The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1927. THE PRIME MINISTER’S SPEECH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19842, 17 May 1927, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1927. THE PRIME MINISTER’S SPEECH

The speech delivered by the Prime Minister at Dargaville last night was of so comprehensive a nature that it cannot be dealt with in detail within the compass of a single review, and, for the present, reference must be only to its salient points. Though delivered to his own constituents, the speech touched only briefly on local affairs and dealt for the most part .with mutters of policy.

To the farming community and to not a few business men, the principal feature was the Premier’s survey of the position, as regards dairy control. Mr Coates has been wise in keeping silence during the past few weeks under the flood of misrepresentation to which he has been subjected, though no doubt he found it difficult. By avoiding controversy, he has been enabled to meet the charges laid against him in one single effort, and it must be conceded that he has effectively answered his critics. Whatever opinion may be held as to the right or wrong of control, no sane person who reads the Premier’s exposition of the situation could for a moment hold with the accusations—as unjust as they were absurd—of treachery and double-dealing which have of late been so maliciously made.

Mr Coates’ review of the Dominion’s financial position confirms what was said by the Hon. W. Downie Stewart (Minister of Finance) at Feilding last week: that the country is in a thoroughly sound condition so far as its national accounts are concerned. Carping critics may attempt to dispute this, but they can hardly deny that if such a shrewd person as the London investor finds cause for satisfaction there is no reason for the New Zealander to feel otherwise

The gratifying success of the recent £6,000,000 loan flotation, as mentioned by Mr Coates, is the best answer to those whose criticism of the Government’s financial policy is actuated more by prejudice than by a disposition to face solid facts. Though issued at the exceedingly high price of 99|, the list remained open for only a day and a half, and was then closed over-subscribed by a million There is a hard fact which speaks for itself. When it is considered that several recent colonial flotations have failed to fill up their subscription lists and that the underwriters have had to take over very large proportions, half of the total, or even more, convincing proof is afforded that there is nothing to find fault with in the conduct of the Dominion’s financial affairs.

Though the Prime Minister mentioned only a portion of the legislative work accomplished last session, he adduced sufficient proof to show that the Government is alive to the needs of all phases of the Dominion’s social and political affairs. Among several important measures passed into law, perhaps the most outstanding is the Family Allowances Act, which, it may be predicted, will prove itself worthy to stand on the same level

as the Old Age Pensions Act. Critics have attempted to belittle this humanitarian measure, though it is noticeable that none of them have yet quoted the opinions of the recipients of the allowances It is safe to say that the latters’ view is not the same as those seeking to make political capital out of the amount of the allowance, though how that allowance is to be increased five-fold, as they claim it should be, in the present money stringency, the critics do not even attempt to explain. The programme outlined by the Prime Minister for the coming session presages, as he himself observes, a busy and useful period of Parliamentary work. In fact, it is of so diversified a nature as to make of no value whatever the assertion, sometimes heard, that the Government is concerned with the welfare of only one class. Business men, manufacturers and workmen it is hoped to benefit by a Tariff Bill designed to assist secondary industries, the incidence of taxation will be reviewed so soon as present investigations are concluded, advances to farmers are to be further facilitated, and measures are contemplated dealing with mining, shops and offices, and education, to mention only some of the items on the Government’s programme for 1927. The above is necessarily only the briefest outline of the Premier’s remarks, but enough has been said to show that, both in performance and intention, the Government is alert to all the needs of a community of diversified occupations and stations, and that the onus of any failure to carry out its programme must rest on the shoulders of those more adept at factious opposition than concerned with the welfare of the country and its people.