LABOUR INTERESTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 37, 8 January 1946, Page 5

LABOUR INTERESTS

ORGANISER’S VISIT INFORMATIVE ADDRESS An interesting and informative address on the achievements of the Labour Parly since its coming to power in 1935 was given by Mr A. Baxter, North Island organiser for the party. The meeting was held in the Borough Chambers. Mr Baxter wlio lias seen four and a half years with the spoke sincerely and forcibly as he pointed out the many ways in which

all classes of the population had benefited by Labour legislation.

Commencing with the year immediately following the 1935 depression due to the distribution of money to the unemployed etc. f purchasing power lin'd i 3eeu increased whereby the consumed the keepers and business in general had benefited by this party line. Claiming a personal interest in farming problems because he. was a farm employee he illustrated the benefits farmers had obtained from the saying that in 1935

over 50 per cent of the farmers were unable to meet their mortgage payments. The Labour Party had set up in consequence of this a Mortgage Adjustment Commission which after its deliberations had wiped off £32 millions of bad debt, thus al r lowing the farmers to forget for the first time in years, their monetary difficulties. With) the intraduction of the guaranteed price, the farmer was able to devote his time to production which, alone could give him an assured income. Mr Baxter also spoke on Social Security and said that in his travels in Canada America and England all •9 sections of the community had questioned him on the New Zealand Labour Government Social Security Act and showed very great interest in the benefits derived from it. From the. information gathered he could say without contradicition that New Zealand’s Social Security Act was the best in the world.

The problem of housing was also given some prominence in Mr Baxter’s speech. He went on to say that it was the Government’s intention to build more houses at a gradually excelerated pace over the next fekv years. The programme makes provision for 8000 in 194(5 —10,000 in 1947—and 12,000 in 1948. Private building is estimated to account for approximately 4000 per year. Touching on .the civil servants, the speaker mentioned that not until the Labour Party came to power had the civil servants possessed equal citizenship. The Government by giving this section of the community full rights with the rest enabled the civil servants to take an active part in politics irrespective of their affiliation.