GENERAL ELECTION

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 291, 18 November 1931, Page 6

GENERAL ELECTION

MR. MOSS' SPEECH (Continued from Page 4.) the capacity of the country, and therefore impossible? Necessity knows no law, and I am convinced that today the necessity exists, and calls for for an urgent action. opinion of my opponent, Mr. W. J. Poison, seems to have rapidly changed on this interest question since he became the Government nominee. To-day he will "ell you that the proposal to arbitravii, reduce interest charges is impracticable and unfair. Yet this same man, speaking in the House only a few weeks ago, said: 'My greatest disappointment in connection with the proposals is that the Government has not tackled the interest question. It would have been more to the advantage and relief of the land-hplders had the Government, intend of submitting the projects before us, decided to deal with interest, as it could have done in the knowledge that as a Coalition Government with a strong party behind it, it had the goodwill of the country. We know that the debt tp the farmers and the counties amount to £300,000,000, if hot more, and that a reduction of 1 per cent, or 1£ per cent, in the interest rate would give relief amounting to £3,000,000 or £4,000,000 a year in interest payments, and it could have been done.' A resolution of the Dominion executive of the Farmers' Union passed recently put interest reduction down as one of the essential needs of the country to-day. Yet the Dominion president of that organisation now he is seeking reflection to Parliament under the Government's banner, gays that it is unfair and impracticable. What Has the Government ppne?

e '?By Act of Parliament the Govern--1 ment has empowered the Court to l " lower the rate of interest, and to wipe ': off arrears of interest, but pnly on " mprtgages on land used for farming '" purposes. That is, of all the debts 3 in New Zealand, they have picked out 3 the farmer's mortgages as the only " ones where mortgagees can be interfered with . By so doing they have done more to drive capital away from , investments on farm lands than any proposal to reduce interest all round. . The Government in effect tells inves- . tors to invest their money on loahs * to build business premises, to build houses and for commercial purposes, , because such- investments are safer i than loan to farmers. It is a crude and short-sighted policy. Further the j mortgagor cannot go to the Gpntt to ', get any relief until the mortgagee ." gives notice that he intends to take action under his mprtgage, so to ' block the mortgagor getting relief the mortgagee can simply sit tight- " Whilst dealing with this Act, peri mit me to correct a reported state- ■ ment made by Mr. Pplson regarding ,1 the powers given to the Cpurt by the Act. At TJrenui Mr, Pplson is reported as stating that the Act gave the Court power to reduce principal owing under a mortgage, but I deny that, and state &#t the Act gives no such power. Rents "The Mortgagors' Relief Bill does not apply in so far a::, the power to reduce or remit interest is concerned, to any mortgages except mortgages on farm lands, so that under the Bill no relief from interest charges is given to any of-the people.-of our towns and cities. Whether the business man has lost his income altogether, or a man is on a reduced salary, no- relief is given, and the man who to-day finds himself without a job is still asked to meet the same Interest and rent charges as in former times. Yet this strong, safe, .capable Government clainis to be dealing with the economic crisis in a fair and equitable manner. So with rents, which are to-day the biggest item of expense jn the budget of the average family. Business rents and rents of farms, all these fixed charges should be brought into line with the reduced income of the people generally. "Mr. Poison says to reduce interest all round would be unfair, jf the figures issued by the Government Statistician are correct, a fall of .at least 10 per cent, in the cost of living has taken place, so that a mortgagee today gets £G for interest is in real value getting the equivalent of £6 12s. To reduce interest and rents is only to' ask the mortgagee and the landlord to accept' the equivalent of to-day's real money value. When Mr. Forbes was putting through legislation a few months ago to bring about a 10 per cent, cut in wages, he made a big point that the cost of living had fallen 10 per cent., and that the civil servants and the workers would be as well off. He I forgot that argument when he came to j deal with the question of interest and ; rent." Mr. Moss also dealt with the question of the relief of the graduated land tax, and Mr. Poison's attitude towards it; the wheat duties, and the employment; the education position, sitting member's actions thereto; unand benzine, etc., all on the lines of previous speeches. In conclusion Mr. Moss made a special appeal to the younger generation to get behind the candidature of the young men and return them to Parliament. There was room, he said, for fresh angles of thought and vision by j men' who were not frightened to say i what they thought. (Applause.) Questions In reply to questions by Mr. T. T. Murray, the candidate said he was not wedded to any particular amount of he should pledge himself to the exact interest reduction, and did not think figure. Mr. Wilkinson and other members of the Inter-Party Economic Committee put the amount at 20 per cent. ' Mr. Moss was inclined to make it 15 per cent., which would bring it down to the required relief. Six per cent, was about the rate of interest on local body loans and private mortgagers, and 15 per cent, reduction would :v-,!uce it to 5 per cent. The legislation would not bring about a permanent reduction, but in 12 months the position could be reviewed, and if 15 per cent, was not sufficient it could be cut further. "How do you propose to End the I money lost by the 15 per cent?" asked

Mr. Murray, who proceeded to state that the Dominion was committed tp pay the overseas, .debts; .otherwise (he money would have to come out of the Consolidated Fund.

Mr. Moss said he did not suggest any interference with the overseas debt, his proposal being purely concerned with Hie internal debt, commitment.

Mr. Murray replied that the candidate had twisted his ouestion, and asked how, with the reduction of income, did the candidate propose 10 find the amount if the Government was hard put to it now to pay their debts.

Mr. Moss said the question as put by Mr. Murray was hard to follow, and, appealed to the chairman if he understood it. "Not very clearly," replied Mr. Thomson. Mr. Murray then piit the ouestion in a diffeernt way. "How d • ■>•<;.-, propose," he said, "the conn y would make up for the national exchequer the loss occasioned by the reduction of interest?" Mr. Moss said the Government would save money by paying less interest on Government loans: There were certain proposals in the Supplementary Budget for subsidies totalling £250,000 to local bodies, but that would not be required to such an extent if the Government was also relieved. He had no doubt that the position would be handled without seriously affecting the Government's finances, and it would not embarrass the Government. In reply to another question by Mr. Murray, the candidate said he had spekeri for two hours, and his speech would not be' the last in Stratford on the subject. The main subject was interest-reduction, and while he had put one question, the Government asked the electors to put them into power without asy question. The following resolution, moved by Mr. J. E. Schumacher, and seconded by Mr. P. jobtfh, was then put. to the meeting and carried, none dissenting: "That this meeting passes a vote of thanks to Mr. Moss for his'able 'and interesting address, and that j)s a vote of confidence was not asked for, the rjght place for confidepce to be expressed is at the ballot-box on December 2." Mr. Moss briefly returned thanks, and a similar cprnpjiment to the chairman" for presiding closed the meeting. MIIII'IIMIIII ■HI'IIH»H'»mi»MII »