PATEA ELECTORATE

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1935, Page 11

PATEA ELECTORATE

MR. H. G. DICKIE SPEAKS

FIRST ELECTION ADDRESS MADE. DEFENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT. A Mr. H. G. Dickie, M.P., opened his election campaign in the Patea electorate on Monday when he addressed the electors at Rawhitiroa. Mr. W. B. Robertson presided over a fair attendance and at the conclusion the speaker was given a vote of thanks on the motion of Mr. L. M. Prankerd. Mr. Dickie strongly defended the Government’s efforts to resist the depression, especially its legislation dealing with mortgage relief. He said they had been charged with breaking contracts. He admitted contracts had been broken but said a great many voluntary settlements had been made, the parties concerned realising that adjustments had to be made. ( For every case settled by the commission 20 had been settled privately and mostly without expense. Had it not been for the Act many mortgagees would not have met the position at alb About 14,000 cases had come before the commission. . - . . : ’ ■,

There had been many criticisms of the Mortgagors’ ■ Final Adjustment Act, said Mr. Dickie, and the Government had been blamed for giving the farmer “five years’ hard labour.” But really it had given him an opportunity of purchasing his farm 'on its earning basis, and if there was any possibility of liberalising the terms it would do so. It was certainly far better than" foreclosure and ho felt that with the present trend of prices most farmers ■ would win out.

Mr. Dickie emphasised that the farmer seeking assistance must took after his own interests and farm his land properly. He did not think any efficient farmer would fail.

Mr. Dickie dealt with the balancing of the Budget, which had been accomplished largely as the result of an unexpected amount in death duties amounting to £600,000’ and the profitable sale of £1,000,000 of gold to the Bank of England. The Government had agreed to restore old age pensions to the former amount as soon as it could be afforded, said Mr. • Dickie, and this would be done. . Civil servants’ “cuts”; had been restored and unemployment tax reduced and soldiers’ 1 widows’ pensions liberalised, extending the period of marriage qualification from two to seven years. Many soldiers were breaking up and it was intended to meet these cases. Altogether pensions granted in New Zealand were costing over £3,000.000 a year. CONCESSIONS GRANTED. Concessions had been made, in telegrams, said Mr. Dickie, and the sixpence rate was now back again. A scheme for supplying milk to school children was to be tried, the first being established at Auckland in conjunction with the city council, which would give needy children half a pint of milk a day. Another proposal was to assist cormties with £1 for £1 subsidy on by-roads. It was felt that more help was required than that given on highways alone. The real cause of the depression, Mr. Dickie said, was the collapse of the export value of produce and the economic nationalism of most countries which went to restrict trade. Defending the creation of the Reserve Bank, Mr. Dickie said it had greatly assisted the country by taking over £20,000,000 credits which had piled up at London, and bn which the Government was paying heavily in interest. Considerable objection had been raised against the Reserve Bank on account of its being formed with £500,000 private capital. Mr. Dickie asked Mr. Coates if he would limit the amount of shares for any one shareholder to £5OO. Mr. Coates said he feared he would not obtain sufficient capital if he did so, but he agreed to give preference to small shareholders with the result that most of the capital was held in small parcels of an average of about £75 each. He did not believe there were a dozen shareholders with more than £5OO each.

; Many people were discussing currency questions, said Mr, > Dickie, and many quoted the London Chamber ot Commerce in support of their arguments. When at London he obtained the chamber’s literature on the 'subject. The chamber wanted to' work through a central bank and leave the gold standard. If Japan sold a line of cheap goods to New Zealand it would be done on a bill discounted by the -Reserve Bank. Japan would have to buy an equivalent from New Zealand or sell the bill to a country that did, and this transaction would be at such a discount that it would act as an exchange rate. It had been held that the gold standard had .been the means of putting many countries into debt, and perhaps there was something in the contention.

Speaking of the present position of trade with Britain, Mr. Dickie quoted figures prepared by Mr. A. E. Mander, which gave New Zealand exports to Britain for the year ending March, 1935, as £37,879,000 in New Zealand currency. After deducting £8,000,000 for wool shipped to London and reshipped elsewhere Britain bought from New Zealand goods valued at £29,879,000. New Zealand imported from Britain goods valued at £16,437,000 and paid interest amounting to £12,500,000. This meant that imports and interest payments were equal to £28,937,000, which was not far short of the total value of exports. In other words per head of population New Zealand sold to Britain £2O, bought from Britain £ll and paid £8 6s interest. TRADE RECOVERING. Mr. Dickie considered that the trade balance was righting itself. * Trade was gradually recovering its normal flow and New Zealand was still the best customer of Britain and purchased £6 10s 8d per head of population, while Australia purchased only £3 6s Bd, Canada £1 15s 9d, Denmark £3 7s 9d, Argentina £1 2s 7d, Baltic States 8s 6d and Russia 6d. Per head of population New Zealand’s share was the highest in the world and it had the highest earning capacity. A few months ago the British market was glutted with produce, said Mr. Dickie, and the British Fiscal Union, under the chairmanship of Mr.. L. S. Amery, made, certain recommendations in regard to tariffs and quotes. It was evident that at the next Dominions’ conference New Zealand would have to be very well represented. It was the intention of Great Britain to look after British farmers to a greater extent than ever before and there was a definite fear that in the event of war the population would be starved if they 'did not grow as much food in Britain as possible. Mr. W. E. Elliott was definite about what he was going to do and it was suggested that- a levy of lid be put on Argentine meat and id on Empire meat From this a bonus of 46s per live rwt on beef would be paid to the British farmed Mr.. Dickie told Mr. Elliott that Id on the inferior qualities of New Zealand meat would kill the. trade as New Zealand could not export at the price. However, the levy could not be made without Argentina’s consent, as the meat SSnl ta„ until 1W Mr ZUtot. had to go to the Treasury for a bonus In 1937 the Ottawa Argreement would ex-

pt ?tew Zealand stood very high in British public opinion. In the north there was bitterness at the raising of the exchange rate but London took it much better.

To put 15 per cent, on everything that was imported looked like a breach of the spirit of Ottawa. However, prices fell and the. effect was not as great as he expected. - It had been published while he was in Britain that New Zealand could not buy British wire. It appeared that in Otego a rabbit board was able to accept only Australian quotations owing' to the difference of the exchange.: To overcame this position Mr. Dickie considered there should be a surcharge put on Australian goods to bring prices level with British., New, Zealand, bought many goods from Australia while she bought little in return, and Australia was given the credit of buying £2,000,000 more of British goods as the result, of credits from New Zealand. /■■.:’/' „ .. /' Speaking on LabbuFs rural policy, Mr. Dickie said the Labour Party was making a . bid for'the farfners’ votes and , appeared to ’be particularly solicitous of their .welfare. The attraction- .was that of guaranteed pripes,, but no- two mein- - bers of ; the Labour Party, appeared to have the same views on how it was to be done.

The suspension of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act classes was justified, said Mr. Dickie, to meet the times., Prices had' been sb lbw "that everyone had to make sacrifices apd it was not too much to ask workers to forgo 10 per cent, when farmers were down as much as 40 per cent. There had been no cases, of sweating reported. When they interfered between mortgagor and mortgagee it often offended both parties and each thought he had been badly treated. ASSISTANCE TO FARMERS. - Several city members complained of the assistance given farmers by subsidies, said Mr Dickie. He felt the aid had been justified. The Government had also made available cheaper money at £4'2s 6d ’ per cent. All State Advances loans were eligible for conversion and soldier mortgagors had the option of coming in. Some local bodies had been able/ to borrow at 3J per cent. Many people in New Zealand were selling securities, because they thought money was rising and they could obtain a better return elsewhere. It was rising in Australia, but it was the opinion in England that money rates would be held down. There were more than 100,000 men in work in Britain this year who had not been in work for years, and business was brightening and going ahead. Trade within the Empire had increased and trade with foreign countries had decreased. Some of the latter were not able to meet their private debts and there was not. the, free interchange of goods as formerly. Shipping was depressed and Britain /which once carried 40 per cent. of the. world’s trade was now carrying - only 30 per cent.

Mr. Dickie spoke of the changes that had taken place in the dairy industry since the setting up of the Executive Commission of Agriculture. He looked to the time when it would act as an' export board. It would be better to have one board instead of a multiplicity of boards overlapping in. their functions. He spoke of , separate displays of New Zealand butter and cheese in Britain and considered they'would have been much better if combined with fruit,'.honey and meat.

Mr. Dickie , said the Government was endeavouring to put men back into their proper vocations speedily ’ as a means of solving . unemployment, and at Wellington 300 men were to be selected for jobs from 3000. In 1928 the previous Government attempted to pay standard rates of 14s a day and in no time was in deep water financially. It would soon have bankrupted the : country. Some people advocated the borrowing of money for public works and the employment of men, but the objection Mr. Dickie had to this was that when .the work was finished the ■ men ’ would be idle again. Although it'had been a most difficult time to settle land the Government' had put 1600' men on farms and the success had exceeded, his expectation. Of these 800 had been unemployed and the losses had amounted to only £l6 10s a man, which he ’ considered was very small indeed, for the men were permanently off the unemployed. It was a very favourable showing and the loss was taken up by the Unemployment Fund. Australia had borrowed tip to £30,000,000 and had charged an' unemployment tax as well. He considered New Zealand’s method was far better and he advocated putting as many men on - the land as possible. ' •’ LABOUR IN POWER.’ ■ ' Mr. Dickie considered it would be a calamity - if-’Labour was put into power in New Zealand. Even in Great Britain, where Labour had been in office, Mr. Maxton said-Labour was not yet fit to govern. Mr. Dickie would not go as far as that, because .there were, very capable -men in the party in Britain, but he ■ felt that their solicitousness for the farmers’ welfare was “mere eyewash,” and orders would have to be taken from trade union secretaries. He spoke of the bad effect of the inflation caused by the printing of bank notes during the war and how it meant extra costs everywhere, producing an artificial price level. However, Great Britain had stabilised her currency and’ was the only country in the world where there was any stability as far as currency was concerned. . ' • ’ ' : Mr. G. V. Thame asked the extent of the rise in dairy prices. In reply Mr. Dickie said butter had gone from 67s to 1255. He thought .that from the way British industry. was ■ improving it must increase prices. Dairying was making tremendous strides in Britain and there were 12,000,000 gallons of milk a month above the normal production. Sixty per cent, was consumed and 40■ per cent, was used in manufactures. Mr. Elliott hoped to produce one-third of the requirements, but probably he could not do that as consumption was going up. Asked if- the Mortgage Corporation rate of interest- included sinking fund, Mr. Dickie, replied that 4 1-8 per cent, was the nett rate. The sinking fund would bring it to about 5 per cent., but the length of the term meant a larger or smaller sinking fund. There was plenty of money for rural mortgages up to 80 per cent, of the valuation. Asked by Mr. J. Cocker if Public Trust mortgages would be brought under the corporation, Mr. Dickie said he did not think so, for it had not been a principle that one department should raise, money to pay off the loans of another’department. Money was avail-

able at 41 per cent, ort table loan from the Public Trust.

Mr. Cocker asked what was the ratio of gold to notes. Mr. Dickie said there was £3,600,000 of gold left in New Zealand, which had the largest gold cover in the world. The note issue had increased from £6,000,000 to £8,000,000 under the Reserve Bank. Mr. Thame asked why the Government was averse to a subsidy for the dairy farmer. Mr. Dickie replied that the Government looked upon the exchange as a convenient' way of giving a subsidy. It was estimated that the exchange bonus amounted to £10,000,000 that the rest of the people had to find. He said a direct subsidy had been given to fruit growers, and he felt that was a better way than by the exchange. He saw New Zealand butter at London on sale at lOd and lid, whereas at Hawera it was Is Id’.

Mr. W. J. Johnston:. The British farmers are receiving a guaranteed price for everything. Mr. Dickie explained that it was not a guaranteed price but a bonus-on what they produced. Prices had fallen to such an extent that many had not as much income with the bonus as they had formerly without it. There was no suggestion of a guaranteed price. Mr. Cocker asked if five years was not too long to hold farmers under budgetary control. Mr. Dickie pointed out that if a farmer could clear himself before that time h« could be given a release. He would be improving Iris position each year. Mortgagees complained that they were tied up for five years and could not free their money. There was nothing to prevent the matter being reviewed at any time within the five years. If the farmers had crashed and mortgagees had foreclosed evei-yone in the country would have lost more heavily, but as it was the wheels of industry were bound to resume normal activity and goods would exchange for goods and a gradual recovery be made. Mr. F. Silver said the district would like to see Mr. Dickie more frequently and Mr. Dickie replied that he would also like to see more of Rawhitiroa,«but it was very difficult to induce people to attend a political meeting during recess. However, he would always be pleased to discuss any matters at any time it was desired.