LABOUR'S RECORD REVIEWED

Chronicle (Levin), 17 October 1946, Page 4

LABOUR'S RECORD REVIEWED

MR. THORN OPENS ELECT10N CAMPAIGN IN LEVIN :A party 5in power was judged by its achjevements. If it failed it would be said that it had been weighed in the balance and 1'o.und wanting. If it succeeded then surely it had established its right to public confidence. With these words the Labopr Party candidate for the Otaki electorate, Mr. J. Thorn, M.P., commenced'his review of the .Government's activities during its terrn of # office, when opening his election campaign in Levin last night.

The surprising f eature of • thfe meeting, which was held in the Century Hall, was that there were no hostile interjections. None 3f the speakef's remarks were queStioned. Scarthing critieism of the policy of the Oppositioh party, passed unchallenged. An atmosphere of- cheerful goodwill pfevailed. The hall .. was tastetully decorated with flowers, and the speaker, when rising to greet the audience' after being. introduced by Dhe Mayor (Mr. H. B. Burdekin) received a heartening ovation. In the years before the Labour Party took office, began Mr. Thorn, poverty, want and semi-destitution stalked the land. It could liappen again. It would happen again if the Dominion reverted to the uncontrolled private enterprise which Mr. Holland said his parry was determined to re-establish. The young people — particularly those who were voting for the first time — should reflect on this, because of the conditions to which tens of thousands of parents had been subiected.

These horrible conditions of poverty and priva'tion had presented the .Labour Government with problems it had to solve if it was to have justifiLed its existenee. "How did we solve them? Briefly , by nationalising the Reserve Bank to control currency and credit, increasing wages, introducing the 40-hour week and assisting by every means in our power the expansion of primary and manufacturing industries, thus helping to add.to the wealth which provides our people with their standards of life. We initiated an energetic public works policy by which we have constructed thousands of miles of good roads, hundreds of bridges, public buildings and other facilities. On top of all that we passed and have continued to improve the Social Security Act. By these measures we abolishpd unemployment, vasoly inereased the national iricome, and raised the standard of living. In fact we have literally transformed the working and living conditions of hundreds of thousands of people." Unemployment, said Mr. Thorn, was a disaster to any community. It was an abominable, immoral tragedy. The Labour Government had- been bent oh rgmoving unemployment from the country, and it had done it, he added. Wages Trebled Wages and salaries had been nearly trebled. A total sum of £185,000,000 had been paid out in salaries to workers last year in comparison with £65,700,000 in 1934-35. "Is there any' business man here who will say that he has been disadvantaged because his customers have "been given an inereased spending power? Is there a farmer here who will say that he has been injured because the workers now get decent wages?" questioned Mr. Thorn. In any qase the increase in wages had not prevented the very rapid growth _ of industries, he added. Production had inereased greatly. Admittedly there were shortages of certain goods, but what country had not been troubled by shortages. Mr. Thorn claimed that the output of certain essential materials, though in short supply had actually been greatly inereased. since 1935, -and quoted as ihstances timber, cement, coal and electricity. The shortages, he said, had occurred not because more had not been produced, but because, owing to the people's prosperity, there had been an enormous increase in the demand. Primary Production "The Nationalists have for at least two years been running an agitation affirming that primary production has declined. They have insinuated that the Government should be* blamed for this," said Mr. Thorn. lnstead of falling off, he claimed that primary production had inereased enormously. There .had oeen an increase in butter and cheese production, an all-round record in wool production, a recprd number cf sheep in New Zealand, the second highest total cattle population, a record number of sheep and lambs shorn, small indrease in young pig population, a big increase in total caSh crop acreage and a bright future on the basis of stock production. Meat production had risen last year by 31,000 tons over the previous year. In the~ face of these facts the National Party 's allegation that primary production had declined was nothing more than an insult uO ihe tarmers, who had played a great part during and since the war while faced with overwhelming difficulties. Fewer Bankruptcies Since Labour had been in power bankruptcies had steadily declined, claimed Mr. Thorn. During the 1933-36 period there had been 1,954 bankruptcies. From 1941-45 this figure had dropped to 387 arid last year to 45. A total of 1600 ! farmers had gone bankrupt between 1925-1935. Last year there >was only one. Most of the bankruptcies had occurred at a time vhen the farmers were doubling 1 their production. How unjust it was, said Mr. Thorn, that such a state of affairs should exist.

Taxation ^ The people uf New Zealand had no grounds for complaint in the matter of taxation. It cpuld be proved that Ihe great majonty-of the people were hetter off gfter they . had —paid the taxation than they were before it was imposed. During the ' period when the heaviest taxation was imposed, a total oi £155,768,000 had been deposited in the Post Office Savings Bank and the Trustee Savings Banks. In addition £38,51*5,000 was invested in National Savings. Depositors had inereased by 206,000 and deposits by £107,000,000. . ^ ^ "When we came into power thousands of workers could not get enough to eat and were wearing cast off clothing. Now they were grumbling because they had to pay income tax."

Heavy taxation had been lmposea during the war as a measure to prevent inflation and to* help finance the war. The war had cost £640,000,000 and of this only 35 per cent. was borrowed. New Zealand now owed not a penny abroad as the result of the war. Turning from his attack on the public's reaction .to the taxation, Mr. Thorn gave his attention to the large companies. These, he said had complained that the Government's taxation had cramped their style. Why should they not be taxed? asked Mr. Thorn. They were considerably better off' than the servicemen, who were fighting to prevent the defeat of their country. In any case he could not see that the Government was cramping their style, and quoted the case of one company, which had within three minutes £3,500,000 subseribed by investors. If that was an example of, the Government's "cramping of style," they were not doing so badly. Altogether New Zealand had come out of the war in a very satisfactory condition' financially. In addition the Government had paid off £40,000,000 of New Zealand's civil debt in England. It was the only Government in the history of New Zealand to reduce the exterhad civil debt. "We have always said that we would reduce taxation when the need to finance the actual fighting was ended, and in this Budget various decisions were announced which in a full year have the effect of reducing taxation by £21,200,000 " In this year's budget the estimated receipts for the present financial year were approximately £100,000,000. This was made up by taxation revenue amounting to £83,607,000 and other sources, £16,775,000, a total of £100,382,000. This money, he added, had been spent in the following way: — Interest, management and repayment of National Department £25,387,000, social services £34,737,0C0, Army, Navy and Air Force £7,895,000, stabilisation £13,789,000, other votes £17,657,000, making a cotal of £99,465,000. With the addition of Supplementary Estimates or £917,000, this brought the total to £1G0,382,000. "With regard to the £25,000,000 • to meet the service of the National Debt, that sum is paid to Great Britain on loans contracted by the New Zealand Governments before we. came into \ office. The only increase inlthe debt for which we were responsib'le is . confined To Within New Zealand and £220,000,000 of it was raised to finance the recent war. Should we not pay it back, or meet the eommitments we undertook to pay? If not, this item of expenditure cannot be reduced," he said. Referring to the sum of £34,737,000 for Social Security services, Mr. Thorn, after detailing this expenditure, said: "Will any one say that any of these benefits be reduced." The Education Vote of £8,657,000 cpuld only be reduced at the expense of the education of the children. •The purpose of a sum of £13,000,000 voted for stabilisation was to hold down the prices of many commodities needed in the home and in industry. America was an example of what would happen if controls were lifted. As soon as this happened prices had soared fantastically. If this happened here he visualised that more would be paid by inereased prices than the stabilisation tax cost the people. As prices rose the value of wages and bank deposits would go down, There would be strikes, chaos and confusion. "The greatest single item in the stabilisation Charge is* £5,000,000 on wheat to keep down the price oi bread," he added. "Let me put it this way— which would the houser wife prefer to pay 5£d for a two pound loaf under stabilisation or to abolish stabilisation and pay 7d"? ■ Turning again to attack the Opposition Party, Mr. Thorn said: 'I have heard Opposition members in Parliament urging expansion on this and that, while in the. same breath they are urging* reduction in taxation. That teachers should get better pay was one of their favourite demands. I did not notice ffiat they gave -them more wages when they had the opportunity. How can you get money for increases in expenditure when you (Continued on Page 8)

LABOUR'S RECORfl REVEWED (Continued from Page 4) cut , down, taxation at the same time, We ^.re not apologising for heavy taxation. It had to be iinposed, but now that the war is over we will reduce it at every avjailable opportunity." Education A .government's attitude to education was an ' ihdication as to whether it was an e'nlightened and civilised one, said Mr. Thorn. All that had beeh spent on school buildings by the Forbes Government in the financial year encting March 31, 1935, was £62,000. Since then there had been £52,725,428 on education, £5,250,000 of this being spent on buildings alone. During the present year £1,250,000 had been used for expenditure on buildings. A total of 209 schools 'had been erected, 163 replaced, 799 additions and 175 prefabricated class rooms built, which he considered was not a bad effort- considering that the country was involved in a war. In 1934-35 nothing had been spent on free kindergartens. In 1945-46 a sum of £20,000 had been spent in grants for this purpose. Nothing had been spent on adult education during 1934-35. In 1945-46, £17,000 had been used in that direction, claimed Mr. Thorn. . , "We have no lack of money as far as education is concerned. When building material and labour is available we will push on with ohe construction of schools, as we intend to do with housing." Rehabilita'tion Policy "We have here iu New Zealand the best rehabilitatioh plan in.the world. Nowhere are service men and women treated as generously as in this country," said Mr. Thorn when reviewing. the Government's rehabilitation policy. "It is. recognised as such by the countries themselves, who are modelling their own plans for the rehabilitation of returned personnel on our system." Surely that was proof enough, he said, and continued by making comparisons of the present scheme, and that which existed after the las-t world war. Social Security In 1935-36 the total amount paid on all pensions then recognised under law was less than £3,000,000, The old age benefit of 17s 6d a week, paid to men aged 65 and women aged 60, was unobtainable if the applicant owned a house or had more than £50 in the bank. The invalidity pension had been voted out by gentry whose representatives were now in the Opposition benches, claimed Mr. Thorn. There were -no orphans' pensions and widows were paid a miserable pittance. There existed the family' oenefit, under which each child after the first two received a benefit of two shillings and that only if the family income was £3 16s a week or less. In 1945-46, as tne result of the Social Security Act and its subsequent improvements, £35,000,000 was paid out 111 benefits of one kind or another. This year it had cost the department over twelve times as much as all such benefits put together during the 1935-36 period. ' "Will any -Nationalist take the risk of saying this is too much?" he queried. "If so, what would he reduce? Would he cut the old age pension, reduce the invalids' pension or the universal family benefits, or medical benefits as Mr. Holland and his party had definitely pledged themselves to do?" Ths only way, he said, that this could be insured against, would be to .return the Government which put these benefits on the Statiite Book. "Is there any government in the civilised world with such a record of progress in social benefits," he added. "If not, why displace it with a party which bitterly opposes these measures." Future Policy This statement has given a faiTly, good actount of our stewardship, " 3.t^t %ihat i,M -oiir. future ■policy? "This "will be set out'iii a statement which will be published shortly. You may be sure, however, that it will be animated by the spirit of our policy up till now." Their policy towards industry was not to foster a mad scramble for profits, but the active development of resources in order that full employment would be assured and wealth be added to, so that living conditions could be improved. They aimed to 'provide the best housing and best education that their economy could provide. Security from poverty and want or fear of want for the aged, the invalids and others suffering from unavoidable misfortune, and the extension of medical and dental benefits. The blind and hard of hearing would also not be forgotten, especially in the field of specialist attention. He also referred briefly to what he deseribed as the great plans of Mr. Semple in the field of public works. In conclusion he quoted a note recorded by Abel Tasman an December 13, 1642, on which date he first sighted the Southern Alps. "Towards the middie of the day we . saw a great land uplifted' high." 1 "Surely," said. Mr. Thorn, "it was ' as if Abel Tasman was setting forth an ideal for the pfogressive men and women who would afterwards inhabit this country. Let us face our problems resolutely, let us show an active sense of public responsibility, let us co-operate together in wark -and friendship 1 and we surely will make of New Zealand 'a great land uplifted high.' " After the address, a vote of thanks was accorded the speaker and a vote of confidence in him as their candidate was passed.