LABOUR’S POLICY.

Wairarapa Age, 9 May 1924, Page 5

LABOUR’S POLICY.

A RATEPAYERS' MEETING. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. A meeting of ratepayers was held in Martinborough on the invitation of the Power Board to give information on a variety of subjects affecting the town. Messrs J. C. Cooper (chairman), C. J. Drewitt (engi neer), J. W. Kershaw (local representative) and Brown (secretary-mana-ger) attended to give information. Mr Cooper outlined the establishment of the scheme and the interviews with the Martinborough Town Board by the Investigation Committee, of which lie was a member. That Committee had promised that the Martinborough plant would be taken over as a standby. With the election of the Power Board things had changed, particularly in regard to the scheme first outlined. In the main the promises of the Investigation Committee were honoured. Though it was intended to take over the plant eventually, the Board decided to let it run as it was until other parts of the district were joined up. However, Mr Kershaw evcnturrllly pointed out that the battery was of little value, and three shifts had to be run to keep the “juice” in supply, so the Board decided to take over on April I and run the plant by a 50 h.p. motor from Kourarau. It would be bad business to reduce the price while they had to run the motor and drop a percentage of efficiency. Regarding tho vexed question of installations, the Power Board was under regulations over which it had no control. All connections had to bo inspected, and in a great many cases in Martinborough, ! these were found to be < elective. So i far no fires had occurred in this town, : but there had been fires in other ; places. Some people seemed to think j their representative had failed to get ; a fair price for the plant. All who ■ knew Mr Kershaw knew he would and | had made a good fight for' what he ’ considered a fair price for the plant. Replying to a statement that a comI potent electrical engineer wrote to the papers that wood casing was shfer I than conduit, the engineer said he could not agree on that point. Mr Lefort asked if no mixed installations had been allowed since 1911. In reply the engineer stated that the Underwriters’ Association had never allowed them since 1911 to his knowledge. Mr W. J. Horc: How long will tho Power Board guarantee installations now being done. Mr Kershaw: Guarantee them for all time. Mr M. R. Smith said the Power Board representatives had said nice things at first about the Martinborough plant, but when tho Kourarau movement was brought in the plant was not wanted. A second point was if Japanese wire was allowed during the war, why not to-day? If ratepayers were collectively put to an expense of £2OOO the Board should help and should devise a scheme to enable the present direct-current to tie maintained. He thought the ratepayers would meet part cost, if not too much. The Power Board had gone back on them a good bit.

Mr R. Nelson wished to know why the price paid for Martinborough plant was so low compared with Pahiatua.

Mr Cooper could not say. He had no knowledge of the fact, and it did not concern thfir Board.

Replying to Mr M. R. Smith, Mr Cooper said the Power Board were responsible for Martinborough loans, Mr W. B. Martin said this whs erroneous. The iotin* temamed with the Town Board, and the Power Board only paid interest.

Mr lorns thought the town had got a fair deal for it s plant. It was onlyputting off the evil day—the installations would have to be done sooner or later. It would be better to face the position.

Mr J. C. Chapman asked why the consumers were being charged lOd instead of 7d given out.

Mr W. B. Martin: Is the Board allowed to differentiate?

lhe engineer said the Board were supplying in bulk, and were niZ. differentiating. After much desultory business, a suggestion was made by Mr Griffiths that a lowering of the percentago payment and easier payments would meet the ease. This met with generar approve* ana the following resolution was carried:—■ “That it be a recommendation to the Board that a seaio oi repayment in connection with the reconditioning of installations be on a reduced scale, one condition being that the deposit be reduced to 10 per cent and the monthly repayment to 3d. per £ plu s inter* cst and when Kourarau charges for current eome into force, the 25 per cent deposit ana nd per £ monthly with interest be reverted to.”

of income tax,; which meant that the men who had fought would have to work for that 40 years to find the interest for those financiers who had found the country’s credit. Mortgages had doubled during the war, and interest had risen to twice its rate. When Mr Massey rushed tho Moratorium Act through the House, the speaker demanded a clause to prevent a rise in interest, but Mr Massey brushed aside the request with the remark that interest would not change. Six months later it rose 2 per cent. SMALL FARMERS’ BURDEN. The claim was continually made by the Reform Party that the small farmer could not pay his way owing to the high wages and heavy taxes, but the speaker ventured to say that their real difficulty was the burden of interest they were forced to find on their mortgages. The majority of farmers in New Zealand would be free from worry if they were mortgage free. There were farmers in Waikato paying £225 annually in wages and £9OO in interest. No assistance was offered by the Government even while the budget showed a cash surplus of £6,000,000,; and accumulated surpluses of £23,000,000. The fault of this rested entirely with the people who voted for the party which stood for these conditions. Why was is that in the year in which the freeholders had the most productive period there was more bankruptcies among tho farmers? TAXATION AND REMISSIONS. Mr Holland said the Government passed significant bills, including the Public Expenditure Adjustment Bill (which made the attack on the salaries of civil servants) and the Industrial and Arbitration Amendment Bill (which gave the court power to tear up all existing awards and frame new ones). This had the effect of reducing wages by from four to seven millions. The small farmer and small shopkeeper who applauded. Mr Massey at the time did not look rtt the economic effect of this money immediately ceasing to circulate. Mr Massey then proceeded .to reduce taxation, thereby reducing his revenue. Labour opposed the reduction until restitution had been made to? the civil servants, but the measure went through, and immediately following it customs duties were increased, the extra cost being spread over the whole community. No small farmer got any material relief from the reduction; those with a taxable income of £lOOO were relived by ss, but men with incomes of considerably over £lO,OOO wcie relieved of up to £3350, while the Bank of New Zealand was relieved of £60,000, and the Union Steamship Coy.j the Colonial Sugar Refining Coy., the P.ukcmiro Coal Coy., and the Westport Coal Coy., according to their income, which few people ever knew the extent of. INDUSTRIAL TROUBLES. The miners 1 lock-out and recent railway strike were the direct result of those bills. These men had justifiable cases, for no man could give Jiis wife and children a decent living on £3 15s per week. Labour would provide a measure of social enjoyment which the workers were not at present receiving. In office the Labour Party would settle all unsettled land, and would clear it before anyone was asked to farm it. The State travelling mill would be sent in and all the millable timber removed, and conserved for the benefit of the State. Labour also favoured State funds to deal with river erosions, which were at present too big for the individual or the local body. The party was opposed to the middleman, and would set up State depots where the primary products would be marketed, and the gross returns, less marketing costs, returned to the producer. State shipping, in opposition to the UffUn Steamship Cay.* was also a plank. These were not political, but economic changes, for which it would be necessary to have control of finance and credit. A State bank would be founded which would handle the public accounts, provide money for local bodies and primary and secondary industries, and be of assistance in settling the National Debt. To this end Labour intended to strike a levy on capital, a graduated tax on accumulated wealth. THE STATE OF PARTIES. Mr Holland drew the attention of his audience to the present position of parties in the House, remarking that lhe Liberal electors of to-day, clinging to the atmosphere of Ballance and Seddon, were not supporting Liberalism in the truer sense. They always supported Mr Massey when Labour moved a no-confidence motion. There was no difference in the parties. Labour was straight-out in the next fight, and they hoped to get there by the majority of the people. When they did, no longer would the laws of the country be written in narrow class interests as they were to-day. In reply to a question, Mr Holland Stated that the Labour Party was not a borrowing party. It might be necessary to raise a loan to pay one that could not bo met immediately. They, however, believed that the country was rich enough to pay its way. On the motion of Mr B. Roberts, seconded by Mr F. C. Evans, the speaker was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. Mr Holland was met by members of the Masterton branch of the Labour Party on arrival yesterday, and in the afternoon was driven to Kourarau, where he was shown over the power house. Mr Holland was also motored up to the top of the hill at the headworks, where the Labour leader was heartily met by the workers in camp there.

ADDRESS BY MR. HOLLAND. THE NEW LAND SCHEME. The land and financial policy of the New Zealand Parliamentary Labour Party was propounded at length by Mr H. E. Holland, M.P., Leader of the Party, to a crowd of about 700 people in the Municipal Hall last night. Mr W. Candy, who presided in the unavoidable absence of the Mayor (Mr Pragnell), introduced the speaker by saying that the Labour members of the House entered politics for the love of the country and the interests of the worker. THE LAND POLICY. Mr Holland said ho had chosen the subject of land and finance because he wished always to talk to his audience in the terms of their environment, and further because he represented a large number of small farmers in his own constituency. The Labour policy had for the first portion of its plank the conservation of the national endowments, and in the second, it declared on a land tenure to give the working farmer the full value of his labour. With respect to the national endowments, after the Seddon Government had introduced the old age pensions, and after Reform had fought the measure day and night, it went on to the statute book; and after it was enacted there arose an insistent demand that no more land should be alienated till old age pensions were provided for. Ever since the Reform Party had been in power attacks had been lodged against the national endowments. Some Liberals had supported Labour, but every time the leader of the Liberals had voted with Mr Massey,- voting against Labour and his own party. HOW THE LAND IS HELD. In New Zealand at present there were 150,000 landowners, and of these 59 owners held 5,042,065 acres, an average of 85,459 acres per holder; 168 owners held 5,094,088 acres, an average of 30,322 acres; 301 held 4,282,754,an average of 14,288, and so on down to 65,000 persons whose landed property was less than one acre. Of the 750,000 adults in New Zealand, 450,000 had no land at all. LABOUR’S POLICY. The Labour Party stood for a Dominion revaluation of the privatelyowned land, these records to go down as the basis of the measure of the present landowners’ interest in the land. It was not necessary to tell a rural community that if the prices of primary products rose, land values would do likewise. The Government had purchased its soldier settlement land at mountain peak prices, and now that times were getting slightly back to normal many of the soldiers were finding that they could not carry on. The budget showed accumulated surpluses of £23,000,000, a huge portion representing the money supk in soldier settle! 4 land, and the speaker had said that when soldier land was written down the result would be about a reduction of £7,000,000 fropi the surplus. Mr Massey said £2,000,000 only, but even if this was so it would not represent a gift to the soldiers, but a presentation to the land profiteers. A number of soldier settlers in Nelson went off the land because of the land being bought at inflated prices, and they could not make good. After they had gone, however, the Government revalued the land and offered it to other buyers. Labour said it. was much fairer to have reduced the capital value to the man who was already there. - /Applause.) The party proposed the. revaluations by the Valuer-General as at present, these being subject to appeal before a board of three. Labour would legislate to stop all gambling in land values. The party would stipulate that privately land should be sold or transferred to the State. If a speculator wanted to buy 5 land and sell it again at a profit, the Labour Party had’ nothing to offer him. Labour wanted to guarantee a man permanency of occupation and a living without making a slave of himself, his wife and his children? (Applause.) Those who had had these experiences knew the disabilities iof insufficient education and would, 'be determined to change the conditions for fhose who came after them. LAND SPECULATION. Land had frequently sold in Wellington at £BOO and £9OO per foot, and that could not go on without the people on the land feeling it. It was not only the Labour members who recognised the curse of the speculator. It was Labour’s desire to eradicate the land agency business. They wanted the Lands Department to do the work and bear the cost. An obligation would be placed on the State to purchase the land at fair .valuation when the farmer was forced to leave it, but he would be paid the full value for the improvements he had made. The policy would not interfere with existing titles or the laws of inheritance. The death duty on large estates would be heavily increased, it being believed that it would make for the well-being of the people on the land. Mr Massey said he gave the farmer his freehold, but the speaker asked how many of the farmers had their title deeds. If the financial firms held them the occupier could not be said to have the freehold—he had the mortgage. THE COUNTRY MORTGAGED. Was is right that a small country with 1} millions population should carry mortgages of £250,000,000, and of this 9-16 on rural land? The tribute of interest that the primary producer and the consumers had to pay annually was from 10 to 15 millions. The war had to be fought, and the soldiers were intended to come back to better conditions. Instead they returned to find that the country was in the hands of the mortgagee. Sir James Allen had said it would take 40 years to pay off the war debt at 41 per cent free.