CANADA’S TROUBLES

Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1930, Page 15

CANADA’S TROUBLES

' BUTTER NOT TO BLAME. , i ,A. LIBERAL VIEWPOINT, i . ■3 — I Low purchasing j power, paused :by world-wide depression/ and not the importation of New Zealand butter was the cause of the present low price of butter in Canada, the Hon. Walter G. Mitehell, former Provincial Treasurer and Liberal candidate in RichmondWolfe, told a large audience mainly made up of farmers during the course of an address in the Town Hall at Bishop’s Crossing, reports the Montreal Star. Mr. Mitchell’s address was one of several which he was making in different sections of the riding. “The farmer is better off in Canada at the present time than in the United states,” said Mr. Mitchell. . “What about New Zealand butter ?” a man in the rear of the hall cried out. In answering this question, Mr. Mitchell stated that the world- wide depression and the resultant low purchasing power of the Canadian people and not the importation of New Zealand butter had caused the slump in butter prices. New Zealand butter, he continued, had started coming into Canada in 1925 as the result of a treaty with Australia and New Zealand. Why was it, he wanted to know, that the farmers did not complain until late in the fall of 1929 that the butter was injuring their trade. As soon as the complaints were received by the Government, however, an investigation was carried out with the result that the treaty by which the butter enters the country at a low duty, will be brought to an end on October 12 of this year. “Unemployment in cities,, like fanning, is not as bad as in the United States,” Mr. Mitchell said. Mr. Bennett, ho continued, had stated that he was going to help all classes through his protection policy. What was ne going to protect, he wanted to know. “He should tell us how he is going, to increase or decrease the tariff, but he does not.” Ho went on to explain that the present conditions in Canada were caused by over-production, the tie-up of 'grain in the West and the stock crashes.

A brief summary of the political history of the Dominion from 1896 until the present date was given by Mr. Mitchell. In 189-6, he said, Laurier had como into power. From that date until 1911 the country had been very prosperous. Laurier was defeated that year and the Conservatives took over the reins of Government. This, he claimed, marked the period when Canada went so heavily into', debt. When Sir Wilfrid Laurier was defeated the debt of the Dominion was 336,C00,0:00 dollars, and during the time the Conservatives were in power, the debt had steadily mounted until it had reached 2,427,000,000 dollars in 1921. He acknowledged that the Great War had cost the country a considerable amount, but he claimed that a great deal had been extravagantly spent. This waste, as he termed it, totalled one-third of the debt, he claimed, and had been caused by “maladministration and poor judgment.” Mr. Mitchell dealt at considerable length with the manner in which the King Administration had managed affairs since coming into power in 1921. The country, he claimed, had been in such straightened circumstances when Liberals came into power that it had been necessary for Premier King to raise the taxes, for it was only by taxes,-he explained, that money to run a country- could be ’ obtained. An economy programme was commenced at the time, he said, with the result that in two and a-half years a surplus of 36,060,000 dollars was reported. For several years, ho continued, there had been a surplus, the'last being' 44,000.000 dollars. During, the latter years of this period, he said, the taxes had been considerably reduced, He acknowledged that the farmers were not as well off at the present time as they had formerly been, but stated that world-wide depression was responsible . for their plight as well as that of labour in Canadian cities.