NATIONAL PLATFORM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 44, 1 November 1946, Page 5

NATIONAL PLATFORM

LABOUR'S DRIFT TO SOCIALISM

POLICY ROUNDLY CONDEMNED

MR W. SULLIVAN IN FORM

To an attentive audience of -approximately two hundred, Mr W. Sullivan, M.P., gave his first campaign address in the Borough last evening. Mr Sullivan who was in splendid form spoke . forcibly and convincingly when he issued the warning that the Labour Government in his opin- > ion was out to Socialise the whole National and community fabric of the country if it were returned to office.

The address was remarkable for its presentation of the Government's shortcomings, the new National policy and its general forthrightness. It was punctuated by occasional applause but no interjections of any kind were offered.

"Mr Sullivan has a great record of public service in Whakatane and needs no further introduction to .you," said Mr B. S. Barry, the Mayor, when presenting the candidate. "He has already represented this town for a number of years and I know you will be waiting to hear what he has to say."

The Socialistic Trend

Mr Sullivan said that it was fairly .patent to all who had studied the policy of Labour that that party was looking back on its achievements rather than formulating some policy for the future. He lost no time in coming to grips with his subject and warned his hearers that the politics of the Dominion were now at the crossroads •and the whole indication of the present trend "was ultimate Socialism. He drew attention to the numerous -indications bearing out this contention. The re-formation of the electoral boundaries was no accident, he :said, it was done in order to penalise the disgruntled country communities in order to safeguard the solid Labour vote in the cities. The barometer of the last election .showed only too clearly that the •drift was away from the Labour vote. The Prime Minister, Mr Semple •and many other leaders went down two or three thousand votes in their own electorates. In the 1938 elections the country districts were crammed with P.W.D. and labour camps. Last time something happened overseas and when a check up was required it was discovered that the soldiers voting papers had been burned.

Individual Freehold

Dealing with the National policy, Mr Sullivan said that every memher of that Party was determined to stop this disastrous drift to Socialism and Communism. The policy for which he stood would ensure individual ownership of the home, of the land and of production. The policy which had been recently released and expounded by Mr Holland was the fruits of months and months of care and painstaking investigation. He knew of nothing better.

The criticism often levelled ,by Labour supporters, alleging that the old National Government had been responsible for the slump, was based on entirely wrong premises due to a lack of appreciation of world conditions at the time. He had always said that the old Government could have done better than they did, but at the same time when prices overseas fell so that the deflated markets nearly wrecked the Ramsay McDonald Government in England and brought about the lowest standard of living on records in the U.S.A. it was only natural that New Zealand should likewise feel the effects.

Labour today, he declared, was making excuses for every shortage. They were making excuses for the shortage of tyres, for the shortage of houses and everything else. There was- also maintained the rationing of sugar and of tea all of which he contended was quite needless. Tyre control had been lifted in Australia nine months ago and word from the U.S.A. declared that in 1947 there was going to be a surplus of world rubber.

Burden of Taxation

Mr Sullivan declared that the high taxation now levied on the people of this Dominion was completely in tune with the Government's policy of Socialisation. Out of every £ earned by the workers today no less than 7/6 went away in taxation. In other words for every 8 "hours a worker worked 3 hours for the Government in order to.,.pay his taxes. The boast ..that Labour, had debt could 1 be flatly refuted by showing that the national debt when Eabour first came into office was £322,000,000,

while last year (exclusive of the war expenses) it had risen to no less than £402,000,000. The grand total indebtedness of the Dominion was now £624,500,000. By way of analysis the taxation on the average taxpayer with a family of five in 1935 it was £Bl "annually. Last year it was no less than £336.

Departmental Costs

The high cost of Government Departments was powerfully criticised by Mr Sullivan who said that the, wastage in this direction was nothing short of a scandal. In 1935 the cost to the nation was £45,000. Today it was no less than £5,000,000. A National Government would quickly economise in this direction. The appointment of a High Commissioner in Moscow was a position he personally would like to see terminated at the earliest opportunity. Last year the country spent £BI,OOO on this legation and in return had imported only £l4O of Russian goods. Import Control

The speaker said that once again he condemned most heartily the system of import control. He would have the "system lifted at once if he had his way. The situation at present was that licenses were issued to a favoured few until the whole business became a legalised racket. National's policy was to appoint a Board of tTrade to handle the whole matter. This Board would be composed of all industrial and domestic, sections of the community and it would be its job to investigate the whole of the basis of the secondary industries throughout the Dominion. Board of Trade to handle the whole of the importing question when and where the raw materials and manufactured foods were required from overseas.

Referring to the Whakatane Paper Mills, Mr Sullivan said that no one could have put more obstacles in the way of that concern when it was making its establishment than the Labour Government. Yet recently it had been said by Labour representatives that if the National Party got into power the mills would be closed down. He wondered if electors realised that the Mill was operating without any protection whatsoever from the Government and was marketing board at from £3 to £l2 less than the cost of imported board. The Mill had paid out no less than £145,000 in taxation and £750,000 in wages and was doing a splendid job. It was interesting to note that of its 16,000 acres of pine forest it was only as yet capable of utilising a third of its annual replacements which meant that new and increasing secondary industries would be founded in the near future.

Rising Farmers Costs

Turning to the farming community Mr Sullivan said he knew of no Government which had done so much to reduce the farm production of this country than the Labour Government. Dairy produce was down 42,000 tons, and no wonder. The farmers' costs had been bumped up sky high so that it became almost impossible for him to carry on. The stabilisation to which the farming representatives agreed, was quite alright providing the farmers costs had been pegged as well as his marketing prices.

This had not been done and to add insult to industry, the Government had 'pinched' the lump sum payments made by the Imperial Government to offset the farmers war costs in order to meet industrial subsidies in any direction where they were required. Today the farmers produce stabilisation account which had stood in credit to the extent of some £17,000,000, was raided to meet every subsidy which was made to industry. In other words the farmer of New Zealand was being subsidised by his own money instead of from the Consolidated Fund as had been promised. Those were some of the reasons why production was falling and would continue to fall unless the policy of the Government now in office was averted.

Hospital Rate and Housing

The hospital rate question was next dealt with, Mr Sullivan stating that the ultimate aim of the National Party was to wipe the hospital rate off land algether in the future. National believed that hospital benefits which were shared by all should be paid for by all. Housing, he declared, had just about stampeded the Government. The working man of this country was further off than ever 'from' Securing his own home. The chaotic conditiohs' rurihg" today were"'""due" almost entirely to the Government's OWh legislation. The controls, exercised over building and building .materials had .made it next to impossible 'to operate: Labour could boast of the large number of

houses which had been built. He could show figures to show that between 1926-36 54,700 houses had been built under the so-called rafferty rules. Between 1937-45 58,000 houses had been built—or very little more.

National had made it possible through its policy for the householder to purchase his own home without any increase in his present rental. Over a period 0f.30 or 40 years the tenant could gradually purchase his own home according to whatever way he desired to secure it by. The returned soldier and the private citizen who desired to build his own home would be given suspensory loans of £2OO and £IOO respectively. These loans would be written off provided the occupier lived in the home for five years and maintained it in good order. This would be done in order to offset the high cost of building. He was certain that such a policy would go a long way towards overcoming the drastic housing shortage of today. The land policy as espoused by The land policy as expoused by the National Party would make it possible for all who farmed, to own their own land and to carry its freehold. If Labour went back, he warned, there would be no such thing as freehold either for land or for homes. The scheme for enabling farmers' sons or those who had had experience and yet who not find the money to purchase their own farms, would be to establish them on Crown lands under the supervision of Agricultural Officers. They would then be thus employed until such time as they would be enabled to have sufficient money tp pay down on the area they desired to acquire. Mr Sullivan was scathing in his criticism of the Legislative Council, which he said was the finest example of a Mock Parliament he had ever encountered. The whole of its deliberations he considered a farce and yet it cost the . country £50,000 a year.

Road to State Control

We had gone a long way along the road to State control, declared Mr Sullivan, who enumerated (a) the robbing of the freedom of the individual worker by making trade union membership compulsory; (b) taking over the ownership of farmers produce; (c) the control of all imports; (d) the State ownership of .the Bank of New Zealand; (e) State ownership of the coal mines;, (f) State ownership of transport "(almost); (g) State ownership of airways, and -whole of the linen flax industry in the South Island and (h) latterly the Government purchase of a controlling interest in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. It was all very well for people in this country to say airily that extreme Socialism could not happen here! Italy started as a Socialistic nation-—so did Germany and where did both those nations end up—dictatorships. That was the same goal to which New Zealand was definitely heading unless a halt was called. He instanced the steady course of 'disinheritance', which he said was openly going on now from day to day from almost every piece of legislation which Labour had introduced. He would go so far as to say that if the present Government were returned it would not hesitate to extend the length of Parliament in order to carry out to the full the programme of. Socialisation it had planned to do. A motion of hearty vote of thanks and confidence was moved by Mr A. Bridger, seconded by Mr L. H. Brown and carried by acclamation. It was followed by a vote of thanks to the Mayor for chairing the meeting.