GOVERNMENT IS DEFENDED BY MR D. JONES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18586, 11 October 1928, Page 4

GOVERNMENT IS DEFENDED BY MR D. JONES.

j ELECTION CAMPAIGN OPENED IN ASHBURTON Mr David Jones, Reform candidate for Mid-Canterbury, opened his election campaign by addressing a meeting at St Andrew’s Hall, Ashburton, last I evening, there was a fair attenj dance. The Mayor of Ashburton (Mr j R. Galbraith) presided. | Introducing Mr Jones, the Mayor j said they would miss the Hon W. Nosworthy, who for twenty years had I represented this district in a very able j manner and was considered of suffi cient ability to occupy Cabinet" rank, and had represented New Zealand on several important missions abroad. If he (the Mayor) were Prime Minister, he would reward Mr Nos worthy with the High Commissionership or something of that kind. A voice: It's all cut and dried. In opening .his address. Mr Jones added his testimony to the value of the work cf Mr Nosworthy in the House. Mr Nos worthy was known as a man of unquestioned integrity, and he possessed the particularly valuable trait that j they all knew where he stood. Continuing, Mr Jones said that while- the Liberals had the Labour vote, . they were easily firsts but when Labour started its own party the Liberals, alias the Nationals, alias the United Party, ceased to be factor of value. A vote for the United Party (and there were only four of them in the House who would go to the elections) was a vote worse than wasted. “The choice in every electorate is between Reform and the Labour Socialist.” he said. “Lenin. Trotsky and 11. E. Holland are all disciples of the German Socialist, Marx. Their policy is the destruction of capitalism in New Zealand. They no longer talk wild Socialistic theories, but their policy as set out in their platform has never been altered, viz., nationalisation of production, distribution and exchange. It is for the people of New Zealand to say whethei they want the whole economic system thrown into the melting pot and to put in its place a. system that has been previously tried and has always spelt ruin. The Labour Party must completely alter its methods and its policy before it can claim the support of the worker. Labour is represented better by the Reform Part}' than by any Labour Government in the Empire. This is particularly illustrated in the mining laws. Workers’ Compensation Act. education, pensions, Custom duties and State advances to settlers and workers. In these and many other matters the present Government had improved on workers’ Governments or Labour Governments elsewhere.” Reform was the only possible Government in sight, and after sixteen years’ continuous office in the most troublous times of the century they could appeal again with confidence to the people. FINANCE. Sound finance was the first essen tial factor in good government, and the finances of the Dominion had won the approval of London financiers, illus-

trated by the last five million loan, which was subscribed seven-fold. Our borrowing was heavy, and the reason was not far to seek. People demanded ihat the Government should own the railways, hydro-electric power, telegraphs and telephones, build workers’ homes, buy land for settlement, and finance workers and farmers. He supported that policy. therefore borrow to satisfy the demand and develop the country, when the expenditure was interest-earning and the necesary burden of the people was not increased, and many undertakings would become increasingly valuable as popula-

tion increased. In considering the public debt it was important to remember that over £107,000,000 was borrowed within New Zealand, and the interest remained here. We must also take into consideration our assets. We have in cash investments and sinking funds bearing interest £38,000,000, Advances Department £37,000.000, railways, telegraphs, electric power and other public works £78,000,000, lands, forests, irrigation £72,000,000, indirectly productive work such as buildings, roading, etc., £38,000,000, or over £260,000,000 of assets. If we wished to sell them we could pay our debts. Although indebtedness was increasing because of these extensions the country was more than paying its way. Last year we had a surplus of revenue amounting to £189,000, and redeemed and paid off £2,477,000 of our debt. Heavy taxation was due to war burdens ; £9.800,000 had been paid off the war debt alone in the last six years. Last year we spent on public works as follows: —Railway construction, additions . and improvements, £2 573.252; hydro-electric supply, £1,272,575; telegraphs and telephones, £625,540; public buildings, £605,747; irrigation, land and river improvement, £273,452; other public works, £177,983; total, £5,528,549. Interest on war debt, war sinking fund, and war pensions amounted to £5,203,945, therefore had it not been for the burden of the war we could have paid off practically the whole of the above expenditure on public works out of revenue, and borrowing could cease. The extension of social services, so liberally provided by the present Government, absorbed one-third of the State’s annual revenue from taxation. FOR THE FARMER. Primary production, the foundation of New Zealand’s prosperity, was responsible for over 90 per cent of our exports, therefore sound finance for farmers was indispensable. There was a cry for an agricultural bank as a solution of our troubles. There was, however, no difference between the Advances to Settlers and Workers Department and an agricultural bank except the name. Actually we had an agricultural bank with a capital of £38.000,OCO. In the last five years £10,621,491 had been lent to erect and buy workers’ homes. The housing shortage had been almost satisfied. Under the Government's i>oliey of the freehold for workers the State Advances Department paid over from March 31, 1923, to July 31, 1928, £27,640,149. The new Rural Advances Act and Intermediate Credit Act for short-term loans

would become an important part of the credit system. Mr Jones, speaking with an intimate personal knowledge of farmers’ finance in other parts of the world, said the policy of the New Zealand Government stood easily first. Encouragement of production waff an important part" of the Government’s policy. The wheat industry, so important to Canterbury and particularly to this electorate! had been placed on a sound basis.. Adequate protection.- had. been., given both to farmers" and "to" "the consumer. In regard to potatoes New Zealand had by _ adopting Australia's policy. Subsidies and guarantees had been given to the’pork industry, also tb *ggs and fruit, the aim being to develop what wc are best able to produce economically. A striking illustration of what this guarantee had done to the fruit industry wa;s the fact that this year over 1,00,000 cases of fruit had been shipped. The Agricultural Department’s policy, of agricultural education had been ef fective, and scientific knowledge of herd testing and top-dressing were giving remarkable results. Last year meat export increased by 60,000,0001 b, and sheep stocks increased by 1.484, 794 head. A record kill of about 420,000.0001 b had been regulated, and shipped by the Meat Board without any glut, bringing increased prices. These facts indicated the results of the extensive land for settlement policy of the present Government. Further development was essential. The export of butter in 1918 was 316,456 cwt. and in 1928 it was 1,578,299 cwt. Cheese exported in 1918 amounted to 985,170 cwt, and in 1928 1,564,44Gcwt These *xgure‘s conclusively proved the rapid development of the country. Development was also • further exemplified in the rapid growth of the national wealth of the Dominion, which • to-day stood at £907,000,000. UNEMPLOYMENT. During the last three years there had been some unemployment,-the result of hard times causing many employers to shorten hands, arid also of the rapid introduction of machinery. This was strikingly illustrated in America,. where the number of hand.' employed in manufacturing .was the same as in 1920, although there had been an enormous expansion in output. The New Zealand Labour Party’s report to its conference .this year stated that the main cause of unemployment was the displacement of Labour by. modern inventions: Transfer from coal to oil on one steamer threw twentyseven men out, and this was multiplied a thousand fold on other ships. Labour Socialists blamed immigration, .but the percentage increase in immigrants had been less in the last ten years than in the last ten years of the Liberal administration. We lost 16.696 killed in the war, and it was estimated that 5000 more were totally incapacitated. The number of adult male immigrants had been 21,113* so that immigration had barely replaced the men we lost. In Britain there was one unemployed in thirty-eight, in America one in sixtj'. in Australia one in 190, and in New Zealand one in 440. Labour Socialist Governments had not solved the i unemployed problem. Mr Havelock ' Wilson said a week ago, “There is only one way to solve unemployment, viz., by common sense and goodwill.” That was the policy of Mr Coates. Returning prosperity and sound administration were already solving the problem.

Mr Jones was. loudly applauded on resuming his seat. Replying to questions he said he did not approve of a private pledge being given by candidates to sectional organisations, and being withheld from the electors. He did not favour a . tion in the number of members, as the electorates were - quite large enough, and committee work in Parliament demanded representatives of varied interests He refuted the statement that there had been a corner in potatoes. The high price was due to a shortage. He would vote for an increase in members’ honorarium if the proposal again was introduced; in fact* a four years’ Parliament would be an advantage to members. Mr G. W. Andrews moved a vote of. thanks, which was carried by acclamation, and a similar vote was passed to the chairman.