THE EGMONT SEAT

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 55, 11 October 1928, Page 7

THE EGMONT SEAT

(GOVERNMENT CANDIDATE.

HON. O. J. HAWKEN AT

CARDIFF

At Cardiff last night Hon. O. J. Hawken addressed the electors, there being a fair attendance over which Mr J. T. Belcher presided. Mr Hawken opened his remarks by giving a brief outline of .hiis work since he had first entered) the House tor JEgmont, and then, went o n to speak of Mr Wilkinson’s, candidature as an Independent pointing out tbht parliamentary work was party work and as Independents did not belong, to any party their influence was not so great as that of the others.

It was difficult for the speaker td controvert many of Mr Wilkinson’s arguments as th© 1 latter belonged to no party and as arguments ran on party line s the campaign in Egmonfl must ho something in the nature of a “personal scrap’’ in a political sense. TAXATION. Dealing with taxation Mr Hawken said Mr Wilkinson had said that New Zealand was the second highest taxed country in th© world pointing out that taxation per head in 191314 was £6 3s and) 1925-26 £l4 Os 9d while in Australia to-dkiy it was £9 Is. The position, Mr Hawken said, wag that in regard to Australia taxation Mr Wilkinson had not taken into account the State taxation. The Australian taxation in 1927, including the latter. w?is £l4 os a head.

' "•'New Zealand the taxation in 1913 was £8 2s Gd andl to-day was £ll 8s Sd. Tlie increase was largely caused by war pensions and |War debt charges. HI id it not been for that tho taxation per head would be less than in 1913. General administration charges had come down from £2 3s 7d a head before) the war to £l 13s Id, while other debt charges had popped from £1 17s 3d to £1 7s SdrtThere wa s ian increase in social service charges however. People could criticise *ut could never give an indication of where any reduction could be made. Social services such as widows and) old ago pensions should not bo curtailed surely. HEAVY ON THE WEALTHY.

I admit that taxation in New Zeal in# is high—on the wealthy but not car the mass of the people. While we have kept administration down to the lowest limit, the money to he found for social services swells the total of the money to be found said,' the speaker. BORROWING. The Reform Party since taking office, brought borrowing down ft’ om 11 millions to 5 millions which latter figure he did not consider on excessive amount for a country like this to borrow.

FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION,

Free l trad© in New Zealand was .not practical. Ther© was a preponderance of farmers i' l Parliament and they realised why certain protection was given. Protection had been given on South Island wheat, so' that those farmers would not have to go out of business .'and leave the Dominion dependent upon Australia for wheat. If protection were taken away from a lot of secondary industries thousands of men would be thrown/ out of work. The town industrial * shdujldj ha>vo iirQtd.otS.on and the farmer should have it too, thus several of the farming industries had been helped. Reduced rates had been given on manure transport on the' railways.

A voice—But it all comes out of the farmer in th© first place. Mr Hawlcen —No it doesn’t it comes out of the Consolidated Fund. Other people than farmers contribute to that. The speaker went on to refer to assistance given l fruit growers, pijg breeders, honey growers, ami dMiry farmers. He thought it a wise policy which tended to increase production.

Many of the customs duties which had to he paid were revenue producing and) if the money did not come that way it would have to be found by some other method. Taxation through the customs was on a lower scale than before, he contended. RAILWAYS. freaking of ra'ihv'ay mutters, Mr Hawken contended that the freight charges' were extremely low, so low in fact that th e motor lorries could not carry goods at the same rate. Tlie charge was 1.41<l per mile and lorries could not do the work at 4 times the cost. A judicious expenditure on rail wiry construction was quite justified. He dfd( not believe for a moment that .reasonable construction on railways should he stopped. LAND settlement. The Minister went on to say that the Government had had to ifacd many difficulties in regard to land settlement, f\ groat m'any RoWier* liid been put on the land, A vedee —And a great many have walker} off.

The difficulties encountered, the Minister proceeded, had been very great an<l a, lot of money had to ho written off. Mr McLeod’s statement that ho could not spend a. great deal of money on land settlement until Llio . allliirs of those already on the land had been straightened font was justified) he said. However, that was being adjusted and the time was arriving when a good forward move could he mhde. Of course it would) be necessary to borrow a great deal of momjv. £1000,10(10 would,' hot sbtffid more than fiOO on the land. Bui) the Country was ready now for a move to be made. Finance had been the trouble in the past. FINANCE. He claimed that the Reform policy regarding flounce was sound) and enjoyed the confidence of London financiers. Ho spoke of the two forms of financing farmers, the Intermediate Credit, pud the Long Tierin' Credit. These two acts would revolutionise. farmers’ finances, and would he of immense benefit. The assistance given to country settlors in the upkeep of roads by motor taxation was briefly touched on, the speaker saying the farmers had much to thank th© Government loj- tints putting a definite limit on local rates. At the conclusion of the address questions were ■ answered and the speaker was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, the mover ""seating that! they could express this confidence at the Uillot box.