NUMEROUS QUESTIONS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 69, 1 November 1928, Page 5

NUMEROUS QUESTIONS

MR WALTER AT WHAREHUIA. I many topics touched on. / Tli ere were about! eighty electors present at the meeting at Wharehuia on Tuesday evening addressed b y Mr E. Walter, M.P. The speaker was given a good reception. Mr R, Wellington was in the chair. At question time Mr Walter was kept .particularly busy. Mr Mackay asked whether Mr Poison had actually signed the copy of | his evidence given before the Parliamentary Committee on tb e Rural Intermedia! Crdits Bill. Mr Walter regretted that h G had handed the document dealing with the matter t’o the Press a day or two ago and had not as yet had it returned. He knew, however, that tire evidence was sent to Mr Poison for signature, and was aware that Mr Poison denied having signed. He promised to inquire into the position and to let Mr Macka y have a reply. Mr S. G. Strack referred to Mr Walter’s early decision not to contest 1 the seat, and asked if it was not a fact that the candidate) had said he was not fit for the job and ■would not take it again for £I.OOO a year. Mr Walter: I certainly remember expressing a desire to retire to private life, but someone must have put, the remark about the £IOOO a year into your mouth. I caunbt recall ever having made such a statement. Mr A. Saugster: In view of the fact that you announced that you would not stand, why did you change j your mind after another candidate had been proposed by an influential requisition ? Mr Walter: The other man was not nominated by party delegates. I was prepared to leave th e decision in the hands of th e delegates and the very morning the other man withdrew the official Reform organiser was in Stratford drawing up dates for th e meeting of delegates. Mr Sangster: That is not my point. Why did you change ycur mind?

Mr Walter: Because I have a perfect right to do so.

Mr C. Murray asked why Mr Poison had been selected to travel overseas on the Royal Commission. Mr Walter said because the Government regarded th e appointment as a compliment' to the president bf the Farmers’ Union,

Mr Murray: He could not have been quite a noodle. Mr Walter: Well, he had two good men with him. .

To another question as to Mr Poison’s abilities, Mr Walter said the Wanganui Woollen Mills, of which concern his opponent had been chairman, had had to write its capital down to 10s in the £1 because of huge losses. He understood the capital wag originally subscribed in 1919 and the mills started in 1923. Presumably, the reason why the company had not sought' a Government subsidy was because the works were not commenced until after the slump.

A questioner: Did not other woollen mills make heavy losses at the time the Wanganui concern did? — No, Mosgiel and Roslyn both made good profits. Then Mr Poison was not pushed through the window? —Perhaps he saw what was coming, and seeing the mess the works were in slipped out early. (Laughter.) In reply to Mr Struck, Mr Walter said that if the Daylight Saving Bill cam e up again he would vote against it because he believed the country did not like the full hour advance. Mr Walter answered som e questions by Mr Mackay on the matter of education, and in reply to ,Mr Murray said he favoured a bare majority on the liquor question. Mr Mackay asked whether the candidate was in favour of sub-dividing holdings, say, of about 200 acres of dairy laud or the cutting up of large sheep stations. Mr Walter said he believed the success of future settlement lay in th sub-division of good land into farms of from 60 to 70 acres', and in this connection referred to recent legislation under which two or three persons could select suitable laud for acquisition and the Government wouldj advance up to 95 per cent, of its value tb settle them. In cutting large estates, overhead expenses often made the price excessive, and whre land was taken by compulsory purchase it was valued only on the unimproved basis, the value of improvements often having to be settled in an action before the Arbitration Court. Legal and ether expenses connected wtih compulsory purchase all added to the ultimate cost to the settler.