CRITICISM AND REPLY

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1929, Page 15

CRITICISM AND REPLY

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE

UNEMPLOYMENT DISCUSSED.

SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Address-in-Reply debate was continued in the House of Representatives to-day by Mr. J. S. Fletcher, who criticised the Reform Government’s Public Works policy which, he said, was extravagant and had caused the interest bill to mount steadily year by year. Unemployment in his electorate, continued Mr. Fletcher, was even worse tnan had been depicted by Labour members, and if the Government did not attempt to do something to alleviate the position it deserved to go out of office. However, he believed the Government would take such steps. Mr. E. F. Healy said he knew the country through which the South Island Main Trunk railway was to be constructed, and in his opinion it was equal to that in North Otago. He alleged the opposition to the railway was led by the Union Steamship Company and supported by Reform newspapers. It should have been built 40 years ago. The land was beautiful limestone country and did not require a ton of fertiliser. Nearly a million acres, mostly Crown land, would be opened up, enabling a sympathetic Government to settle many families on a good footing. There were no noxious weeds in that section of the country, and it was wonderful clover-growing land and produced the best Merino wool in New Zealand.

The ferry steamers between Wellington and Lyttelton carried 'a total of 210,000 passengers annually, which indicated that there would be a large nassenger patronage of the main trunk railway.

. Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Egmont) said he wished to see a great deal more information on the subject before he could support the proposal to expend £2,000,000 on the South Island railway extension. MEMBER FOR EGMONT SPEAKS. In Mr. Wilkinson’s opinion more frequent changes in Government would be in the interests of the State, and it was the fact that the last Government' had been in office for 16 years that was partly responsible for the position that existed to-day of some occupants of the Treasury benches having not yet made their maiden speeches in the House. He asked why New Zealand relied so much on money from London when there was plenty of money in the Dominion. He recognised New Zealand would have to borrow in London for conversion purposes, but when it wanted money for expenditure within the country it should be raised locally when there was so much available. Mr. Wilkinson suggested the imposition of income tax on large and wealthy landowners as a means of combating land aggregation. There was still a large portion of the war debt outstanding, and those large estates which had been protected during the war should be forced to pay for such protection. He disagreed with the proposal to abolish company tax, which would involve heavy additional taxation on individuals and would not result in an equally equitable allocation of taxation.

It wag the obvious duty of the present Government, he added, to find land for those who wanted it, and unless it did that' it would encounter the same fate as the Reform Party, said Mr, Wilkinson.

Returning to the subject of railways, he said' there was a steady, progressive decline in the passenger traffic carried by the railways, which were being run at an increasing loss. . The whole railway system should be subjected to a searching examination before millions of the country’s money was expended on new lines. He considered the Government was justified in stopping the Taupo railway work. He would like, however, to hear something from the Minister of Railways, who had been very silent, but was possibly doing a good deal of investigating. He welcomed the proposal to send trade representatives to Canada and the United States, but regretted that there was not better trade relationship with Australia. There was room for improvement in that direction. UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM. The Hon. J. B. Donald said unemployment should occupy the attention of all parties. Labour members had previous-

ly dealt with the subject, and the United Party was taking the opportunity of the present debate to express its views. His party stood for providing the greatest assistance possible tp those who were unfortunate enough to be unemployed. One outstanding cause of unemployment was immigration, which had been continued too long. Another cause was the fact that during the war many people had discovered they could find a market for anything they had to sell and had since then forsaken their ordinary occupations, with the result that former buyers had become sellers. The consequence was that many of that class of the community were now being forced back to the original pursuits and were finding the process a painful one. He regretted that the Auckland City Council had not yet accepted tho £25,000 subsidy offered by the Government. Had it done so he did . not think the position there would have been so serious.

Mr. Donald contended they could not look on the railways as a straight-out interest-bearing proposition. If they aided in giving the country millions in wealth they must’ be considered worth while. He considered the country that would be opened up by the South Island Main Trunk line and the passenger traffic that would ensue would result in its being a paying proposition. It was plain to everybody that New Zealand needed a land policy. The whole task could not be accomplished in a few months, but he hoped that before long matters would take a more definite form and that they would see more and more people settled on the land. Dealing with finance, Mr. Donald said

that owing to the present; circumstances it might be necessary for a man with a large income to pay heavier tax, and he agreed with Mr. Wilkinson that

those with substantial properties should be called on to pay a fair amount as insurance on those interests during the war. He Was not opposed to duties on wheat and flour, but he thought those duties should be only sufficient to enable the industry to be carried on in New Zealand. Ware should be taken

that no high protective tariff was pcN! mitted to force up the cost of living. [T BETTER TELEPHONE SERVICE, jReferring to his own department (Post;, and Telegraph), Mr. Donald said ha hoped to raise money to build several new post offices and, if possible, ho would like to see the whole of the'districts brough under the central telephone systems. A much improved toll service, would be in operation in the near future, Referring to tourist traffic, Mr. Don- •; aid said that as a result of a recent tour he was satisfied the South Island was as enjoyable a place for a holiday as the'r North, and as tourists undoubtedly brought money to the country he hoped the department would devote consider*, able energy to encouraging visitors tcj. both islands. He uttered >• ’"•'O.esi against candidates for Parliament i.gn* ing pledges on various subjects and. against the practice of numerous organisations in practically demanding o'aclj .7 pledges.

Mr. G. Harris contended that immi-'.G gration had not ailected the unemploy ment problem and that the Reform < Party policy had • certainly shown that; A New Zealand recognised it had an obli- < gation to the Motherland.. He would A support a policy of purchasing land at:.-.;: reasonable prices and settling people orij'■ it. In recent years there had been a&j period of deflation in land prices, and V had the Reform Government endeavour-'; ed to adopt any active scheme of settlement it would have found itself in >

the position of holding land which was'.'.;’; falling in price and for which there 'was<| no demand. The position now was .en--|i; tirely different and such a policy could g well be carried out. . . M With regard to Mr. Donald’s concerning pledges, Mr. Harris considered the public had a right to ask a candidate on the platform for a statement;.;?.: of his stand on various subjects and was Ao entitled to a reply. In his opinion a man was just as much pledged' by that reply as by any written pledge. A candidate might be unwise to give a written - pledge, but ho would not go so far as

to say the practice was wrong. Mr. Harris advocated the safeguardIng of industries, asserting that Britain’s position to-day was largely the result: A? of a tendency «too strongly towards free y trade. If safeguarding were carried out c'b to such an extent that men and raw >■;;; material abundant in the country absorbed in local industry, then the solution of the unemployment problem would have been found. He admitted the farmer was entitled to a great deal . of consideration, but there were

to be considered, and certain secondary industries in particular should be fost* • cred. He expressed'regret that the Gov- / eminent had not indicated its intention to undertake the construction .ths A Auckland harbour bridge, which would have absorbed most of the unemployment in Auckland. •?.- >'VV

The debate was adjourned on the mo* .; tion of tho Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle-and the. House, rose at 11.13 p.m. until 2.30 I pW. td-moxwn .- ~ • .