LABOUR GOVERNMENT

Chronicle (Levin), 24 October 1946, Page 2

LABOUR GOVERNMENT

Mr. J. Thorn At Otaki . The' seats: in "the Railway -Hall, were comfortably' filled ori TueSday, evcning, when Mr. J. Thorn, Labour candidate ior the Otaki electorate; gave a polhical .address. The Mayor, Mi. C. F. Atmore, was in the- chair,: and in jntroducing „ 'the speaker, stated that he 'was sure that 'thesupporters of both sides in politics wouid regret that illness had'made1 it necessary for Mr. L. G. Lowry ro retire from public life, and would hope for his early and compiere recovery. i ■ On rising to speak, Mr.*: Thorn thanked the Mayor for his kind words of welcome, and also expressed regret at the illness- of Mr. Lowry, which was too serious ro allow him to continue as an active member in pubiic iife for rile present time. Mr. Thorn assured allpresent 'that he intended to fighr the campaign on principles, and there would be no personalities. He would give reasons why the ele'ctors could trust the present Govemment to successfully conduct the' business of the counrry ior another term, and hc asked rhem to vote for thein on November -27, whicn would be exactly eleven years, day and date, from when they- were firsu elected, led by that' great. Prime iVIinioter, rhc late Mr. M. J. Savage. That genrieman, and aiterwards Mr. P. Fraser, had * so successfully piloted this country' through the diincult years of the war. Mr. Fraser had worked with Mr. Churchill and Mr. Rooscvelt ancl had upon all occaslons received very high- praise for his work overseas. Mr. Thorn's address was on the iines of that given by him in Levin. A Government, he said, must be judged on its achievements. - The state of things that existed just before this Government took'oiiice was so bad that the Council of the Combined Churches had sent U letter to the lace Mr-. G. W. Forbes, then Prime Minister, in which it protested emphatically against a conailion of things by which people, in a land of pienty had to be supplied with the cast-off clothing of other people, and also the awful state of the relief work provided. ! Such a state of things was a national scandal. Poverty, hunger and want were to be found on all sides when the present Government took over cne reins of power, and such • ' thing$ ; would happen aga,in if privace enterprise was . allowed to go unchecked. The present Government had put on the Statute Book what it had promised to do. vt had built hundreds of bridges and halls, besides improving the standard of living and doing away with unemployment, though it had had to start off with 57,000 adult males j and a large number of young ! people registered as unemployed. i New Zealand was the only country in the world of which that could be said. Wages had been increased to almost tliree times the amount; could any business man say that he had suft'ered through the hlcrease of wagas. There had been a great deal of talk about the shorcage of timber at J uie present time, but the shorcage j was due to the increase in building i not that iess timber had been put] on the market. In 1934 the output j was 244,000,000 feet and last year it J was 350,000,000 i'eet. There had been a suggestion that J .he farmers had not got a fair deal j from the Government. He read a. ! report of a meeting of Federated Farmers in Rangitikei, where a speaker had said tliat there should be a better attendance at meetings. Tbe farmers were doing to'6 welland another siump would bi'ing Lhem together. So, after 11 years j of the present Government, the j charge was that the farmers were | doing too well. The report of a j commissioii brought lorward just, before this Government came into , power stated that 50 per cent. ef j Ihe dairy farmers in New Zealand] were virlually bankrupt. Last vear only oue farmer went bankrupt. I Much good work had been done j through social seeurity. The Government would see that all serviccmen got a fair deal, not as Ihe then Government had done. after the first world war— spent! many millions in the purchase of ! high priced land and then having i to write off more than half of the j amount, wiih many soldiers walking ofl their farms with nothing . after years of hard work. At the conclusion of the address . questions were invited. Mr, Thorn was asked ii he would be in favour of an amendment to the Land Saies Act, whereby the • owner of a property could at any .time, by payment of tlie valuation fees?. have the property valued so that he would know at- what price he would j be allowed. tq sell it. At the present tiine it had to wait until an application for a transfer was made. In all other lines where saies were under control, the vendor then knew at what .aTce^he might sell. Mr. Thorn replied that he would give the matter consideration and let them know qf his opinion. I] The Mayor said he was glad to have the opportunity of meeting Mr. Thorn and of drawing; his attention to certain urgent ..inattTs which wero causir.g very considerable dissatisfaction in Otaki. Mr. Thorn was a newcomer to the district and as a candidate he

should know the position, and if elected be prepared to see that they were attended to without further delay. These matters could be summarised under three questions: — (1) If 22,000 State houses had been erected and 4500 more were m the course of erection, why was it that in spite of every effort by Mr. Lowry and the council to pricure some for Otaki, only seven had oeen erected in eleven years? All Otaki could get was one half a house per year. There were over 2000 inhabitants in the boroagh, and as many in the surroum «:ng district, and most of these people were engaged in producing food for the people of Wellington. The cost of building was so high Ihac very rew people could alford to buiid their own houses, and the result was an ever increasing demand for State houses. (2) Why did the Government refuse to provide a housing scheme for the Maori population in the Otaki district? The speaker said he had interviewed the Prime Minister in 1939 on this matter, and had received a promise that houses would be provided. The matter was subsequently taken up by Mr. Lowry and the council, and later the Native Minister had made an inspection of the district, but nothing had come of it. The council then sent a special deputation to the Minister at Wellington, urging the Minister to do something to improve the Maori living conditions, but absolutely nothing had be^en done. The Maoris from the Otaki district had responded magnificently to the war effort, in the fighting services, in raising funds for patriotic purooses and in providing musical entertainment for thousands of servicemen from overseas. Surely they were entitled to some consideration in the matter of housing. Many of the houses were quite unfit for human habitation and this made it impossible to maintain reasonable standards of health. (3) Why was if that the modest and reasonable requirements of- Otaki were very rarely acceded-to? Whether it was State housing assistance in roading or bridge building, permits to build shops or stores, the answer was always the same "nothing doing." Land had been taken in 1939 to widen the main higmvay through Otaki, yet it still remuined in its same dangerous state. The Otaki Post Office urgently required rebuilding, being badly cracked by iarihquakex and the State school ! main building required modernising. Mr. Thorn promised to give full attention to all the requirements of the district that he represented. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the candidate, who asked for a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was heartily given.