LABOUR ATTACK

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1935, Page 7

LABOUR ATTACK

COALITION’S POLICY MR. SAVAGE’S PROPOSALS GUARANTEED PRICE PLAN HIGH EXCHANGE PROBLEM OPPOSITION AMENDMENT By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Address-in-Heply debate was resumed in. the House, of. Representatives to-day by Mr. M. J. Savage (Leader of the Opposition), who said that while the mover and seconder of the motion were speaking he wondered what • men like 'Ballance, Sedflon and McKenzie would have said had they been present. Those men faced difficult times, but they faced them with a common understanding of the problems to be solved. It was not so to-day, continued Mr. Savage, Royal Commissions and committees of various kinds were doing the thinking fop the Government, and doing it very badly in many cases. If the great man who led the way during the nineties were present to-day they would witness the destruction of the last _of the foundations of the prosperity which they laid so well. • But how could it be otherwise when New Zealand had a combination of conflicting forces shaping the destinies of the country. Th© reason for th© apparent unity between those forces was that they were facing a common danger to their political existence—the rising tide of Labour, The reactionary forces which were destroying the foundations laid by the big men of the past began to operate in 1912, when th© Reform Party assumed office, and from that day to the present, with the exception of the short reign o* Sir Joseph Ward from 1928 to 1930, th© destroyer had Rework. Betwssn 1918 and 1928 over '£166,000,000 sterling was added to the public debt. The people of New Zealand certainly did not get the benefit pf that; land apd other speculators received more than their share of it, Not a voice was raised about inflation during that period, although they were spending more than £10,000,000 a year in excess of the value of production, Between 1923 and 1933 £33,882,222 was added t© the public debt. What was the Governments policy? Was the country to have a debt in perpetuity Jike a snowball, gathering as it went?

“THE LAST BARRIER.”

Mr. Savage dealt with the early actions ©f the United Party but said that with the death of Sir Joseph Ward the last barrier to the combination of the reactionary elements was removed. He referred to the passing of the Unemployment Apt and said that when the real story of administration of that Act was written, it would constitute one of tire blackest pages in New Zealand s industrial and social history. When the Unemployment Act was passed in October, 1930, thepe were between 6000 and 7000 unemployed, A year later, immediately after the formation of the Coalition Government, there were more than 25,000 registered unemployed, not including the thousands of women workers who, although compelled to pay taxes under the Unemployment Act, were not eligible for employment. Jiri July of this year there ; wgress?,ooo/men a charge on the unemployment fund.. ■ The full period of life of the Coalition Government provided p stpryqf destitution arid ragged clothing for thousands of men, women and children while, alleged statesmen were discussing restricting production in order to make it fit with the shortage of. buying power. Mr, Savage referred to a number of railways cor-’ structidn jobs on which work had been stopped by the Coalition Government. He 1 also dgalt with; the reductions in wages and pensions. “VIRTUAL DICTATORSHIP.” Mr. Savage said the Agriculture (Emergency Powers)* Act provided a virtual dictatorship in the primary industries, The purpose pf the Act appeared to be to squeeze the last ounce out pf the industry concerned rather than to dnd means of paying for increasing production which was already an accomplished fact. The Mortgage Corporation had been substituted for the State lending departments, and to the extent that it co-ordin-ated with those departments it would be justified, but the introduction-of private capital meant the end of the State lending institutions as’long as the present Government existed. Regarding Post Office Savings Bank deposits Mr. Savage said the Ministers were warning the people against the dangers pf a Labour Government and the possible rnisqse of their deposits. At the end pf the 1934 ‘financial year deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank amounted to £44,870,391, while public securities standing in the name of the Postmaster-Gen-eral amounted to £45,676,403. It appeared from those figures that if a run on the Post Office Savings Bank took place the bank would be compelled to suspend payment. That did not mean that the country was bankrupt. With intelligent Government New Zealand would yet be turned into a comparative paradise. Mr. Savage proceeded to deal with the rate of exchange and said the raising of the rate was the equivalent of an indirect tax on the whole of the people of New Zealand, the burden being greatest on large families, It was raised to assist exporters, and it helped the exporter when fie needed it least. A guaranteed price, on the other hand, would help the farmer when he needed it most and would not ncessaiily cost the whole of the people any more than the high rate of exchange. A high rate of exchange acted as a brake on Britain’s sales to New Zealand,, which in turn must curtail New Zealand’s sales to Britain, A guaranteed price would have no such effect.

Other points made by Mr. Savage were that the wage reductions made in 1922 and again in 1932 injuriously affected the Dominion’s trade, internal and external, and that a policy of restoration should begin at the earliest possible moment. The reductions made in pensions should be restored immediately, and a national system of superannuation covering the full standard of life should be made available to all citizens on reaching 60 years of agP or invalidity, The financial transaction dealing with the surplus sterling (£23,000,000) during and since August, 1934. was a distinct inflation of the currency, said Mr. Savage, as it enabled the aniount to he used in Britain and New Zealand at the same Mr. Savage then moved an amendment to the effect “That the Government does not possess the confidence of the house. This was seconded by Mr. W. Nash (Lab., Hutt).