NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22711, 25 October 1935, Page 7

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

DUNEDIN SOUTH ELECTORATE ADDRESS BY MR T. K. S. SIDEY Dir T. K. S. Si (ley, the National Government candidate for Dunedin South, opened bis election campaign at the South Dunedin Town Hall last night. , Dir J. J. Marlow occupied the chair, and there was a good attendance, the hall being comfortably filled. The chairman said that anyone of the name of Sidcy needed no introduction to a Dunedin South audience. Lie was confident that in the candidate they had a worthy son of an illustrious father. — (Applause.) Ho was sure that their interests would be safe in Dir Sidey’s hands. (Applause.) He was positive that Dir Sidey, who was making his first appearance as a candidate for political honours, would, as the campaign wore on, not only win but command' their respect.— (Applause.) Dir Sidey said that be would like to thank the chairman for bis very kind references to bis father. At the same time he wished to make it quite clear that he was not asking for their support merely on that score. He was there on his own merits, and he realised that it was on his own merits that he must stand or fall at this election. THE NATIONAL PARTY. Perhaps some of them were wondering why he should be standing in the interests of the National Government Party when that party had done a number of things with which they probably disagreed. Well, one reason was this, that he would only support a party which had for its platform a sane and sound policy which it intended to carry out. He would also only support a party which had the interests of every section of the community at heart, and ' which was prepared to make an honest attempt to legislate in the best interests of the Dominion as a whole, and not for the benefit of one section of the community. The National Party, combining as it did the Reform and United Parties, was, in his opinion, beet suited to carry out such a task. The National Government bad brought the country through the depression in a very creditable manner, and it had only been done by the adoption of a bold course of action ’and by risking the unpopularity which such a course always produced. He personally was quite convinced that the Government had honestly tried as far as possible to spread the burden of the depression equally over the whole community. PRIMARY INDUSTRIES.

Whether city people liked it or not, the prosperity of the Dominion largely depended upon the prosperity of the farming industry. This was by far the largest industry in the country and, furthermore, it was the only one which had an export trade. In 1929 the total value of their exports was £56,000,000. and in 1931 it had dropped to £35,000,000. This indicated a fall of nearly 40 per cent, and also the seriousness of the problem confronting the Government. Had the position been allowed to drift, farmers could not possibly have carried on, and with the collapse of the farming industry there would be chaos throughout the whole country. There were two courses that could be adopted to deal with the difficulty—one was to reduce costs and the other was to increase receipts. By adopting both these methods —and he thought very wisely too —a much more equitable course was followed than would have been the case had only one been adopted, the burden being spread more evenly over the whole community.— (Applause.) REDUCTION OF COSTS. The speaker referred to the course of action in the reduction of costs, dealing with reductions in rent and interest, the relief of mortgagors, and the Rural Mortgagors Final Adjustment Act, and the Mortgage Corporation. All this legislation had been criticised as being an unwarranted interference with private contracts. However, the circumstances had been unprecedented in the history of the country and the only alternative would have been a stream of wholesale fore-, closures and bankruptcies. Personally he thought the Government was to be congratulated for having had the courage to face the position. The only alternative would have been taxation or borrowing. He was against borrowing—(applause) because it was the young people who in the end would have to bear the result of such borrowing. REDUCTION OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE. Following upon the recommendation of a national expenditure, adjustment coinmission set up by the Government in 1932, economies had been effected by the Government to the extent of nearly £10,009,000 per annum. As against that the depression itself had greatly increased expenditure. For example, pensions had been increased by over £500,000 and nearly £4,500,000 had been spent on unemployment relief before the special relief tax had been instituted. The actual expenditure for 1934 was £24,499,000. Out of that approximately £10,000,000 went in charges for the public debt, and this was a permanent charge. The Government managed to effect certain reduction of this charge by their conversion of the internal loans. This amounted to a saving of £930,000 per annum. Reference was made to the expenditure on social services, education, pensions, defence, law and order, assistance to the primary and secondary industries, most of which the speaker pointed out could not be reduced. ARBITRATION ACT. Personally, he had an open mind on the subject of the Arbitration Act, and he would only be too pleased, if selected, to accede to the wishes of the parties interested. When the Act had been first introduced 24 years ago the Labour Party had been opposed to its provisions, anil even now there seemed to be a division in the Labour ranks with regard to the restoration of the compulsory clauses. At a meeting of the Alliance of Labour held in Wellington not so very long ago a resolution had been carried opposing the restoration of the compulsory clauses. To him, it seemed that the true test was to be found from the results since the law had been altered. The speaker quoted the figures to show that in 1934 the number of days lost through industrial troubles had shown a big reduction or. previous years. WAGES In connection with wages, it was interesting to note that notwithstanding the exchange and the wage reductions the real wages, as distinct from the actual money, iiad remained remarkably uniform throughout the depression. A voice: Question. Actual wages paid were misleading, because a fall in such wages was to a certain extent offset by the increase in the purchasing power of those wages owing to the fall in the cost of living. EXCHANGE. They had dealt with the various methods by which the Government had reciuced the costs of production, and now he would like to say a few words about the method adopted to increase the receipts. This had been done by raising the exchange rate from 110 to 125. This was another point upon which, had he been a member of Parliament at the time, he would probably have differed from the, Government. However, as other parties wore going round (lie country and not giving credit whore credit was due, it seemed only fair to point out some facts concerning the true position. It was 6bvious that something had to bo done to increase the receipts from their produce, and the alteration to the exchange rate, as it had so turned out, was probably the most painless method that could have been adopted under the circumstances. It had meant that the national money income and consequently the spending power of the people had been increased by more than £10.000,000 per annum. Since then there had been a gradual increase of over £6,000,000 over the imports for the previous year. He thought it was only fair to point out these benefits because the Labour and Democrat parties were only enlarging upon the defects of the scheme. At the present time he was satisfied that with the low prices which they were obtaining for their exports any downward drop in the exchange rate would only be detrimental. They could hardly afford to reduce their own rate unless other exporting countries

did likewise, for the simple reason that they would be able to undercut the Dominion on the market. —-(Applause.) The argument, of course, was, “Yes, that is so, but we will compensate the farmers by paying them a bonus.” Obviously the exchange-rate could not be reduced in one jump—the way some parties consider doing—as the effect would be disastrous on the importing and retailing community. As a matter of fact, the question of the exchange should not be made a political issue because since the raising of the exchange the Government had formed the Reserve Bank, and the rate of exchange was now a matter which concerned the Reserve Bank alone. UNEMPLOYMENT. The candidate said unemployment was a world-wide problem, but to his mind all efforts so far had largely been devoted to the alleviating of the effects rather than the removing of the causes. They were living in a machine age, and | social and economic progress had not kept step with the progress of machinery, and. consequently they found the world in the state in which it was today. Sooner or later shorter hours of work must come, but at the same time that was not by itself a solution of the problem. They perfected wonderful machines and then let them lie idle for two-thirds of every 24 hours. A solution to the problem might be found in the co-ordination of these factors, and thus employment might be found for an increasing number ot people. So far as the relief of unemployment went, he felt that New Zealand compares fairly favourably with other countries. To date the sum of £10,000,000 had been found by taxation. One of the chief factors contributing to unemployment in New Zealand was tire fall in their export prices, which had led to a loss of confidence on the part of the people and a consequent refusal to spend. However, with the return of rising prices and increasing confidence, the position must improve. As the position improved there would be more money to spend on providing work. The main object of the Government had been to got the unemployed back into normal channels of work, and that could only be done by making private enterprise again profitable. As a solicitor, bis practice brought him into contact with a number of persons who wore building houses, ami ho could only say that from his experience a number of people had been able to build homes lor themselves which otherwise they could not have done had it not been ior the subsidy, and he thought the Government should be congratulated on its action. LABOUR’S PLATFORM. i Now, I would like to say a word or two on the Labour Party’s platform.” said the candidate, amidst applause. Labour was seeking lo capture the votes of the people with alluring promises. No detailed policy had over been brought down by the Labour I * ■''( v to show what these promises would cost to put into operation. That many of these proposals would be very beneficial goes without saying, but it would bo very interesting to know how the Labour Party was going to raise the money required. GUA R A NTEED PRICES. Now they came to the bait which Labour was offering the farmers, namely, guaranteed prices. .Perhaps some of them might say, “That is a question for the farmers; it does not concern us city folk.”

He could assure them that it did concern them, because if Labour won at this election they would be in .the unfortunate position of having to put their hands in their pockets and pay in a way that few taxpayers in any country had ever had to pav. It was the very least that the electors could expect that they might be told how this plan was to work, so that they could judge for themselves. This, however, the Labour Party refused to do. If they turned to the statements of the Labour members, they were only confronted with a mass of contradiction. There appeared to be three ways in which this money for the farmer could be raised—namely, (1) increased exchange, (2) taxation, (3) creation of credit. Increased exchange in order to be of any practical value must bo far higher than it was at present. He felt that that method was quite impracticable. Mr Savage has stated that it would take at least £10,000,000 per year to provide this guaranteed price. It was obvious that it was no use taxing the farmers, as they would only be paying them a bonus with one hand and taking it away with the other, so that the farmer would be no better off. It was obvious then that the rest of the community would have to find the necessary money. The creation of credit was perhaps the most subtle method of the three, as it seemed to be so wonderfully simple. All that was required was a printing press and plenty of paper. This amounted to direct ‘inflation. The national income of a country was fixed. It could not be increased by making more money out of paper. The only effect of the creation of more money was not. to increase the national income, but to decrease the value of the money in circulation. The result was that the cost of living riiust necessarily go up, and as wages always lagged behind the rise in the cost of living the wage earner was going to pay again accordingly. A woman: They always do.— (Laughter.') FUTURE POLICY. Mr Sidey said he would like to say a few words about the future policy of the Government. Voices: Ah. The Government during the past four years had pursued a steady policy of reconstruction and maintenance of its present policy, and if returned it intended to see that, the efficacy of what had been done was maintained and carefully ad ministered. It was very difficult to lay down a fixed policy. They lived in chang ing times, and plans might have to be adjusted from time to time. There was no use making a lot of rash promises. That was not honest. And it was to the Government’s credit that it was making no rash promises to the electors. It was going to continue with what had proved itself to be a sane policy. Details of the policy of the National Government were given. The Government had also been carefully considering the question of a new public works policy—a short-term and a long-term policy. The short-term policy was being put into operation immediately, and would absorb 8000 men at fulltime rates of I2s for married men and 9s for single men. It was the intention to undertake works which would be of permanent value, and which would produce a direct financial return or indirect financial or social benefit. — (Applause.) RESULTS. From what he had said they would be able to realise that the Government had not been asleep on the job, whether

they entirely agreed with what had been done or not. The great fact was that the Government bad not stood by and let matters drift, and the question he was going to ask them was this; —Is there any other party that would have done better? If matters had been allowed to drift they would be in a much worse position than they were to-day.— (Applause.) New Zealand had actually decreased her National Debt. — (Applause.) The object «{ the Government policy had been the '■pcovery of economic stability. The Government was determined to balance its Budget and so to live within its income. CONCLUSION. In conclusion, he would say that there was unquestionably a return of confidence apparent to-day. It was their task to decide what was the best way to maintain that confidence because on the maintenance of that confidence their own prosperity would depend,— (Applause.) Was it to be maintained by supporting those whose platforms contained glittering promises impossible of performance or sponsored dangerous unproved financial experiments, the failure of which would plunge the country into chaos, or was it by supporting a Government pledged to live within its means, whose ultimate object was the recovery of economic stability by orthodox methods —(applause) a party determined to legislate for the good of the’ Dominion as a whole. “ That is the question I will leave you to answer,” concluded the speaker, amidst loud applause. No one desired to ask a question, and the chairman said that the audience was apparently satisfied with the very, lucid address given them.— (Applause.) Mr J. H. Hinton moved that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded Mr Sidey for the thoughtful address he had put before the electors of Dunedin South and of confidence in the Government he represented. Mr Hinton said he would like to express his great pleasure at the manner in which Mr Sidey had been met by his audience.— (Applause.) It could be realised that there were people in the audience who did not subscribe to Mr Sidey’s political views, but the courteous way in which they had treated him showed that they appreciated his pluck in coming forward as a young man to take the political platform.— (Applause.) He took it as an augury of the spirit in which the contest during tile next month was going to be fought in Dunedin South. — (Loud applause.) The motion was carried by acclamation.