MR S. G. HOLLAND IN LEVIN

Chronicle (Levin), 2 November 1946, Page 4

MR S. G. HOLLAND IN LEVIN

UNPRECEDENTED REGEPTION GIVEN NATIONAL PARTY LEADER BY CROWD 0F 1000 D.espite the inG.onyeni.ence of the hour, the Re^ent Theatre, Levin, was filled to capacity wrhen the leader of the National Party, Mr. S. G. Holland, reviewed the policy of his party at a meeting in Levin yest.erday afternoon. The .audience, estimated at over 1000, a large pereentage of which was farmers, was selited long before the address was scheduled to begin, and a large crowd gafhered at the entrance to the theatre to watch Mr. Holland's arrival. An ovation.unprecedented in Levin during this present campaign greeted Mr. Holland's entry. The address was broadcast over loadspeakers for the eorivenience of business people. The Mayor, Mr. H. B. Burdekin, was in the chair, other seats on the platform being occupied by the official National candidate for the 'Otaki electorate, Mr. J. J. Maher, and the member for Ma-nawatu, Mr. M. H. Oram.

There were no interjections, and in view of his poition as Leader of the Opposition, as is cuslomary, no questipns were allowed. Mr. Hpliand did, however, acknowledge several written questions which were submitted to him before the meeting began. The need for rapid growch in primary production, the aanger of inflation under the present Government and the desL>ibility of boosting trade with Great Britain were the principle points dealt with by Mr. Holland during his one and a-half hour address. .It was the policy of the National Party to give to Britain every o;t of trade it possibly could, said Mr. Holland. The British people were pleading for ou.f assistance in this, and it was the intention of his party to help them all it could. Britain had lost over two tliirds of her overseas trade and she could only become strong again by the recovery of this trade. The National Party was determined to assist in this, not soley for the opp'ortunicies that the situation ofiered, but also because he ponsidered it the Dominion's duty to divert every penny of her trade to that country which so badly needed it. "We are only fooling ourselves if we think our security is complete without Britain. If Britain is strong we are strong, if she is weak, we are in dangeL There is no douot about that," said the speaker. Will Boost Production Under a National Government production would be encouraged so chat there would be a larger puol of goods, Mr. Holland said. One of their political opponents, Mr. F. P. Walsh, had himself drawn attention to the overwhelming need for increasing production, and to +he dangers of resorting to the printing of notes as a substitute for production. Our solution", he h'ad said, depended on increased production. As a manufacturer Mr. Holland said he recognised that New Zealand could not have manufacturing industries uniess it had primary industries, because it was from what we .exported that we were able to buy the basic materials used in factories. There were three major items exported from New Zealand. They were wool, meat and dairy produce. Where our experts had risen by 50 per cent., our imports had risen by 100 per cent. The position of our currency at the pqesent moment resulted in every £1 worth of goods exported giving us a purchasing power in other countries of 13s 4d. What was wanted in this country was a government which was sympathetic towards the farmer, if the policy of encouraging production was to be fosteibd. A government that was familiar with the problems of the primary producers was necessary. "This present Government," said Mr. Holland, "hardly knows one end of a cow from the other. How can you expect to get. the best out of a farmer if he ,i£ labouring under a sense of inj-us-uice?" There had been a shortage of wheat last year, continued Mr. Holland. The Government had eommandeered the lot. They were only willing to pay the New Zealand farmer 8s a bushell for it, yet bought it from Australia at 9s 6d and Canada at 13s. He commended the local candidate, Mr. J. J. Maher. to the farmers ofi the district. "Here is a man," he said, "who understood their' problems." Prices for the Farmers The objective of the National Party was to give the farmer an opportunity of managing his own affairs, and for that reason they would welcome November 27. One of the greatest catastrophies of this country was when the price of butterfat went down to sixpence. It was an equal eatasti'lopbe when it rose. to 2s J5d. "We propose to establish a pfice and see that- it does not fall, so that the farmer will know where he stands." Mr. Holland said he deplored the fact that' the farmer was burdened with ever-increasing hospital taxation, because the levies for their maintenance came mainly from the land. He advocated a schems whereby the whole community shared the cost equally. The city man could pass on increased costs to his customer, but the Goyernnient controlled farmers' prices. Share Farming Referring to the party's share farming scheme, Mr. Holland said their plan was to set up as many people 'as they could as little capitalists. Private enterprise was a great thing. When there a was i private enterprise there was com- j petjtion, and competition kept j quality up and prices down. There were many people today who were, willing to work, but did not have the necessary b&cking. The National Party prop.osed to establish primary production coun-

cils in the various centres. Anypne wishing to become a farmer on his own accoun't would receiye consjderation and aoSistapce from these counciis. T.he Svate would break up thousands of acres of gorse |nfested land and put it into a condition suitable for farming, and assist those willing to work to make a decent living to vhich they were entitled. 1 Evil of Inflation The immeaiate task would be to reduce tne gap between mohey and goocis, ^m-d this could only pe done oy increasing the suppiy of gopds and not by reducing the money, To ereate money when there were no goods was pjlre unadulterated inflation. To reduce incomes was an unthinkable eourse. The only thing left to do was to take the goods up to the money. He considered that money today had lost its value as purchasing power. During the period 1936-44 the amount of money required by ihe people had increased by £180, 000, .000, he said, whereas in the same .period the amount oi goods had risen by only £71,000,000. 'Ihe situation was yery much ihe same as in Italy, he continued. While he was travelling through that country last year, accompgtniea oy Mr. F. W. Doidge, he found that the shops in Rome wer.e selling shoes at £22, shirts £12, und handkerchiefs 15s each. The reason, he addeh, was that ihe Aliies had flooded Italy with Allied military lire, without any regard to the pool of goods. The same position exisfed in New Zealand today. He had also visited neutral Ireland and in one town there had seen the identical shoes being soii at 21s, and yet ihe people were walking the streets with their feet wrapped in scrjm. This was because the incomes of the people were so low. They did not have sufficient piirchasing power. Was that not a lesson to New Zealand? The Labour Party had opce promised that every m.gm would own his own car, but eyen with the high wages of today, this was still far beyond the. grasp of the working people. Need for Importation "We are oniy foonng ourselves if we think we can work less and have mofe," continued Mr. Holland. "Money in the bank is not wealth unless it can be i'reely exehanged in the mafket." Half of the necessities could be produced in New Zealand, he said, but the other half had to cpme from overseas. The Labour Party had spent thousands of pounds in trying to locate oil, steel and iron in this country, but he had not seen any of it yet. New Zealand had not sufficient population to embai;k on large motor industries and suchlike. The only thing to do was to export to ihe markets of the world and use the proceeds to ;bring ba'ck, such necessities as ..-watehes, zinc, jrjfen and countle'sgn otMer such items unobtainable' ip| this country. Age Benefits t "We want to erieourage people- to stay in employment. It is part of our policy ,of producing the goods we need," said Mr. Holland, when commeniing on the National Party 's age benefit scheme. "jFor every year a man postpones retirement, he will get an increase in the ultimate benefit. Surely it is better to keep on working and producing than live on other people. Is it not better to have the opportunity of earning £1560 in five years than receiving £520 earned by the efforts of others?" In his opirjion it was better to wear out rather than rust out. "We want to fight this falacial idea that reduced working hpurs result in increased production," continued the speaker. Hft believed in the 40-hour wee.k, but considered Mere should be more of an employer-employee partnership in industry along' the lines of cooperation and profit sharing. Growth of Communism "The growth of Communism causes ltie great concern foN the future, and this concern has grown as the result of my tour overseas." This growth was particularly marked in Australia, and he saw the possibility of the same tfiing happening in New Zealand. There were various "isms" in the world today, but they were all related. You could never get anywhere by calling Communism names. The object now was to ereate a situation where no ppportunit.ies existed for Communism to grow. Outburscs of eheering aiid elapping followed maiiy of the statements made by Mf- JJPh-aftd during hi.s address, afid as lie resumed his seat he was further aceiaimed. A vote of thanks and conjldefice in the National Party, and Mr. Holland as jts leader, was pa.ssed unamm.ously, afld also one of Cpnfidence in Mr. Maher as candidate for the Otaki seat. h t h