WAY TO PROSPERITY

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 364, 4 March 1932, Page 3

WAY TO PROSPERITY

Adjustment of Interest Rates Urged. MR CONNOLLY'S PROPOSALS. (Special to the " Star.”) WELLINGTON, March 3. “ Hear, hear. Come over here,” chorused members of the Labour Party in the House to-

night, when Mr J. | Connolly (MidI Canterbury) in his [maiden speech, de- | dared that the [cause of the DominI ion’s troubles was bad administration within the country. During the years of prosperity, there Pad been excessive sorrowing and exi travagant expenditure. Mr Connolly said

that the same hands that distributed borrowed money in the past were those that were tightening up to-day. He believed that if New Zealand mended its ways and adjusted its affairs in a proper manner it would regain the confidence of London .financiers, which he feared had been lost. He considered that the first Bill introduced this session should have been one for adjustment of rates of interest within New Zealand. Wages could be cut, but what had been done on the other side? Money lenders had received a kindly invitation from Mr Forbes to ease up rates, but what was wanted was compulsory adjustment of interest rates: If lowering the rates of interest were made compulsory everybody would benefit. Solution To Unemployment.

" I think there would be more done by that stroke to solve the unemployment problem in New Zealand, than by any of the proposals so far placed before the Government,” he declared.

“In the past Governments had not played fair with the cities, because they had piled people into these areas instead of encouraging them to settle in the country. Money was advanced for dwellings in towns where the workers were a failure owing to lack of employment. Now it was proposed to put people back into the country, a wise plan he had foreseen years ago as inevitable. The cost of putting a man, his wife and family on a twenty-acre plot in the country would only involve an annual interest charge of £6O, and they would be self-supporting, whereas the same man, if he remained in town, would cost the unemployment fund £9O annually, and his children would find no outlet. If half the money which had been advanced to provide workers’ dwellings in the cities had been spent to settle them on the land, New Zealand would have put 27,000 people into the country where they would have a chance of. being self-supporting. The Wheat-grower.

Mr Connolly said he represented a great wheat-growing district, where the farmer was getting only 4s 4d a bushel on trucks at country stations, so that the House could see that the wheatgrower was doing his part. Canterbury had suffered from the worst drought for many seasons, but it was not squealing. He sincerely hoped that the sliding scale of duties would be maintained and that an early pronouncement would be made regarding the future, so that growers could make preparations for next year. They were pleased to have had the protection and support of members of the House, and he wished to express gratitude to them for their help to the wheat-grower. Finally Mr Connolly, whose speech was followed with close attention, raised a laugh when he expressed a desire to tell the House why the people of Mid-Canterbury “ changed horses,” but unfortunately he had not the time left to give this explanation.