THE MASTERTON SEAT

Wairarapa Age, 20 November 1919, Page 5

THE MASTERTON SEAT

MR. McLEOD SPEAKS. Mr Alex. McLeod, the Labour can- [ didate for the Masterton seat, opened his political campaign in the Kuripuni "Hall last night. There were about 150 persons present, including a good sprinkiing of ladies. Mr H. j. O'Leary, who occupied the chair, briefly introduced the speaker. He said they all knew Mr McLeod as a citizen <ind as a Borough Councillor. l?e was not an extremist, and had not attempted to blow the town up by dynamite. Mr McLeod, who was received with applause, said he wished to deny a rumour that the Labour Party was out as an organisation to interrupt the meetings of political candidates. The Labour Party was out to extend froedom of speech to ill. The representative attendance indicated that Labour was looming on the horizon, fie had been accused of being an extremist. On two occasions the people had returned him to a seat on trip Borough Council, but he defied anyone to say that he had been responsible for introducing or supporting extreme measures. If anyone thought so, let them say so. The speaker said he took the silence as evidence of his innocence in this connection. (Applause.} The Labour t'artv was charged with being revolutionists. It was true ha stood for revolution, not mob rule, but for a revolution which aimed at a Government of tjie people, tor the people, an.i oy the people. Mr McLeod claimed that the Massev and Liberal Governments had outlived their usefulness, and '"that the time "was ripe for a change.

CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM

The candidate contended that the capitalistic system existing in New Zealand was causing undue hardships, and would not be tolerated pt some of Ihe older countries. He quoted figures from a speech delivered' to Parliament by Sir James Allen, in his financial statoment. iriis showed that the unimproved land values in 1914 were £228,493,000. In 1905 the unimproved values were £122,937,000. Between these years the ■ unimproved values liad increased by £106,000,000. According to Sir James Allen, in 1914 there were 120,000 landowners in New Zea land, including town and country, beeijgg that there were at least 600,000 adults in New Zealand, this meant that 480,000 were landless in a country thoy were supposed to be in possession of, and this in face of the fact that the Liberals and Tories were supposed to' have attacked land monopoly for iorty years. Of the 120,000 landowners only 40.889 paid land tiftc on £170,{)00,000 of unimproved values in land. The total tax tjiey paid was only £764,000. The total values in that year was £220,493.000, and of this amount 40,889 peoplo owned £170,000,000. This, was only 4 per cent of the population, and this small percentage owned three-quarters of the, total of the land. Included in the 40,000 land taxpayers were 6100 odd who . paid the graduated land tax. Of the £170,000,000 owned by all the land taxpayers these 6100 graduated land taxpayers ownftd. about £85.000,000. That was to say they owned one-half of the total taxable value of the land of New Zealand, and more than one-thir" of the whole value of all the lands of tjhis country. The 6100 people represented three-fifths of one per cent of the total population. Here was the actual situation 'n J 014 as stated br Tjir James Alien. Tuls went to show that 480;i000 people owned no lane 7 at' all. This was nff* the end of thirty years of Liberalism, and sever years of Toryism. According to the Vear Book of 1917 the total number of land and graduated land .taxpayers was 35,859. That was 5000 less, and tha amount they paid was £713,000, or £50,000 less. While h the four war years Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward were reducing the number of land taxpayers and the amount they paid in tax the unimproved value of their land rose by over Thus, the unimproved value o£ laud had risen £8,000,000 per annum. These factsproved that land mononoly in it? worst form existed in New Zealand. They also proved that the worker who voted for the parties whose legislation permitted it had better get his brains

INCOMES. The speaker went on to show that the number of income-tax payers increased by 23,000 during the fouryear war period. The . total income of the 38,000 people assessed for taxation was in 1914 £36,645,000. The total tax paid by them was £5,619,000. Of the total number of incometaxpayers— 37,949—26,321 had incomes of less than £650, or a total of £10,30-5,000, showing an average income of £309. Five thousand five hundred and thirty-one had incomes between £650 and £IOOO, their total assessable incomes being £4,307,000, giving them an average income of £7BO. Ag&in, 6807 had incomes of between £IOOO and £IO,OOO. This total income was £12,988,000, or an average of £l9io. Two hundred and ninety people had incomes of more than £IO,OOO each, and their incomes last year amounted in the aggregate to £9,430,000, giving them an average income of £31,194. In 1915-16 the total number of factories in New Zealand was 4670. The total number of workeis employed was 57,823, and the total wages paid £6,654,000. This wont to show that 290 persons received incomes valued at £2,500,000 more than all the workers in all the factories. THE PRESS. One of the greatest obstacles to the progress of the Labour Party in New Zealand was the capitalistic press of the cities, which camouflaged the main issue. He read a list of shareholders in the "Dominion," forty-five of whom, he said, owned over two million pounds' worth of unimproved value in land. This paper was run in defence of the land monopoly. It supported the Massey Government because the Massey Government supported the land monopolists. The "New Zealand Times" shareholders wore also quoted to show that the paper was controlled by merchants and brewers. The lists, he contended, showed thgt there was little difference between the Liberals and the Tories. STATE BANK. The Labour Party was out for n State but opposed the pro*