POLITICS IN EGMONT

Taranaki Daily News, 27 July 1931, Page 11

POLITICS IN EGMONT

ANSWER TO REFORM PARTY

MR. C. A. WILKINSON’S REJOINDER.

HAVE I.FAILED YOU?”

Before an audience of about 60 electors Mr. 0. 4- Wilkinson, M.P., delivered his opening address in the 11)31 election campaign at Normanby on Saturday night,. Mr. E._ T. Peach presiding. Mr. Wilkinson replied particularly to th? speeches of the Reform members who visited the Egmont electorate the previous week. He said that the ten best men the Reform Party could put into the firing line had been-: sent, and their , efforts in the electorate had been unprecedented in the history of New Zealand. <

/ Mr.* Wilkinson asked why it was that if am Independent was. so. powerless and could do nothing and was so utterly insignificant that it should take the leader of the party and nine or ten of its best men, to make efforts to put him out. An Independent must be of some consequence if it required all these men to displace him. “Where have I failed you as your member i” asked Mr. Wilkinson. “I have been active on your behalf and on. behalf of the country-as a whole, and I mn prepared to be so for a vvhile longer. What other member has obtained more for his district tlian I have?” He said;the electors of Egmont were able to decide on the merits of the respective candidates without the . descent upon them of a "whole mob of parliamentarians.”, “Have they offered you any remedy for the serious pfobleina facing the country t” asked .Mr. Wilkinson. “They have e imply made general statements without putting up a good case for themselves, No, the Reform Party . fis the same old crowd as when I addressed yoix last, and they.are largely responsible for many of the ills Which afflict us today.* They are responsible for the sliding scale of wheat duties under which if you had wheat, given to you for nothing in Canada you would still have to pay the same price for here as at present,” "WICKED EXTRAVAGANCE.” Mr.' Wilkinson recounted a series of “Reform mistakes,” including a section of railway in the Auckland district costing over £1,000,000 for 13 miles—£7B,ooo per mile—the • Arapuni scheme, expensive railway workshops and an expensive railway : station at Auckland. St was the Reform Government that Sad spent £1,500,000 on this station where every fitting was of the most expensive kind, including 11 electrically driven clocks. “It is wicked extravagance,” said Mr. Wilkinson. “If you are an assisted immigrant and want to get oiit of the country they won’t let* you go unless you-, refund your passage money,” he continued. \ -‘Dairy control is another of Reform’s disastrous speculations. You cannot hold up the market against the buyer. The Reform Party is not wholly responsible for the state of affairs to-day, but it is responsible for a lot of it. It asks me t® join the Reform Party, but I am not likely to belong to the party,” emphatically declared Mr. Wilkinson. He launched • vigorous attack against the party system of government and asked, “Where are we drifting to? Will it ever do any good when you have one set of men fighting another set to get into power, and when they are in office their only concern is to stay there? We'want men who will put. the interests of the country above party.” (Applause). /• The speaker’ quoted a manifesto by the late Mr. Massey, who said, “There should be only one party—a national party—and that with the object of promoting the welfare of New Zealand.” “You don’t want me to be a rubber stamp to waggle at the tail of a party do yoU?” asked Mr, Wilkinson, who •aid tliat he was not a seeker after office, 'WHEAT TAX COSTS £1,000,000. Referring to the wheat duties Mr. Wilkinson said that the select committee set up to inquire into the matter had been composed of seven South Island members and only three ■ North Island members, and when they reported Mr. Jenkins and himself were the only ones who voted against the duties. As there were no minority reports from such committees the others tried to brand the report as unanimous. The only thing they gave way on was bran and pollard, bqt there was no decrease on flour. To-day floqr cost £l7 15s per ton, and under the new proposals to operate from February next it would be £l4 Ss—under no circumstances could it be landed for less—but when the matter came before the House he would vote so that it could be obtained more cheaply. Wheat could bo obtained outside New Zealand for 2s 3d, but in the Dominion "it would he fls‘4d a bushel. In 1925 .a Royal Commission in England said that 2d on the .41b loaf meant a . tax of £20,000,000- per: annum on the people, so in New Zealand at that rate the bread tax would amount to no less than £638,000, and with that on the flour used for cooking the people of New Zealand must be paying at the rate of about £1,000,000 a year. Mr. D. J, Hughes: But it helps the party system. . ’Mr. Wilkinson; Yes, and they admit it. At last election all parties supported the wheat duties —Labour as well.

Mr. Hughes: The Labour Party is supposed to bo tho friend of tho poor. Mr. Wilkinson: Tho Labour Party as party is all right, but its . policy is *ll. wrong.

DOMINANCE OF .MILLERS’ TRUST.

“It lias been stated’that there is. only 4d worth of wheat in a loaf,” continued the speaker, "but you don’t make bread from wheat, you make it from flour.” ' voice: 'lt costs 2d to mill it. Jlr. Wilkinson: "Yes, actually the flour In a loaf costs 63d. There is in New Zealand a millers’ trust and it fixes the price of all the output. They are dominant in the wheat industry and our quarrel-is -not -entirely with- the wheat ~fowen ‘ Next year the grower is afraid ©f his life that he won't get more' than

4s 6d, per bushel, but there is a big difference between 4s 6d and 6s 4d. Who gets the rest?” Mr. Wilkinson proceeded to relate how Mr. David Jones had humorously sent the speaker a “crying towel” with the “compliment of the wheat growers.” Mr. Wilkinson replied that Mr. Jones had failed to read the wording on the oack as follows: * “Becoming more popular every day ‘with some people.’” (Laughter). . . Dealing with the question of fusion Mr, Wilkinson said that Mr.- Forbes’ proposal was a fine gesture and nothing could have been fairer to Mr. Coates. Why was it' not accepted? Excuses were made that the Independents might cause trouble, and they might be a determining influence as to who was to be,head of the Government. ‘‘Fusion is all right provided one party is on top,” Mr. Wilkinson- facetiously added. In further criticism of party government it was pointed out that there were 120 paid members of Parliament, whereas only 25 constituted the governing force, and of those half were made Ministers. To have to select the latter from; 25 gave a much more restricted choicethan if there was a choice from the whole of the 80 members in the Hbuse. They should be allowed to elect the best men; from their numbers to form the Cabinet. In America the Ministers were: often not members of Parliament at all but where selected from the best men of the country as being the best men for tho job. \ / • The speaker alluded to the fact that the independents in New Zealand had doubled in numbers and were now eight, so they were not an iscolatcd one or two. MAKING MONEY BY MINTING. Mr. Wilkinson advocated that hotel license fees should be on a scale proportionate to the volume of business, and he claimed, that some of those could pay ten to twenty times the amount they paid at present. “I want to tell you how you can make some money for tho country, proceeded Mr, Wilkinson amidst laughter. He stated that this could be done by minting their own coinage. In 20S worth of silver. coin there was only about two ounces of silver worth Is Id per ounce, and the total cost of making the coins would not be mope than 3s? The people were owners of the coinage but they did not get the advantage. ’ There was £1,250,000 in it. The British mint would dp the coining-at the rate of 3 per cent, as it did for foreign countries. Now the British Government did it and got the profit.But New Zealand was so hard up that it required the money itself. It was the only Dominion that did not coin its own money. A good deal of silver in circulation in New Zealand came from Australia, which made a profit out of it. Why should New Zealand take it? Mr. Wilkinson said he placed the minting proposal before a banker, who said the scheme looked all right, but it seemed so good that he felt there must be a “catch” in-it. He said he didn’t know where it was, but it was there somewhere and he would find out. When Mr. Wilkinson called a week later the banker said he had not yet discovered it, but he was busy and would do so later. A week later the banker was still unable to And the “catch,” but he considered there would not be sufficient silver. “FRYING-PANS OF SILVER.” “Why,” said Mr. Wilkinson, “silver is so plentiful and cheap that they will goon be making frying-pans out of it.” (Laughter). “Holding up a shilling he said “the silver it in is worth only 4d.” A voice: I will give you 4d for it, (Laughter). Asked if there was a gold backing to silver coinage, M . Wilkinson gaid thatthere? was none, “If I can , produce £1,000,000 or more from silver-coinages won’t it be something worth while?” lie asked. “I have offered you a proposition; did any of the politicians who were here last wek offer you anything?” A voice: If you had a party you would get it. “I am willing io join a party any day when I see that it stands for the people,” was Mr. Wilkinson’s rejoinder. ‘-'But not one that builds a South Island main trunk railway or backs up the wheat duties. There will be more of us Independents in the next Parliament to help on the work. One of the speakers last week said that the Independents dodged voting in the lobby, but do you think I am going to run away and dodge the issue on any question'.'” (Applause). Touching upo- unemployment problems, Mr. Wilkinson said the number out of work was enormous and there were more single men than married, showing that there were not the openings for the younger men. It was a serious problem that the Government had to face, and if things went on as they were going the people would not be able to bear it. He said he bad supported the Unemployment Bill and he made no apology for having done so to help the unemployed. About £3,000,000 was to be raised by way of tax, but that was not enough to provide a fund to maintain all in full work. Although there was dissatisfaction with the position he Jioped the people would bear with it and eee if it would help to relieve distress. He suggested the unemployed should offer to get out into the country and perform some valuable and useful work so that they could earn what they were being paid for. He did not want to see every man who was unemployed • working with a longhandled shovel—a good tradesman should be used for what he was fitted for. CANADA’S TARIFF BARRIER. “The Press has been misinformed about it,” declared Mr. Wilkinson in reference to Canada’s tariff barrier to New Zealand butter. “We never had a barrier put on our butter in Canada, but we get a preferential duty on it. It was ourselves who put the duty up on Canadian goods all along the line. New Zealand put the duty on Canadian cars up to 56 per cent., then to 75 per cent, before they put the duty on our butter. To-day we are favoured in everything we send to Canada, even on butter at 8 cents per lb. I should- like the Governmen to recognise that we are at fault and send a responsible person to Canada to remove the difficulties. But we don’t want to go to Canada armed with' a big stick. Mr. Hughes; Like a politician after

votes he wants to be nice. (Laughtei). Mr.’Wilkinson: Most certainly.

“A WILD CAT SCHEME.”

“What is wrong with this country is the heavy debt on it and.-the heavy interest charges,” continued Mr. Wilkinson. “We will probably have to do something ..similar to what Australia has done and cut down interest. One of the proposals of Mr. David Jones was to lift the exchange to 33 1-3 per cent, anff so give farmers the benefit on their' exports, but he did not teli ypu that when they came to import goods they would have to pay much extra for what they imported. I never heard of such a wild cat scheme as that.” -Mr. Hughes: What can you expect from Reform brains? Mr. Wilkinron,; I certainly expected more than that. Mr. Hughes: Is not.a partial solution of unemployment more people on the good land? Mr. Wilkinson: Yes.' There has bean a. disinclination on the part ,of all Governments to deal ,with the good lands. That is the land that should be dealt with. Mr. Hughes: The Labour Party is the only party that will tackle the land question. Mr. Wilkinson: I am not going to say • anything hard about the Labour Party. A little leayen of Labour might do a lot of good, but unfortunately its policy is inclined to be, determined by men- who are not in Parliament, and we have the case of New South Wales where bank credit has been lost. It is not good to have the country run wholly by any one section. ‘Some of the Labour men are men of sound sense and their services would fee useful, but they, will have to go a long way before they can be entrusted with administration. <The chairman: They could not get the country into a bigger mess than it is in at present. Mr. W’lkinson: Yes they could. Look at New South Wales.' That is in a bigger megs. New Zealand is better off financially. CIVIL SERVANTS’ SALARIES. Asked if he would restore the 10 per cent, .cut in civil servants’ salaries, Mr. Wilkinson said he would not restore these now that they had been mad?, but he, had voted against a cut in the salaries of men below £4 per week. “I was never one for low wages,” he said. “I voted against the cut in arbitration awards as I believed there was a contract made, and this should have .been adhered to until its expiration. We voted for a eliding scale of reductions. '/■ Mr. Hughes said that'the Hawera'unemployed allocations were over £lOO short for the week and he; asked if Mr. Wilkinson could do anything to obtain the money; otherwise the men would have to be reduced during the next week.

Mr. Wilkinson pointed out that there wits insufficient money to go around, i’lio idea was . that what money there was should be spread. Many men.were not employed at all and many were getting nothing. There was not sufficient money to do the job properly and there never had been. The Government was doin<r its best. He had. made a strong point against the unemployed having to pay any contributions. The exemption to relief workers from paying the 3d in the £1 levy was inserted in the Bill at their instigation. He would have preferred that the unemployed were exempted from paying their £1 as well. Mr. H. I. Crocker asked if Mr. Wilkinson had any solution of tho problem that the Unemployment Board was making in creating unemployment fill the time. People were getting unemployment relief who should not. Mr. Wilkinson: That is a matter for the local unemployment committees to look into. Some people say that the man with £2O in the bank should not get relief, bqt I don’t hold that because of that he should be penalised. This is a matter where there is a difference of opinion. I think you have to be a little generous and tolerant and tighten things up later on. If there is finy doubt we should err on the side of generosity instead of meanness. In proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Hughes said: “I am pleased to say that Mr. Wilkinson is not a party man. I regret that for years I have voted for the party system, but now we have to stop it. Put in the men to advance New Zealand. You have no stick with a bit of rag round it when you Jiaye Mr, Wilkinson representing you.” SUPPORT AT ELTHAM, A motion of thanks and confidence was accorded Mr. Wilkinson at Lltham on Friday at a meeting of friends and supporters. The motion was moved by Mr. A. A. Stewart and seconded by Mr. John Walsh. Mr. T. C. Stunners presided over a good attendance and the members gave a brief address on the various political questions of the moment.