —the Liberal Party's record was one of the greatest political tragedies in the history of this or any other; country. It was a veritable political landslide. If the late Richard Seddon only knew what his successors were doing, he would turn in his grave. Richard Seddon died leaving his lieutenant with a majority that was the envy of the world—--07 in a House of SO—yet in five short years that majority was gone, and to-day the grand old party was down on its bended knees pleading with the Reformers to admit it into a fusion Government. Every person who voted for a National candidate should remember that the man he was. voting for was willing to enter a Government under Mr Coates and to follow the Conservative lead. The line of demarcation was very clear: either Reform or Labour was to occupy the Treasury benches after (ho elections, and there was no room for Independents. He intended to give them an admixture of criticism of the present Government and Labour’s proposed remedies. THE REFORM PARTY was a modern anachronism, comparable to the Feudal system and dependent almost entirely upon the indomitable strength and rugged purposefulness of one man—in other words, William Ferguson Massey in his day was the Reform Party. If Labour was returned to power it ■would servo the interests of the country as faithfully and well • as the late Mr Massey had served the interests of the large commercial combines and vested interests. The Reform Party was going to the country on the fame of Mr Massey. Mr Coates said he had no cular policy to put forward, ■' yet • everyoneknew he gained his name through his spectacular administration. The speeding up of the railways and the expresses on the main lines was a sample of this.. It had been put’ into operation to suit the big business men/and . travellers, and .it was a grave mistake. The expresses would have to be stopped from travelling at such excessive speed on the narrow-guage railway, or there would be a terrific smash one of these clays. The permanent way could not stand the strain. The Railways Department could" speed up some of the trams on branch lines with, advantage, blit it would have to stop the useless speeding on main lines. The Dunedin Exhibition had been put forward as an excuse for rushing the elections, but the rush was intended to cover weaknesses in Reform’s policy, and the attempt had failed badly. The Reform Government had contemplated reducing wages by 7s 6d per week for the purpose of equalising the position of Ihe married men with more than two children. Mr Coates and the Minister of Labour had publicly denied this, but it was known that the Government intended doing something, and it would have been much to fho point if the Premier had told the people exactly -what the Government had ‘in - mind. Reform’s land policy was a strangle-hold on the fanner, and the name freehold was a mockery—it should really be mortgagehold. Farmers throughout tne country were looking to the Labour Party to remedy this state of affairs. The Reform Party had, been returned to office as a non-bor-rowing party, yet the public debt was increased by £109,000.000 in 12 years. Loans to the time of £89,000,000 would fall due in the next seven vears, and such was the financial position that the Government paid an annual visit to “Uncle Solly,” the German Jew financier, to raise money to meet these liabilities. The only cure for that would bo the formation of a State banking system. Referring to TAXATION AND WAGES, he said that remissions of taxation had been made in four years to the tune of £5,000,000, and in 1922 only 165 taxpayers benefited. There were 36,000 taxpayers, yet in 1925 60 per cent, of the reductions went to 125 taxpayers. The estimated remissions for 1926 were £3,000,000. In the same four years £8,000,000 had been taken off the wages of the workers. The Labour Party did not advocate high wages; it advocated that the woiker was entitled to a fair wage and a fair standard of living. The Customs taxation showed that in 1918, for every £IOO the country received, £29 came from Customs and £45 from income tax, while in 1925 the position was that Customs provided £52 and land tax £2l In other words, the position was completely reversed in eight years. This was what ho termed class legislation. The Government maintained that, with the war over, reduction in taxation was justified, but the war debt had to be paid. The Labour Party was accused of taking a wrong inference from the figures, but the figures carried their own inference, which was quite obvious. Not one of the vital necessities of life had been reduced. The farmer was THE BEST-ROBBED MAN

ill the community, as the big firms and land sharks had him in an octopus-like grip. If the farmer only knew the difference between the manufactured price of machinery and manures and the price he paid for them he would have something to think iibout. The candidate instanced several cases, basing his statements on prewar times. Nauru phosphates had been controlled by a syndicate at Auckland, and that body had charged farmers in the North Island £4 10s per ton and for the same stuff they charged South Island farmers £8 10s. Under pressure the Government stepptd in and reduced the price, and credit for this was due to Mr James Horn, M.P. for Wakntipu, who had ventilated the matter from the floor of the House. The Government had paid excessive prices for ’ land for SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS against the advice of the Valuer general and the Lands Department, with the result that the wealthy landowners got any price they asked. Altogether £2,300,C00 had been written off. and the people generally received no benefit from it. The Reform land policy had been a ghastly failure. The Government Year Book showed that transfers to the value of £243,000,000 had taken place, and at March 31, 1925, the capital value of New Zealand was £668,000,000. It would be seen that 44 per cent, had changed hands in live years, and, basing the commission at 5 per cent., the big commercial combines, lawyers, and land agents had pocketed. £12,000,000. To remedy this Labour would put all transfers through a Government Land Transfer Department

Registered mortgages were ' valued at £269,000,000 and had increased 175 per cent.—this under a system said to give the fanner a sense of security. Taking the interest at-6£ per cent., which was not high for a first mortgage in a country where fanners were paying as high as 10 per cent, on a second mortgage, the annual interest bill was £17,000,000. The Government Statistician declared that 51 per cent, of the mortgages were on rural property, so the rural landowners’ interest bill was £9,000,000 per annum. It had been said that the farmer was up against the problem cf-hoavy taxation, but it was really the interest and mortgages ho was ; up against. LAND OCCUPATION. . The Labour Party believed in the policy of land occupancy and use. to assist the man on the land. The farmer was entitled to the fruits of his labour and to the value of any improvements made. All pri-vately-owned land would bo transferred through the State, and the State would find a buyer. No trafficking in State mortgages would bo tolerated. A man would sell to the State at the original valuation plus the value of anv improvements made. The Labour Party had no desire to nationalise the land, and it would not interfere with a man transferring his property to his family during his lifetime or bequeathing it to them at death. HUMANITARIAN LEGISLATION. The Government had increased old age pensions to 17s 6d per week, but this was not enough, and the Labour Party would increase the sum to 255. Maternal mortality was’ very high, and the- birth rate very low. The Labour Party would bring down a Motherhood Endowment Bill providing for the payment of 10s per week foi every child over two in a family until 16 years of age. The Arbitration Court based its findings on the average of husband and wife, and two children; if there were any more the court ignored their existence. THE POWER BOARD SCHEME had been foisted on the people 25 yearn too soon. It was estimated that it could have been carried out £300.000 cheaper, and whether that estimate was correct or not it was a fact that the farmers of Southland would have to pay for the mismanagement and blundering for many years to come to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds.- Ho would support any action that would clear up the present unsatisfactory position and put the scheme on a better basis for, the future. SECTARIAN ELEMENTS, wore being imported into the fight. He regarded religion as a sacred thing which should not be allowed to enter a political campaign. The sooner the country got rid of sectarian strife-mongers the better. No one wanted religion trampled in the mud at election time or any other time. A vote of thanks and confidence was accorded the candidate.