STRATFORD ELECTORATE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16507, 7 August 1919, Page 7

STRATFORD ELECTORATE.

ADDRESS BY MAJOR HIND, M.P. Major J. B. Hine, M.P., delivered an address at the Opera House, Stratford, on Wednesday evening, and despite the very unfavourable weather prevailing there was a good attendance. The Mayor (Mr. J. W. M'Millan) presided, and in a few introductory remarks said he was sure they till keenly appreciated their member’s action in taking this early opportunity of placing his opinions before them on the Coalition Government. Mr. M'Millan also expressed the appreciation of Major Hine’s voluntary military service and congratulated him upon his safe return." Major Hine, who was well received, expressed his thanks to the Mayor for his kindly references to himself, and then went on to say that what ho had to say would not be a keen criticism of the National Government. He wanted to speak to them more from a constructive point of view. The Dominion had many difficult problems to face in the future and it behoved the people to do this as far as possible unanimously. They should all endeavour to pull together in the interests of all sections of the community and the Dominion as a whole. Before proceeding further ho said he desired to express his appreciation of the services rendered to the Stratford electorate during his absence on -active service by his colleagues from neighbouring constituencies. t Firstly, he would like to refer to the' good services rendered by the late Mr. Okey. M.P., whose death was deplored by them all, and they were also greatly indebted both to Mr. Jennings and Mr. Wilkinson for their many acts of kindness towards the electorate during his absence. He went on to say that he had been struck with the progress of the Stratford district, which appeared to have thrived considerably, notwithstanding the war. There were, however, important matters which called for immediate action, notably the erection of the High School, and the now ■ Post Office, and he hoped that ere long they would see both buildings in course of construction. ■ Passing on to political matters, Mr. Hine said the leaders had returned and no matter what political opinions a man might hold all must realise that Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, who had represented the Dominion at the Peace Conference, had done so with credit to themselves, and with honour to, the country. It had no doubt been a difficult task to make all the Allies see eye to eye and in those memorable discussions which had taken place the leaders had done their part. Stratford electorate, he was sure, would join with him in welcoming them on their safe return to New Zealand. THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. Continuing, Major Hine said the National Government was formed for the purpose of carrying on the war operations of New Zealand, and he ventured to assert that had it not been for the Coalition Government conscription would never have been carried. Neither of the parties would have been able to carry it and he was proud to say he had voted in favour of it being placed on the Statute Book. They must, whatever their political opinions might be. give the Coalition Government credit for that measure. The Government had had its failures. It had failed in many things; in other respects it had rendered good service. So far as controlling the country for war purposes it had done well. The Minister of Defence had borne the brunt of it, and although there were many people who blamed him for what he had done he had at any rate stuck to his guns, and although they may not always have seen eye to eye with ; him he-had . been consistent, and all j appreciated a man who was consistent. } Noiv the war was over wo had to re- j construct our ideas. Many of our ideas i of five years ago wore now things of | the past, viewed in a different light j altogether. LABOUR QUESTION. The labour question was one of the I most acute.before the public at tho I present time, and he believed as the ; big majority of the people believed, : that the extreme labour in this conn- j try was on the wrong track. They be- i lieved also that good sound moderate ■

labour was on the right track, and to bring about a condition of things that would make common sense labour realise that the country was out for its benefit was what they should attempt to do. At the present time extremists representing perhaps 10 per cent, of the workers of the country were attempting to dictate to force their demands upon the majority. Eighty per cent, of the voters were workers, and he contended that if they would only pull together they could bring about a state of things that would bo of benefit to themselves and add to the prosperity .• of the country. Labour was divided unfortunately owing to the extreme elements in its rankk. As a moderate thinker he said without hesitation that labour’s demands called for attention and better wages in some cases. Ho was thinking, lie continued, of the miners who were, it was said, causing trouble at the present time. He had no sympathy with the man who - said the miners were going slow. If they read statistics as set down in Government returns they would have seen that the output per man in this country had not varied more than 10 tons per annum per maif during the , past five or six years. He had no sympathy, he repeated, with people who . said tlja miners were going slow. They should make certain of their facts before making accusations against any man or body of men. The reason was far deeper seated than that. Ho believed the minors were leaving the mines because of the conditions obtaining in the mines. Proceeding, the speaker said that in a statement published by tlie Hon. Mr. Myers in regard to tho condition of the coal trade during- the past two years it was stated there was a shortage on the railways in 1917, and it was suggested in May, ISIB, that the service bo curtailed somewhat for tho time being. A conference was held, and it was decided to postpone the suggested cut in tho hope that supplies would come forward in the meantime and efforts wore alto to be made to get ships to bring coal from Newcastle and other parts. For quite a while the available supply of I coal fluctuated very considerably until the position eventually got such"as the department had not been able to recover. Ho had no doubt at all in his own mind but that the statements of tho General Manager in regard to available supplies were correct. People saw quantities of coal about at railway sidings and so on and had assumed that there was plently of coal for tho railways, and therefore no justification for this restricted time-table, but this was not thr. hard steam coal that the'railways required. If they could burn it he was sure they would do go., He had

hoard people say it was a political dodge. Could they really imagine such nonsense. The Government was killing itself by tho want of foresight it had shown in regard to the coal trade and would not have brought in the reduced ' service i? it could have boon avoided. “Believe me.” said Major Hine, “tho coal shortage is acute, and what is more. I am afraid we have not come to the worst of it yet. Now during all the period mentioned Mr. Myers said that he had made attempts to get coal from different parts of the world, hut apparently without much success, notwithstanding the fact that increased prices were offered. It appeared to him to have been a short-sighted policy to have offered an increased price for outside coal when they could have got all they required in the country by increasing the wages or price paid for hewing it out. If they could pay an increased price for foreign coal then surely they could have increased the pay of the miners hero and in this way obtained the necessary supplies. Proceeding, he referred to the conference being held in Wellington between tho owners and tho miners, and said ho was doubtful whether they would come to an agreement, because they had extremists on both sides.

( lie contended that no section of tho workers of this country had a right to paralyse the whole industry of tne country, and that was what was being . done at present, and, further, he said , that so far as State services were con- | cerned tho strike should not be allowed, it should be illegal. Ho kuew there ’ were many workmen who would not ] agree with this view, but he felt lie ■was on safe ground. Workers talked j 1 about direct action. It was not right. | Employer and employee should tie able I to agree as to what was a fair thing 1 I and fair conditions without .such hiclhj ods being resorted to. Ho also touched briefly on the Arbitration Court and argued that awards fixed by tho court should be binding on both sides lor tho [ term fixed. Unfortunately, the extreme ' section was out to annihilate capital. ! They thought apparently they could 1 raise the capital by destroying capital. What was wanted was a proper control of capital without which they could not get along. His sympathy was always with the man who wa« lowest paid, and ’always would be, and if he could assist to do anything which would have the effect of aiding the workers of this country, even by becoming part owners of the concerns in which they were engaged, because this would act as a great incentive to them to carry on and give of their bos, then he would do so. REPATRIATION. Dealing with the question of repatriation Major Hine said everyone was interested in the lives of the soldiers, of those men who had rendered such heroic service on behalf of tho Empire, and all had an earnest desire to see them settled in civilian life as speedily as possible. The Government had brought down a repatriation scheme for assisting the soldier to get a home of his own to get on the land If he so desired, or to set up in business. So_ far 'as the latter was concerned very little, he thought, had been done. So far as assisting the men to obtain a home, or take up land was concerned, something was being done, but not so much as most people would like to sec. The Returned Soldiers’ Association had formulated a scheme in regard to soldier settlements which lie believed was sound. Briefly this provided that committees should be set up in fcJio diff’ordistricts representative "of the parties directly interested to deal with tho ■question rather than leave it in the hands of the different land boards which had their hands full already in settling the Crown lands, and in many cases perhaps iould not give the necessary attention to both. COST OP LIVING. Before he went away there was a ! great deal of talk in regard to cost ' of living, which the Government said it i was going to reduce, but how miserably j it had failed all realised. The cost of ! living had gone up and np until to-day ] the purchasing power of tho sovereign i had been reduced to something like lbs or 14s. Closely allied lo the cost of living was another matter of vital importance, and this was the price of our primary products. He believed that prices on tho world’s markets for our j produce would continue to bo high for i some years to come, and that prices so : far as the local market was concerned ! should be controlled for some years to ; come. At tho present time the price i of butter on the local market was coni trolled, and the farmers did not object i to this, but what they did object to, and rightly so in his opinion, was the present method in regard to the equalisation fund. There the dairy farmers undoubtedly had a grievance. The dif--1 ference between the export price of butter and tho fixed price of butter on the local market should be met out of the Consolidated Fund, and not by the farmers themselves. As he had already said, ho believed that the control of local prices , should bo continued for some “time to come, not alone in regard to butter, but in regard to other necessary commodities, as well. Probably our produce would obtain famine prices on the world’s market for some years, and no one would make them believe that. because they got famine prices abroad the people, hero should also pay those famine prices. They must keep things within reasonable bounds so that the poorest among them could obtain what was necessary at something like a reasonable figure. Ho would applv this principle to all necessaries making up tho difference to tho primary producer out of tho Consolidated Fund, which was the only legitimate and practical way of doing it. If it came out of tho consolidated revenue, it was provided for by taxation, and it was then evenly distributed. In other words, tho richer a man was tho more.ho would have to pay. PROFITEERING. Mr. Hine also touched on tho question of profiteering, which lie said was undoubtedly going on and that tho position had not been ’grappled with as It should have boon. Take hides, for ’instance ; tho price in this country was no higher than it was before the war, and yet look at the price they had to pay tor leather and all leather goods. There had been an enormous increase. Tho same applied to the wool trade. The price of wool had been controlled, but look at tho price of woollen goods. The Government had not followed the tiling up as it should have done, and now the railway crisis would no doubt have the effect of bringing about still further increases because the restrictions on tbo carriAgcfeof goods would result in » shortage in some districts, at any rate. They recognised, or course, that the cost of production in many things had gone up, that wages were higher, but allowing for all this tho cost of living had gone up beyond all reason. Shipping, 100, had no doubt bad a bad effect in this respect, and this was a question which would have to bo grappled with by the Government. It would either have to charter vessels with a view to having State service of insulated boats and also a collier service, or the State and the pro-

I j ducers should combine with a view to i I acquiring a service. Shipping charges - were extraordinarily high and why this t should he so he with many others could 3 not understand. i IMMIGRATION, r 1 Passing on to the question of immit gration Mr. Hino said more people were - wanted in tho Dominion. There was s plenty of room for them, and therefore t he favoured a policy whereby desirable , immigrants would receive liberal assist- , ance in regard to their passage money, I and which would offer other . inducei ments for men and their wives and r families to come out to the Dominion. PUBLIC AY ORES. L He-was sorely disappointed with the ( Government in regard to its public , works programme. There was great room for improvement here. Proceeding, ho said that to carry out a pro- . gvessivo public works policy many miJ- . lions of money would bo required. Were [ they going to cany on tho old expen- , sive system of borrowing and piling up , the public debt or should they find another 'way? Xu the past our methods ) had been to borrow, borrow, borrow, ; persistently and consistently, generally . outside the Dominion, but judging from r the high rates of interest that would [ be ruling in England and elsewhere this . practice would luiv'o to cease. He had , i given much thought to this vital ques- . j tion, and after ail his study ho had , conic to the conclusion that a system i of issuing public works terminable bonds in a limited number was not only ■ sound but would bo a profitable invest- . 1 nient for tho Dominion. Before on- ; j larging on tho proposal lot them closely . : examine how the present svstem work- . ! ed. They borrowed say Tor illustration ten millions at 4 per cent., repayable , in 25 years. By the time the 25 years had elapsed they had paid in ini terost alone ten millions and still owed to the money lender the original amount of ten million that they borrowed. "This really meant that for the ton millions worth of work done in this country they had paid "away in interest and repayment of loan combined a sum of no less than twenty million pounds, or to put it into practical words they had only received 10s worth of work for every pound paid to the moneylender. His proposal was this: That instead of borrowing for public works the Government should issue public works terminable bonds (of various denominations), the bonds, to die a legal tender in the Dominion, and in tho Dominion only. He might diverge for a moment to enlarge on the question of paper money being legal tender. During tho whole period of tho war the banks doing business in New Zealand had all enjoyed the privilege of their banknotes being j legal tender, and this privilege was to , continue untfi December 31, 1922, so i that the question of paper money being ' accepted as legal tender was not alto- ; gether a new thing. Now, to go back ; to his proposal for tho issue of terminj able bonds as a legal tender. A strong redemption fund would need to bo utii lised, which would be sufficient to rei deem the whole issue within the period j the bonds were issued for; in fact his i proposal was that a percentage be redeemed each year of the currency. For comparison with the present system of borrowing, the effect of which lie had just tried to explain, with tho proposal bo was advocating, they would take the issue of ten million poonds’ worth of public works terminable bonds, which would he used for the purpose of paying for public works, and instead of carrying any interest 5 per cent, would be set aside as a redemption fund, and a halfmillion bonds would' be redeemed each year, with tho result that at tho end of twenty years the ten million pounds’ worth of public works bonds would have j been redeemed and tho country would | have ten million worth of public works j free of any debt, and which would have been built out of our ordinary revenuo i under the methods he was proposing, ; whereas if they continued iu the old wire : of borrowing they would have paid toil : million in interest and still owe tho 1 money-lender ten millions. To succoss- | fully carry out the proposal the cordial j co-operation of the banks of this country ; would be necessary, and he felt sure I their assistance would bo forthcoming, I especially in view of tho protection tho : State had given them during the whole ; period of tho war and for "the next three i years ns well. Tho effect of issuing bonds , ns a legal tender would probably mean I ; withdrawal of banknotes, so that ar- i rangements would require to bo made ! u ith the hanks under which they would ■ undertake to treat the public works i 1 i bonds as their own notes if re-issued by i them in the ordinary course of Iciness, j in so far as banknote tax and gold reserve was concerned'. LIQUOR PROBLEM. i Continuing, Mr. Hino safl they all knew that his sympathies wore in the [ direction of nolicense. He. was still a no-lieenso man, and JnAwanted to issue a warning to his constituents with regard to State purchase and control. It was proposed that the people should have no opportunity of voting on this ( There were two sides to the question, tho moral and the financial. Regarding the former, he did not think r it right that pcopl owho were absolutely opposed to the trade should bo made co-partners in the trade, which would bo tho position if State control was carried. Regarding tho financial side it :j was provided that the brewers and all I interested should have thoir land, builcl- ■* ings and everything in connection with tile trade purchased by tho State at full value, but that in addition to that ' tho brewers and tho licensees should ■ceivc two years’ prolist based .upon the afrerago for the past five years as ! compensation. He did not think this | . was generally understood by the people. What was it going to cost the country? Last vote limited tho amount to 4,, but under this proposal it would be nearer 15 millions, and this money, ho contended, would ho better spent in improving the conditions of the workers, and settling the soldiers on the land. Major Hino briefly touched on the housing question and the need for some reasonable scheme in this connection, and referred to tho wonderful jjossibilities of tho Dominion and tho urgent need there was for a sound, progres- t sive, constructional policy in order to f develop to tho full those possibilities. A number of questions were asked j and answered and a hearty vote of j thanks was accorded to the speaker for * his address. A similar compliment to j the chairman for presiding concluded 0 tho meeting. a