FANTASTIC PROPOSALS DISSECTED

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 62, 6 December 1919, Page 12

FANTASTIC PROPOSALS DISSECTED

MR. MASSEY REPLIES TO SIR JOSEPH WARD

FIRST THINGS FIRST

By Telegraph-Special Correspondent. . ' Christchurch, December 5. In. im .interview "ith n '.'Press reporter to-day the Primo- Minister. (MrMassey) took occasion to reply to several reported statements made by tho Lead" of the Opposition in his speech at icniukii on Thursday night. I don know that 1 have very much to say-1u replv to what the. Leader o the Opposition' sa*l to the people of Temuka last night," remarked Mr; -Massey, but it occurred to me in reading the repott of ■the.eiieeoh that he thinks nationalisation is the remedy for all the ills, to which he Dominion is heir. There is no para el between owning the railways and the Post Office and the proposals of the Leader of the Opposition.; It is quite riglit that in a country ike thi» the ruilvav.s and' post office should be the property of the Government m order to nrevent 'monopoly and ■•xploi-atmn. but it is quite a different thing with the coal mines, flour wills, banking, and in quite a number of other directions ni which .nationalisation is suggested. Sir Joseph ■Ward'is evidently competing with the party whom we tliink of as extremists in •Ins expressed-desire for the nationalisation "of development work. Ihe hr.it point that appeals to me is this, howover:'these'nationalisation proposals will cost many millions' to give effect to. In the meantime wo Want air the money that'can be raised reasonably for the purpose of carrying on the development work without which'the country cannot process,-and the development work 1 speak of includes railway building, roadniaking; bridge-building, generation of hydro-electricity,' improving our present ni-iiiv -roads', land settlement, aim last, but by no means least, the expenditure 'involved'in' the repatriation of our soldiers.' If' we spend tho money that is available, or use iip our credit in tho sche.mes of nationalisation which havo been' -suggested; very well, then, we cannot do justice'to the other proposals and I lcave.it to the pDople to say which are the mast necessary. '

Housing Proposals. "As for Sir Joseph Wafcl's housing •,T-r'ioi>siii:i. - which involve taking the lost Office money for that. ,pitrpose 'at a lower rate of interest than is at present being paid, I "may point out," said Mr. 'Mnssey, "that Sir 'Joseph Ward himself said in the House in 191.2: 'As a mat-ter-of fairness to the Post Office am of judicious 'procedure,; the Post Otlsce should not bo paid less than the Government can get the money elsewhere for the purpose of carrying on the business of the .country.'' He insisted-I again ounce his-worus-that 'it is not tight that he should-give the Post Office'! per cent, be'ow the market rate.' -The uosi-tion-is this," Mr. Massey" continued, "the Post Office money to-day is being used .for public works purposes. If we use it for anything else then wc have to go out in the open market and raise money lor public works at 51 per cent., or-more than that. .-No business man can-approve of such proposals. According to the Housing and Accommodation Act of-last-session the people who are supplied with houses, and contracts-have' been let. for 200 concrete houses already, will get-the money at 4\ -per cent. That' is, 1 , a house, and section costing M'fi would mean to tho occupier .£3O a year, or Hs. a week. This, of course, does not include the. instalments intended to oav off the loan.; at the end of the term, which, in the case of, concrete ■ houses wilt be very much longer than in the ease of wooden house?. Talking about ■workers' dwellings, I have always taken a' keen-interest in this subject.- In 1912, when Cfte present. Government enme intooffice, the • Workers' Dwellings Act. had been fivo years in ..operation—and by the ,\yay. come, very important improvement* in the Act were..made bv way of amendment on my motion, when the measure was before "the. House—but for the first five years the average number of houses built was 31 per annum; for the. next seven years, when the present Government was. in office.. which includes the war period, when.we-had to slacken off, the average, .was G7 per, annum, and for the present 1 year we have let contracts for about 200.

The Coal, Mines. "Sir Joseph. Ward talks about making mmey-.out of the coal mines," Mr. Massoy wont on. "This country Ins never made a, copper out of its-coal mines. As fa.- as the minors are concerned we all want- to see th"m well pud, :in:l the. working condition l ; mode a* nearly perfect ,'"= it.-i« po.'s'ble to Dink" tlvm. but we object to any one class increasing unnecessarily tho'cost of living lor other classes, .nild that i;> what the proposals of the miners moan. It seems to me that some of our politicians to-day Jio.'ude exaggeration . with nationalisation. What then is ihe tis?, for instance, of talking about there b?ing more power than that of five hundred iV'ngnrns, or .that .there will not be.a steam engine on any New Zealand railway in fifteen years? As for oijht million pounds completing our railwevi. personally . I don't think sixteen mill'ons. will como'oie (hem. but they have sot. to be completed all the sume ; and it is urgent'that: this should be done than almost -anything else I can think of. ' State Bank. '■ "As for fie Sh'.lp bunk, T can just in.nsrine how a necdv Treasurer would use it, and the quantify (if paper money which would be issued : n times of financial stringency. I ask fiifl people of Xew 7.'-pl-nnd I" rP"ir>m'K"r that t'>ny a l- -/jeiiicr partners in the Bank of New Zealand, ■■ml kvp a mo«t vi''uaWe bitcrpsl I herein, and'now'apparently it is proposed lo take nivny much of. it-< businc" for the puroose of startup another bni'k in conmstit'on with it. which i* certain to be more or less under political contri). Such ochepi": can add nothing to tl'» praspects of tho country, and will not increase our output by a s'ngle pound's worth. ■ .

"The-policy of this-country must during the period of reconstruction be -'t poPcy of "development.. One which will ~„„..' _...„,.... „„ f | ~.|,Mi ■i-.'H hri.'W prosperity. If wo apply ourselves oiiercome through all right and g?t int-i a mod position to meet tho r-sponsibv.'-tV.nri<uV out. of the war. :vTf we waste, our onersries : .u running after fads we ■.hall be a lnntr line iTneh.<"sr the "<.■;>' which we have, in view, namely, buildm? up n.hnnpy community in. a prosperous