THE GENERAL ELECTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20548, 25 October 1928, Page 7

THE GENERAL ELECTION

THE PRIME MINISTER. VISIT TO OWN ELECTORATE. AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. freed from further MEETINGS. {Special to Daxlt Tmxs.) DARGAVILLE. October 24. { ygj.y ] arge and euthusiftstic meeting of* the electors of Dargaville, the headquarters of the Prime Ministers constituency, to-night gave Mr Coates a unanimous vote of thanks, appreciation, and confidence and pledged themselves to do their utmost to secure his return to Parliament, and freed him from the duty ot addressing further meetings m the district in order that he might devote his time to the election campaign in other parts of the Dominion. _ ■ : The Prime Minister and Mrs Coates arrived in the Kaipara electorate to-day, after a rapid journey from Southland. They left Invercargill on Sunday, and reached Paparoa this-afternoon in time to be present at a gathering of 500 settlers vho came by motor bicycles, horses, and launches to hear Mr. Coates expound the policy of the Government. The -warmth of the reception accorded Mr Coates not only at Paparoa and at Dargaville, but at the stations along the liner showed that the Prime Minister* popularity among the people who know him best has not diminished, -although his Ministerial duties keep him away from them for the greater part of the yearMr Coates knows nearly all the settlers bv name, and the meetings to-day were those of friends who- - understand each other. The greetings of the younger generation of electors, many of whom are enjoying the franchise this' year for the first time, were no less hear! f than those of an old man of 95, who pioneered with Mr Coates’s parents, and who saw the future Prime Minister hard at work as a boy on tbe farm. Mr Coates, as in 1025, is opposed by a Labour candidate. The Paparoa electors also gave Mr Coates a vote of thanks, appreciation, and confidence, and pledged themselves to his Ca On his arrival at Dargaville at 7 o’clock, the Prime Minister was greeted with cheers by a concourse of residents, and although he had had a long journey he took only ,a few minutes for dintier before he received a number of his friends. and de“Good old Gordon,” and “You are a good Prime Minister,”, greeted Mr Coates as he commenced his; address tonight. Both audience and speaker were in good form, and the crowd greatly joyed Mr Coates’s invitation to ask him questions as he proceeded. 6 We are all of us New Zealanders,” he said, and you are entitled to ask me questions. You can kick me out,,too, I. suppose, but I am on the box seat now, and I’ve got ! a chance to get some of my own hack before you do*'. 1 They won’t do tnat, Gordon," a voice celled, the remark being - the- signal for cheers.* * ' . lii his opening remarks, Mr Coates followed the lines of his previous addresses, discussing the costs of governing The Dominion. He gave a hint of a slight revision of the territorial defence scheme in order to provide more money for the air service. The - Government,- he said, had received a report from Air Marshal Sir John Salmond, and there was no doubt the J-air service would have to be developed. It was thought that - the costs of the land forces could be revised a little, and. the . amounts that were saved therepassed on to the Air Forse. For - instance, there was the cost of the coast defence guns, and it w-as thought that better service could perhaps be given by bombing aircraft, land machines, and sea machines. The Prime Minister Said he thought this could be done with perfect safety, as all that-, was wanted from the Territorial Force was a body of men who could be so equipped and trained that New Zealand would be able to take her part with credit in the defence of the Empire. It was. not desired that the boys, should Sc given military thoughts, but only that they should know how- to keep - their powder dry. * Passing on’to the definite programme of hydro-electric works and railway construction, etc., which haclbeen laid down by the Government, -Mr Coates said ‘he had. challenged the Opposition to say which - hydro-electric scheme, railway, • or road, It would: cut out, and no. one had been game enough to try to alter the policy. “I, am rather proud that I have bad a finger in all these,” said Mr Coates, “and 1 daim support for-a Government which has. had the courage to look ahead and so to organise the public-works or this Dominion that the most urgent ones are completed first. I noticed the other day that a certain gentleman said he "Was sick to death of seeing a Stop. Look out.for the Engine!’ notice stuck up and the railway miles away. That notice was put up 17 years ago. by his own Government. 1 .am not going to shift it for. him.” > the Prime Minister added amidst laughter. ■ . . The Prime Minister claimed that the Main Highways Act and the Petrol Tax Act, and the work that had been done under them, were alone sufficient to justify the Government in asking for the support of the people.— (Applause.) It lias been said of us that we do-not blow our own trumpet enough, but I will blow it a little now,” said Mr Coates, preparatory to enumerating the legislative activities of the Government during the past three years for the benefit of the farmers and the ’ residents of the towns. On the financial side £8,000,000 had been advanced to the farmers, and there were also the long-term Credits and the intermediate rural credits.. The Prime Minister said that these schemes, which were now functioning, were not only, of direct, but.of indirect, benefit, for he knew that thev had stimulated the flow of private capital to farming investments. Then there had been the herd-testing subsidy of £BOOO last year, and of £9OOO this year, the guaranteed price for export apples and eggs, and the bounty on the export of pork to the United Kingdom. The railway freight charged on fertilisers had been reduced by 40 per cent.—a . reduction which was estimated to cost £90.000 this year. The farmer had been protected against the use of impure seeds, fertilisers. and grub destroyers by legislation, which ; had been passed requiring the tinting of the imported seeds and the production of analysis with the fertilisers and fungicides and insecticides. The Scientific and Insdutrial Research Department was doing wonderful work, jiot only for the farmers; but also for the secondary industries. The Government had taken tbe stand that it would help worth-while industry, and it had given a lead in encouraging greater efficiency in industry. Mr Coates traversed the Government s proposals for providing land and finance for part-time farmers —men who worked in towns, but who wished to supplement their incomes by raising poultry and other small-holding products on about five-acre sections. There was also the scheme for helping the farm worker in the .country to obtain 50-acre farmlets. It was considered that the scheme would not onlv meet the needs of men who were already working in the country, but that it would be the means of attracting men into the country and keeping them there. Moreover, there was the group-purchase scheme authorised by Parliament last year. “ I think that is not a bad record for three years, although it is only part of the good work we have dome,” the Prime Minister added.— (ApP *Discussing briefly some of the work to be done in .the future, the Prime Minister said the Government was determined to do .something in the way of invalidity pensions. It was not right -or fair- that the wi£e and children should suffer when the breadwinner of the family, - through an accident, was rendered unfit for further work. In some cases the dependents were worse oB than if the father were dead. Mr Coates said a question he intended tackle vu that of local rating, which was too big a burden on' tbe'land. “ Some say the Government’s taxes on the land are too high, but they are only a circumstance compared with some of the local rates.” Mt Coates said. " e have got to get the rates down somehow. ’