ADDRESS BY MINISTER

Taranaki Daily News, 31 October 1935, Page 8

ADDRESS BY MINISTER

MR. SMITH AT HAWERA DEFENCE GF THE GOVERNMENT. MANY INTERJECTIONS MADE. An address on the aims and aspirations of tlie National Government and an insight into its achievements during the past difficult years was given by the Hon. S. G. Smith, member for New Plymouth and Minister of Education and Employment, at Hawera on Tuesday night. Mr. Smith spoke in the absence of the member for the district, Mr. H. G. Dickie, who is indisposed. He was subjected by sections of the audience to a good deal of interruption, and the chairman, Mr. J. E. Campbell, Mayor of Hawera, had on two occasions to appeal for a better hearing for the speaker. Tribute to Mr. Smith’s frequent assistance to the electors of Patea was paid by Mr. Campbell in introducing the Minister. In the absence of Mr. Dickie Mr. Smith had, at very short notice, agreed to address the meeting. Mr. Smith expressed regret that Mr. Dickie was unable to fulfil his engagement to speak. He had not proposed to make any speeches until Thursday, he said,' and would not possibly deal as fully as he would like with some matters of importance. I*2 had been able to be of some assistance in recent negotiations which concerned vitally the holders of the West Coast Settlement Reserve leases and which had been brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Their member, Mr. Dickie, was regarded at Wellington as one of the most capable men in Parliament. His ability, experience and judgment were always sought in conferences and caucuses. BENEFITS CONFERRED. They had heard. a. good deal about the sins, both of omission and commission, of the Government, said Mr. Smith, but he was going to tell them of the benefits the Government had conferred on the country. They had been told that' New Zealand could have averted many of the effects of recent difficult times if the Government had taken other steps, but he knew that action had been taken along lines that were for the benefit of the people of the Dominion. He recalled the formation of his first Cabinet by the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes in 1931, when the first blast of serious difficulty hit New Zealand. The speaker was Minister of Employment, and when it was suggested that a Coalition Government should be formed he had willingly resigned his position. He considered the good of the country was of first consideration, but some of his colleagues returned to Parliament had hindered rather than helped the Government. The sudden drop in the national income from £150,000,000 to £98,000,000 caused the Government to take steps to meet the changed conditions. Those who were in charge of the country’s affairs evolved, in deep thought, a plan designed tn overcome the difficulties. Some of the steps taken were unpopular, but, eschewing popularity, they had placed their duty to their fellow men in the foreground. Just as an individual, faced with a serious drop in his income through no fault of his own, had to reduce his expenditure, so a country in a similar position had to do the same thing. Three courses of action were open tc the Government: Reducing by 20 per cent, rates of interest, salaries and wages; printing paper money; raising price levels by raising the rate of exchange. The Government adopted the third course, and he would say that even those who opposed that course would not have met the position in any other way if they had at heart the well-being of the people of New Zealand. INTERJECTORS ACTIVE. Several interjectors became active, one asking the speaker what he did with the £lOO salary rise he received. Mr. Smith: What, £100? I could do with another £lOO. I earn it. A voice: What are you going to do after the election? Mr. Smith: I will still be Minister of Education and Employment after the e’ ?ction. The speaker enumerated some of the steps taken to assist the primary industries, upon whose plight the state of the country depended. From facing a large deficiency New Zealand emerged in « sounder financial position than any other country in the world. Every step was carefully planned and the public finances were better handled than in any other part of the British Empire., He claimed with assurance that the Government had faced its responsibilities with courage. There was a chorus of dissent when the Minister said the purchasing power of the people had not been lessened. Because of the fall in the national income, he said, expenditure was reduced to bring costs within reason. Competition and the steps taken by the Government reduced the cost of living, and the figures of the Government Statistician proved it. Despite a reduction in the volume of the purchasing power of the people of Great Britain, the Government kept going the primary industries of New Zealand. “No, no,” shouted several interjectors when the Minister said the Labour Party had not been willing to join in a National Government when the crisis came. “Yes,” said Mr. Smith. FALL IN PRICES. The drop in the prices received for primary products was as much as 60 per cent., said the Minister. Under such conditions it was not possible for the country to be carried on in the same way as when prices were higher. The individual could not do it, so how could the Government, he asked. The setting up of the Reserve Bank was a factor for good. By it the Government had taken the responsibility of controlling currency and credit without any outside influence being brought upon it The banx was controlling the financia’ situation and it had come to stay. There was such a barrage of interjections at this stage that the chairman appealed for fair play. Some of the interjectors were overstepping the mark, he said. Mr. Smith had come at very short notice to speak in place of Mr. Dickie, and as a visitor he was entitled to i courteous hearing. Those were facts, not promises, said the Minister after enumerating many of the achievements of the Government during its term of office. The presence recently, at London of Messrs. Forbes and Coates and the masterly manner ir which they had carried out certain negotiations there saved New Zealand a great deal of money. Had it not been foi their delicate handling of a difficult situation an agreement . which a certain country was prepared to sign would have cost New Zealand about £1,000,000. Considerable reorganisation of the education system was necessary, said Mr. Smith. He was one of the first to admit that, and since he assumed the portfolio in November last he had taken steps tc have the Education Act and regulations brought up to date and consolidated. Cabinet had agreed with him that the Director of Education should go abroad to study the latest developments and methods in other countries, and when Mr. Lamboume returned shortly there would be considerable reorganisation in the light of the valuable knowledge he was assimilating.

A voice: What didn’t you do all that three years ago?

Mr. Smith: For one thing I was not then Minister of Education, and for another my predecessor haff to economise. Turning to unemployment, the Minister said that the position had improved very considerably. In previous years it had been the policy of the Opposition, when the estimates were before the House, to throw “bricks” at the Minister in charge, but this year there was nothing but praise for the board’s efforts. H<s was not pretending that the relief given was sufficient to enable relief workers to live on and save money from what was paid them. He was doing all he could in their interests and no one would be happier than he to see them all absorbed into their regular occupations. A voice: What about the full time promised the men at the Hawera aerodrome? Mr. Smith: If Hawera is one of the aerodromes on the approved list and the men are entitled to be paid for full time then I will see to it that they get it I am speaking here at short notice and I have not all the details with me, but I am out to help the unemployed all I can. Mr. Smith said the method of listing the registrations had given the impression that there were 58,000 workers or rationed relief in New Zealand. The position, however, was very much better than that. It was proposed to abolish the No. 5 scheme and to initiate major works at full rates of pay. A voice: There’s an election coming along. Mr. Smith: These things are being made possible because the general situation has improved. It has nothing to do with the election.There was a big improvement in the country’s income last year, he said, and a big increase in the amount paid in wages. There was an increase of 9000 employees in industries in New Zealand. A voice: Boys. Mr. Smith: I said employees. There goes my friend jumping about from bough to bough like a bird. EXTRAVAGANT STATEMENTS. All sorts of extravagant statements were made about the “plums which the Unemployment Board was alleged to have given to a large insurance company which erected a fine new building at Wellington and to a large freezing company in Southland. The facts were that the subsidy amounts were only a fraction of the amounts alleged to have been given and that the companies had spent many times these amounts in providing wages for the work of erecting their buildings. In the case of the freezing company it gave back the amount of the subsidy, which it accepted only so that local men could be engaged, in free meat and manures. Claiming that the Mayor of Wellington, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, who was also leader of the Democrat Party, had distorted certain remarks made by him to a deputation from the Wellington City Council in June last, Mr. Smith reiterated a statement he made with regard to remarks by Dr. G. J. Adams, Democrat candidate, at Hawera on October 4. The facts, said Mr. Smith, were that following certain requests from the Wellington City Council regarding the establishment of major works in the city, he said that neither he nor the Government nor the Unemployment Board could solve the unemployment problem without the co-operation of local bodies, companies and private citizens. The first part of his remarks was taken from the context used to suggest the impotence of the Government or the board to deal with the problem. ABUSE OF PRIVILEGES. Detailing operations aiding relief workers, Mr. Smith complained that men on sustenance, had abused their privileges in some cases. There were cases, he said, where men receiving sustenance were on full time work, from which they had time off to collect their sustenance pay. A voice: They’re getting a bit of their own back. ' Mr. Smith said freezing works employees were under a debt of gratitude to the Unemployment Board, for they could walk straight out of their jobs on to relief work at the end of the Season. If anyone should support the Government, it was the freezing workers. Relief workers who became ill were a difficulty. They became' a charge on hospital boards and the Unemployment Board had to have validating legislation passed to enable a policy of giving one week’s sick pay to-be carried out. Before that the practice was not strictly legal. As evidence of the good conditions in relief camps the Minister pointed out that men in camps given the opportunity to do other work had refused the privilege for the most part. Only four married men tok the chance and the proportion of single men was®. 7 of 1750 men circularised. “What do they earn?” a voice asked. “More than you wer would,” retorted the Minister. About 2000 men were assisted in the search for gold, and more than £150,000 was won from the grounds in the South Island. Though they were unaccustomed to the work and though some were not winning gold, all the men were “giving it a go.” TTiey were fine types who “went crook” once and then were satisisfied. “They don’t keep chipping at you,” said Mr. Smith meaningly, and the audience laughed. Some of the men had. gone in and were now financially independent of any sort of relief, the Minister added.

The building subsidy was one of the greatest factors in the economic recovery of New Zealand, the Minister declared. It had the effect of putting every

sawmill on full time. There was in consequence no unemployment problem on the West Coast of the South Island, and when work for 100 men on a West Coast aerodrome was announced only five offered their services. The rest had to be brought from Christchurch. “Labour is promising us the moon and the Democrats are promising us the moon and the stars,” said the speaker. A voice: And you are promising us the heavens. The Minister: That is not so. The Government policy is sound and clearcut. The wage cuts could not be avoided — (“Like your presence,” the Minister told an interjector). To fulfill the Democrats’ promises would mean a taxation of £2 on every £4 earned. The national income of New Zealand was £100,000,000, of which £23,000,000 went in taxation The Democrats would have to tax 50 per cent, or more of the total income. Labour’s plan was to tax the wealthy, but if it took the whole pf the national income it would not have the money to carry out its promises.

“I have never been a member of the Labour Party,” the Minister told persistent interjectors. “When I first stood in 1918 I was an Independent.” Labour’s new plan of guaranteed prices was a “scream” at' Wellington, said the Minister. Independent Labour candidates were being told to keep quiet about it so that a few farmers could be fooled of their votes. Different schemes had, however, been evolved by different speakers in the House, and it was impossible to find out exactly what the plan was. There was nothing in the proposal, but the Labour candidates had not the power to drop it from their platforms, because the conference, after insufficient reviewing, had adopted it. The Government did not want the party to drop the idea, so long as it followed the wisp. If the party had been tactical and had used the idea a fortnight before the election it might have trapped some votes. The scheme at present was impracticable and could not be done even though—pointing out two sections of t tha audience—two experts said it could. “Two sheeps’ heads are better than one,” said a heckler. PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE. Members of the Labour Party had no practical business or farming experience such as men of the present Government had, said the Minister. .He said that not out of disrespect, but as a conclusion he was entitled to draw. Interjections at this stage became persistent, and the Mayor, in calling for order, said he hoped it would not be necessary for him to do so again. The Minister in criticising. the Labour policy said Ramsay ■ MacDonald and a few stalwarts- were left to “carry the baby” in Britain, Labour went out and Mr. Lyons came in in Australia. In New South Wales Mr. Lang went in on an overwhelming majority, increased the debt by £13,000,000, and reduced people dependent on their savings bank incomes to selling their pass-books for as low as 6s 8d in the £. Mr. Lang could not pay the civil servants and the old-age pensioners. If the New Zealand Government had kept on paying high rates, it would have been only a matter of months before it went bankrupt. In Queensland the Labour Government, while in power for 14 years, started 18 State enterprises at a cost of £5,000,000, and all had been abandoned. All had failed. The present Labour Premier of Queensland, Mr. Forgan Smith, was following the Australian Prime Minister’s plan. It was useless to suggest that New Zealand should be handed .to men with platforms similar to those in countries that had failed under Labour Government. The system of costless credit propounded by the Douglas Credit people was too good to be true, said Mr. Smith. A voice: Who created the depression? Mr. Smith: Well, 1 1 didn’t, I can assure you of that. I think it’s a nasty thing. Dealing with the Prime Minister’s manifesto, the Minister said there was no floating debt in New 'Zealand, in contrast to the £100,000,000 of floating debt in Australia. A voice: How did you pay it off? Mr. Smith: It wasn’t Chinese or Abyssinian money. The voice: How did you pay it off? Mr. Smith: Oh! just with ordinary money. The Minister said with Great Britain standing four-square to the world New Zealand must carry on with the traditions. With the development of aeroplane services New Zealand was becoming too close to people who might like the country. There was no place in the world where wealth was so evenly distributed. as in New Zealand. The Government’s policy was a sound, stable, statement of fact. South Africa with a national government was prosperous, Australia, also with a national government, was out of the depression, and New Zealand with a national government was coming through well. “We are entitled on the records to ask that on polling day you should return the representative who has done so much to help the district on,” said the Minister in conclusion. Mi. J. B. Murdoch moved a vote of thanks to the Minister, who paid a tribute to the chairmanship of Mr. Campbell.