INDEPENDENT REFORM.

Putaruru Press, Volume IX, Issue 417, 26 November 1931, Page 5

INDEPENDENT REFORM.

AT TIRAU. Questions Answered. i Report by Arrangement) Earle Vaile, the Independrm candidate, was accorded ood reception and attentive n the Tirau Hall on Wedlight, when he addressed n continuation of his elecoaign. Mr. J. W. Anderirman of the Matamata louncil, presided, and there it 130 electors present. The re was friendly, and Mr. lied to an extraordinarily iber of questions, answering ersistent questioners in a oured fashion which pleased 1 sent. latamata, Mr. Vaile opened ; a handsome tribute to the iidates opposing him. After the manner in which he bendidate, Mr. Vaile said that as a Reformer because he if the original founders of j , along with the late Mr. ssey. ! emocracy Attacked. i g on current politics, he ] the foundations of demo- 1 ■e being attacked, and the 1 dious form of attack was ‘ It was impossible to con- : locialism and liberty at the le. Under Socialism the * uld be like a private in an ' icialist expeditions had left 1 say under the most favour- ‘ tions, but had proved fail- ] :ialism was a noble ideal, 1 never be 'a success until ( ideal of men was the good Id do for their brothers. * it was what they could 1 their brother or the State. 1 America’s Fear. with unemployment, Mr. ; d there were 50,000 out u n New Zealand, and many j re kept at nominal work j mployers had not the heart I im on the street. High pro- j is the main cause of unem- j America was an example, j r as burning her wheat and , in her cotton while mil- ] rved in other countries. ( had electric power equal . rse-power to each worker, j fine system of finance, j ras afraid of cheap labour , and China. If she would , products of these countries ige for her own products, itries would be enriched, were professedly at peace, 1 I was at war commercially, 1 trough high tariffs and ians. New Zealand and :or example, were cutting 1 noses to spite their faces, 1 were losing benefits by put- : walls against one another. Proud for Commerce, astigating the Prime Minbeing too proud to take ommerce, the speaker held >t fit for office for this reatection denied the great of economics—the division . He was a patriotic Britwas prepared to pay a lit—but thought the present through tariffs were out of He instanced the case of 3 in the same town selling class of goods: New Zeae at 225, and imported at patriotic reasons he might wo shillings extra for local lich amount represented 10 yet the public was asked fcper cent, 35 per cent and rer cent more, and it show>lly of the position. 3ive Britain a Run. i that if a business could on a 25 per cent basis of it was not worth , as it was nothing but a the community. The pree. however, was not a safe r one to introduce absolute ide, and it would be neceswait until the country was re sound condition before eration in the tariffs could e. At once, however, he they should give Britain a in. (Applause.) Our goods nitted free to Britain, and our only customer and our Italy, with a huge and inpopulation, was looking for t for her surplus people. But i protection of the British le Dominion would soon be These factors should be by alii Unemployment, mly cure for unemployment ployment, and up to date in and New Zealand all had been nothing but char-

ity under another name. Such was only a form of poison and demoralising to the character of the people. The measure of the loss was not the cost of the dole in England—£l3o,ooo,ooo per annum but the loss of the labour of 4,000,000 unemployed. The soundest means of avoiding the errors of England on this question was land settlement. This could not be done by any of the schemes yet brought forward. The Department of Agriculture, in estimating the cost of bringing in pumice lands, had such items as £750 for a house and £6 per acre for fencing. These figures could not be borne by the nation. The early pioneers did not have such houses given" to them, and later settlers would also have to learn to do without. In New Zealand all people lived on grass, and this had to be recognised and made the most of before prosperity would come.

Another natural resource of the Dominion which should be exploited more was the country’s scenery. The Railway Muddle. The railways needed overhauling, and it was better to have all carriages full at 10s per head than to have them nearly empty at £l. This scheme had been tried in India with marked success. Properly run, the railways could secure nearly all the road traffic. One great obstacle to the railways was the tariff. The railway tariff could be secured at a cost of Is 6d, together with a bundle of amendments which one was invited to insert in the proper place, if it could be found. (Laughter.) There were 13 classes and about 1500 items in the railway tariff, and he asked could anyone imagine a carrier, if approached for a quote, saying he would sell his tariff. The charges, too, were absurd, and varied from 8s 5d to £6 15s per ton, and there was no justification for the difference. The railways would not pay until the tariff had relation to the value of the cargo carried. It was most absurd to expect to make the railways pay by raising freights. As an example of the stupidity of the management, the speaker instanced the fact that when the railways were faced with motor competition to Rotorua from Auckland, they met the road charge of £2 by knocking off 5s from the £2 12s 6d return fare. This still left a difference of 7s, and thus had practically had no effect beyond the railways losing 5s per head on all passengers. To cap this stupidity, the tickets were only obtainable in Auckland. (Laughter.) The railways would never pay until there were brains in the management. Weight of Pensions.

Dealing with finance, the candidate urged that the pension list should be overhauled, because many thousands were being paid out for which there was little justification. Some of these burdens would have to be lightened. It was a fact that those who were working' were supporting all those who were not working, from the idle rich downwards. At present those earning money were required to carry Maori war pensions, Boer war pensions, Great War pensions, old age and widow’s pensions, epidemic pensions, miner’s and special pensions, family maintenance, unemployment relief, hospitals, asylums, all charitable aid institutions, drunkards, gamblers, loafers, schemers, bankrupts, those who did not pay their debts, burglars, thieves, forgers and embezzlers, together with a whole host of officials and police to look after them. Such a tremendous burden would have to be carried or the alternative would be that people would no longer work hard and save, but would join the throng of dependents. Economy Necessary.

Economy both in public and private expenditure was necessary. There was nothing in wizardy of finance, and nothing in the wisdom of politicians. (Laughter.) If the country had to be saved it could only be done by the hard work and saving habits of its citizens. (Applause.) QUESTION TIME. For more than an hour, Mr. Vaile then answered questions, .giving appafent satisfaction to most questioners. If electors sent incompetent men to Parliament, then they were bound to suffer. In Parliament to-day were a large number of men who had been failures in their private business, and Parliament appeared to be their last resort. (Laughter.) United Failed to Correct. The Reform Party had done many things which he could not defend. He did not care to say just how far a Government was responsible for Arapuni for the mistakes of engineers. There were many similar j errors, and had the United Party set | out to correct them, then he would have joined the United Party. In-

stead of that they had doubled the expenditure. The Taupo Railway. Questioned on the Taupo railway, Mr. Vaile said that this line alone amongst railways in New Zealand had been the subject of proper enquiry. Two Royal Commissions had sat in connection with it, and although the T.T.T. Company had employed Sir John Findlay against the Taupo line, and the speaker had been left to sponsor the Taupo line, both commissions had unanimously recommended the line as far as Reporoa, and one for the whole distance. However, whether he wished it or not, the big fact remained that the Taupo railway case would have to go before the Railway Board before it could be proceeded with. His own opinion was that if the Railway Board supported the Taupo line they would be doing a service to the country. Its cost would only be onethird of any other line suggested, as it traversed the only great level piece of land left in New Zealand. The quantity of timber to be brought out would pay for the line many times over. At the moment, all day and night, lorry loads of timber were coming out from that area at a cost of 3s 6d more than the cost would be on the railway. Again he repeated it was for the board to give a judgment on the line and not for him to do so.

Plenty of Work.

Asked if there was enough work in New Zealand for the number of workers, Mr. Vaile replied instantly that there was oceans of work. There was enough work to keep all employed for 24 hours in the day if only people would be content to do it at a reasonable wage. (Applause.) The Arbitration Court could no more fix wages than he .could, and because industry could not pay the wages so fixed there were 50,000 out of work. It had to be borne in mind that wages could only be paid out of the produce of industry. In reply to another question, Mr. Vaile said he was not in favour of the abolition of the Arbitration Court, as anything which would help prevent strikes and waste of energy was valuable. In fixing awards, however, the consideration should be what industry as a whole could bear.

Price of Money. The price of money could no more be fixed by Parliament than the price of butter. Men had tried to do so from the dawn of day, but the only effect had been to put interest up. Capital. was the most timid thing in the world and easily frightened away. Mortgagor’s Relief Act.

Asked his opinion of the Mortgagor’s Relief Act, Mr. Vaile said that on the whole he considered interference with private contract a mistake. If a man made a fool of himself in business it was best to let him go down, and then having learned a lesson he could start again. He was opposed to extravagant land values, which were not justified. Land was only worth what it would produce, and city land the rents it would fetch. Once they got away from that basis they would get into deep water. The speaker held there would be no difficulty in raising a £2,500,000 loan for land settlement planned on right lines: ' Distribution of Wealth.

He was not satisfied with the present distribution of wealth, and thought as one remedy the power of bequest could be strictly limited, but that no obstacle should be placed in the way of men earning during their lifetime. A voice: Is that not a touch of Socialism ? Mr. Vaile: No; Socialism is a great and noble ideal, but- the laws of nature compel competition. When men reach high moral planes it will not matter what form of Government there is. On the motion of Mr. F. Rose, Mr. Vaile was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address.