MEMBER FOR PATEA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 279, 25 November 1931, Page 8

MEMBER FOR PATEA

MR. H. G. DICKIE’S POLICY LOANS AND NATIONAL DEBTS CRITICISM OF LABOUR Matters of policy, and the position of the country as he saw it, were outlined bv Mr" H. G. Dickie, Coalition candidate for Patea, at his meeting at Mosston last night. He answered a number of questions, and was accorded a vote of thanks. At one stage 3 member of the audience was inclined to engage the candidate in conversation as to their different views on the political situation, or as to the facts quoted by the speaker. The chairman, Mr. F. H Allen, twee asked that a free hearing should be given and that questions should be asked at the end of the address. “On this occasion you have to choose between Coalition and Labour,” said the speaker. “We have seen the results of Labour’s rub* in Great Britain and Australia and during the period of our worst financial drift in New Zealand (I refer to 1929-30, when our Government was dominated by the Labour Party). However, when Mr. Ransom was Acting Prime Minister during Mr. Forbes 9 absence from New Zealand at the Imperial Conference, a break with Labour occurred. Since that date Labour has done all in its power to put the Government off the Treasury benches. “Borrow and Tax” “The Labour Party in this country have only one policy, to '‘borrow and tax,” and during the six years I have been in the House, Labour has supported every proposal which involved the expenditure of borrowed money, whether it would result in a loss or not. Labour voted solidly for the completion of all our railway lines notwithstanding the fact that our last loan in London cost us over £6 Is 9d per cent, and that the lines under construction would show a huge loss. “When Mr. Forbes returned from London the position of the country’s finances was serious. An early session was decided upon. Mr. Forbes was approached concerning fusion; but he stated that he was too busy to discuss it and said, let the electors decide it at the next election. He was backed up in this attitude by tUe Press. This was in February. In April, at the end of the short session, matters were not improving and imports were steadily declining. Mr. Forbes then made an offer of fusion. This embraced all of the House except Labour; but although I favoured a conference between the two big parties. Reform and United, to see if we could get anywhere with the proposal, I was opposed to the Independents coming in.

Mr. Dickie on Fusion “Notwithstanding that provision was made for a hsrinkage of nearly £3,000,000 in revenue, the financial year ended with a debit balance of £1,639,000. When the main Budget came down in July matters had changed to such an extent that it was estimated that we should have a Budget shortage for the coming year or £6,850,000. “All available reserves were made use of and increases in taxation of a drastic nature were indicated to cope with the position. Notwithstanding further economies the revenue position continued to go back until Mr. Forbes called Mr. Coates into consultation and the result was that Mr. Coates moved the adjournment of the House to enable a committee from all the parties to be formed to go fully into the Dominion’s position. The opportunity thus presented itself of forming a National Government to deal with the position, with a possible postponement of the General Election. “The Labour and Independent grouns declined to co-operate and so a Coalition was formed between the United and Reform parties on a 50-50 basis with Mr. Forbes as Prime Minister. each party having five Ministers in the Cabinet. This is an entirely different arrangement from the original fusion proposal and in my opinion it will work well and I consider the present Cabinet quite a good team to tackle the work aheadThe Public Debt “Probably one of the most unpleasant features during the last Parliament was the 10 per cent, cut in salaries and wages. There was only one alternative, namely, further dismissals from the Public Service and from private employment, and, with 50,000 unemployed, this could not be considered. However, with the reduction in many essential articles of food such as meat, potatoes, butter, cheese, and with prices of all classes of clothing falling, the cost of living has just about fallen in the same ratio.

“During the past three years the Public Debt has increased from £257,000,000 to £273,000,000 and this rate of increase cannot go on unless we are prepared to mortgage all of our assets up to the hilt. Expenditure of public money, which is justifiable in prosperous times becomes impossible in times of depression; but the Labour Party thinks that we can go on borrowing indefinitely, hence their proposal to borrow £25,000,000 from the New Zealand banks. “Three main problems present themselves at the present time and their solution should claim the attention of all responsible and thinking people. They are: The balancing of the Dominion’s Budget and the position of our primary producer and unemployment. Primary Producers “If we can put our farmers in a position to pay their way and carry on, the other two problems will solve themselves. At present he is trying to balance post-war costs of production with pre-war and below pre-war prices for his products and this will mean bankruptcy. “The final stages of the late session were devoted to finding ways and means of giving our primary producer some measure of relief. Some £:>).000 was devoted to a reduction of his local body rates, £75.000 extra in hospital subsidies, and £lOO.OOO in reduction of manure. This will bring the price of superphosphate down to £3 17s 6<l ner ton. a reduction of 17s nd per ton. The bank rate has been reduced from November 1 to 61 per cent, on the best nceounts. Under the Land Laws Bill provision is made for

local committees to enquire into the position of farmers to enable Crqwn tenants to be assisted through the

present crisis. “Similar committees are to function under the Mortgagors’ Belief Act to enable adjustments to oe made between mortgagor and mortgagee. These committees will make recommendations to the Judge or Magistrate dealing with the applications for relief under the Act. The foundation or all of our prosperity is the land and if the farmer is having a bad time the whole of the rest of the community suffers. “Wool has fallen 75 per cent., butter 40 per cent, and cheese 30 per cent., while our frozen meat is on the down grade also. In fact, irozen beef will hardly realise expenses. Farming costs to-day are 57 per cent, above 1914 level, while farm products are 10 per cent, below' 1914 lev«>. fhe cost of living figures, all groups, are 42 per cent, above 1914 level, while the wages of all industrial groups stand at 47 per cent, above pre-war levels. These figures will show why it was essential to legislate to save the farmer from bankruptcy. Income Losses Compared ‘ ‘ Owing to the fall of £30,000,000 in the value of primary products in two years, the spending power of the community has been lessened by that amount and many of our business men and importers are feeling the pinch, particularly those who deal in what may be termed “luxury lines,” and as the bulk of our customs revenue is from this source the loss of this revenue has been a factor in the Government’s financial difficulties.

“In times such as these everyone has to make some sacrifice and while the farmer has a 67 per cent, cut the wage earner should not grumble at a 10 per cent. cut. The only exception I took to the 10 per cent, cut was that it failed to take into account the wage earners’ responsibilities. A married man with several children made the same sacrifice as a man on the -same wage with no dependents, and I voted for an exemption for each child as is given effect to in our other direct taxation.

“The only permanent solution of the unemployment situation ss to get as many as possible back to the land or into directly-productive employment. After a study of land settlement in many countries, I am satisfied that the most effective method is to get each settler on to his own allotment rather than to experiment in communal schemes which have proved a failure in other countries. West Australia has abandoned the group system after 3000 men have walkekd off their holdings and the State has lost £5,000,000 of money. Petrol Profits Question “Last year New Zealand imported 68,000,000 gallons of motor spirit and in comparison with prices in Great Britain we paid over £2,000,000 more than world parity for it. This has been reported to the House by the select committee on highways finance and by the Department of Industries and Commerce and definite action will have to be taken in the matter. “It was shown that while the freight from California to Britain was 9s per ton, the freight at the same time to New Zealand was charged up to the importers at 33s 6d per ton, and that an extra Id per gallon was loaded on to the invoice cost. One penny per gallon extra means £286,666 to the consumers in New Zealand. Mr. Dickie favours the control of broadcasting being taken over by the Post Office. The Post Office at present collected all listeners’ fees, amounting to £90.000 per year and had all the necessary technical staff to handle the mechanical side, he stated. There were huge potential profits in the business and those should be applied to a reduction of fees and a better service. Licenses cost £1 10s in Now Zealand as against 10s in England and still lower fees in Canada and the State already was assisting in financing the business. Summing Up Loans After dealing with education taxation and other matters, Mr. Dickie briefly summed up the present position. At the end of March last our exports for the year had fallen in value by £12,000,000. Our imports had also fallen by £15.000,000, but we had to find at least £8,000,000 to pay the interest on debts held uutslde of the Dominion. That had to be met by additional taxation and economies if we were to carry on and escape repudiation and bankruptcy. “The Labour Party is in favour of inflation, which means putting up the cost of living and taxing the poor man’s pound in the same ratio as the rich man’s pound, he said. “We have a National Debt of £273,000,000 ajd no matter how unpleasant it may be, we have to face up to our responsibilities. In times like these the tendency is for those in trouble to turn “Bolshie;” but after giving Labour rule a trial we see what has happened in England and Australia. In Germany to-day the people talk with more dread of the awful experience? during the period when they inflated their currency than to the bitter period of the Great War.” Questions Answered

In answering questions at the end of the address, Mr. Dickkie said that he considered that the number of members of Parliament might be reduced. About Auckland there were six or eight electorates in a group, where four might be sufficient. Twenty members of the Upper House would be enough. Other electorates, those in the countrv might be larger than those of the cities, jet the method of travel had increased in speed so much that it was not so hard now to get about tne electorate. Dealing with whether there should be a longer life of Parliament, he said that at every election there were about 25 per cent, new members in the House. Many of those thought that thev had been sent into Parliament to advance certain views and they did so in the first session. He often thought, when he heard men repeating themselves to talk out their time, that it might be a good idea to charge for space in Hansard. Personally he did not do much talking. He would rather work on the committees than make speeches in the Chamber. The second session was a working session and in the third session the members had their eves on the election coming at the end. and were making speeches for that end. So there was only one working session in the life of the Parliament. The life should, in his opinion, be extended to four years.

The candidate said that he was not. in favour of the introduction of the Matson Shipping Line into New Zea-

land waters. If America would not treat New Zealand and New Zealand would treat her, then the matter became national and the Government of New Zealand could prevent the Matson boats taking any passengers from New Zealand to Australia. Mr. Dickie said that he had always voted against any subsidies to shipping taking mails via San Francisco as they had a very good service by way of Vancouver. He did not favour the subsidising of the San Francisco route at all.

Dealing with reduced interest, he said that it had been stated by the Hon. Downie Stewart that it was not possible to reduce interest in New Zealand. But he thought tnat the position should receive the fullest investigation, and should be inspected very closely. It seemed to him, after talking with Professor Copland, that they might get somewhere with a reduced interest scheme in New Zealand. Personally, he would see if it were possible to reduce interest rates in New Zealand, rather than tax that form of investment. Was it not a fact, that even with a period of reasonable prosperity, that there would still be unemployment, duo to machinery, was a question put to the candidate. Mr. Dickie said that machinery affected the whole of the world, and would have a bearing on the unemployment question to a certain extent. Rut what they wanted was more men on the “open spaces” in New Zealand. At the conclusion of the meeting Mr. F. Goul' l proposed a vote of thanks to the speaker for his interesting address. It was carried by acclamation.