AT HIS BEST

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19433, 20 October 1925, Page 7

AT HIS BEST

MR- COATES AND HIS MEN A STRAIGHT TALK TO WORKERS ADMINISTRATION TO TAKE PRECEDENCE. (Special to “Chronicle.”) OHAEAWAI, Oct. 19. On his way from Dargaville to Ohaeawai the Prime Minister pulled into the big Public Works camp at Pukehuia. The men and the women of the camp turned out in full strength and in his address to them Mr. Coates was at his best. From the time he began till the end ho held them with a racy speech. A vote of thanks and confidence was moved. The chairman’s invitation of an amendment was not accepted and the motion was carried ,by acclomation, practically unanimously. Manifesto and Moneybags. “My opponents suggest that my manifesto was dictated by the moneybags,” said the Prime Minister in the course of his- speech, “but the fact is it is my manifesto, and nobody else’s. Another thing I want to point out is that there is a demand for legislation of all sorts, but I am of the opinion that there is practically enough legislation on the Statute Book and that what we want is progressive and sound j administration. I want to have a word to say in reply to the critics who say there has been too much borrowing and that a stop should be put to it.

“The fact is that 75 per cent, of the total debt of New Zealand is interest earning, and is not a liability on the country. New Zealand is in a more prosperous condition than any other part of the Empire. That is a fact that cannot be denied. The really essential comparison surely must be in connection with the amount of dead weight debt. Ono would think to hear some people talk that the money we arc borrowing to-day and putting into roads, railways, irrigation works, and swamp drainage was being put in without any hope of the works paying interest. If that were so I would agree with the critics that we would not be justified in borrowing any more money for New Zealand. Development Loans. “Since 1912 we have borrowed for developmental purposes somewhere about sixty-six million pounds, and of that amount ninety per cent, is interest earning. That is something to remember when people talk to you about the extravagant Government. ,The other parties say they w r ould curtail borrowing One section says it would borrow all the money required in New Zealand. Well, in a young country it is essential to give the people every opportunity to develop in every way they want to, and if you take their money and use it for national works you hamper them and cripple the country. Any other argument is conservative, restrictive and hopeless from the point of view of future prosperity. If we were to restrict our public works borrowing today we would have to stop works in all parts of the country. A Pertinent Question. “On the one hand our opponents say they would restrict borrowing and on tho other hand they tell you that if they come into power they will finish your railways and do all sorts of things. However, they have paid me this compliment. They say they are going to follow what the Minister for Public Works has laid down, but if they mean to follow that, why don’t they get in behind us and support our candidates? It is essential that in all State undertakings there must bo business management and if this is not there is going to bo waste of money which belongs to the people. We cannot give or get anything for nothing. Everything must be made to pay just as it is in private business.”