Labour Policy

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 73, 13 April 1937, Page 7

Labour Policy

METHODS CRITICISED Mr. H. G. Dickie's Hastings Address TAXAT10N BURDEN A survey of the political position, and criticism of various aspects of the Labour Govermnent's legislatioax, were given by Mr H. G. Dickie, Member for Patea, in an address at the Hastings Assembly Hall last evening. There was a big attemdance, and though in the early stages of his address there was a little "heckling," the fiood of interruptions.was checked, and proceedings were conducted very quietly. Mr P. P. Kelly preslded. Attributing the slump, which he said Whs now happily over, to overbuxdening debt occasioned by the Great War and to the fact that trade was almost. stagnant becanse of th'e excessive debt burden, Mr Dickie said that an cxamination of the method adopted by the New Zealand Government in powor at the timo was similar to that adopted by many other Governments, eome of whom were Labour Governments. Several voices: Nol No! "Yes they were," replied Mr Dickie. "In 1930 there was a Labour Government in power in Great Britain, with Mr Ilamsay MacDonald at the head and Mr Phillip Snowden as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the most important ofiiee any man could hold in times of depression." Mr Dickie went on to say that it was Mr Snowden who pointed out that drastic and disagreCable measures would have to be taken if budgetary equilibrium were to be maiutained and industrial progress ma.de, "The methods adopted by the British Government and other Governments, including that of New Zealand, at the time were unpopular," said Mr Dickie. "It was inevitable that they should be, for every class suffered. Many of us who voted for those measures were well aware that we were tahing chances with our seats, but the New Zealand Government was the last of the elumptime Governments to crdsh." The speaker said that when the Labour Party was invited to lend a helping hand in these difficult times, that party played its own hand and took advantage of every opportunity to play on the difficulties of the people, particularly the unemployed. ' The laughter that greeted this statement from a very small seetion of the audience prompted Mr Dickie to say that at the present time there were 20,000 men on pustenance and another 40,000 on PUblic Works, of which 20,000 Wpre employed doing work that was not productive, profitable or permanent. "When it is finished they will be sitting on the Minister's doo^way again," he said. "What about the freezing workers?" called, out several voices. Mr- Dickie: We know that we have heard all sorts of extravagant statements about that and other matters. A further interjeetion prompted Mr Dickie at this etage to say that he would be prepared to answcr any questions at the close of his address, and for some timo there were no further interruptions. With the .Tide. Concerning himself with taxation, Mr Dickie said that the prgsent Government had been fortunate in that it came into oflice with the flood and tide witn them. The Labour Party hg,d tola the people that taxation would be reduced, but the Labour Government had put on an additional £6,000,000 in taxation. Bevehue from the sale of piroduce oversOas, he pointed out, had increased by £12,000,000 at the end of December last, and one could almost say that the prices xealised to-day were boom-time prices. "TJnder these circumstances it behoves every responsible citizen to put aside some reseXve fof the time when the perfdulum swings back again, as it must do," he said. The present Government's intention was to mobilise public credrfc, but the credit of the Govefnment, he said, was its abxlity to tax the people and get behind private credit. "The Bky was to be the limit," he said. "And when anyone asked in the House, when the measures were being rushed thtough, where the money Was to eome from, he was greeted with derisive laughter from the miembers of the Government Party. "Mr Nash said that he was going to 'bounce tli© ball' to British bondholders when he went to the Old Country," said- Mr Dickie, "but in every speeeh he has made he has stated quite definitely that the first charge on the returns of the reciprocal agreements is the £10,000,000 of ybprjy interest we owe to the British boiidholders. He is mtelligent enough a man to have realised that he could uot make wild statements like "bbunciug the ball,' fer he knows that it we, 6r any othAr cbuntry, gets offside with the boiidholders, a terrihc reactiOn oh iuternatxonal trado might set in. "So far the Government has taken Over the dairy produce of this country," said Mr Dickie. "Why they did not take over the fruit industry I do not know. The wool and mfeat industrips wero in too healtliy positions for the Government to take over, but this was not so with the fruit industry. But the fact rrinains that the dairy produce was not merely taken over on & guaranteed price; it was commandeered. A price was fixed, averagvd on the past 10

years' raturns, and exporfc produce then taken over without the consent of the producers." Control of Produce. Mr Dickie pointed out that sixular measures taken by other -Governments to take control of various industries allowed for a two-thirds majority of the producer to say whether the Government should have control, and in the eveut of dissatisfaction it was permissible for a bare majority to decide that control he handed back to the producers. "Nothing like this was provided for in NeW Zealand," he said. "It was just taken over and there was no alternative. In the Budget spcech it was stated that if there were any deficiency in the returns it was to be the responsibility of the Government and if any surplus it was to be offset against deficiency. "I am hoping very sincerely that there will be a profit this year," said Mr Dickie. "But it looks like a> loss- I hope it won't be so "because in the second year it is going to be difficult to fix the price for the dairy produce. One big factor is that the Minister will not have any- means of taking into account the eft'ect of the legislation that was passed last year. All things being equal, the price this coming year should really be higher than last year." Quoting various extracts from addresses by Sir Nash iu Glasgow and elsewhere, Mr Dickie pointed out that Mr Nash was mentioning 12 9/16 pence per lb. for butter, and 6 13/16 pence per lb. for cbeese. "Now, does anyone here know if that is the price they aro getting?" he asked. "It is not riglit. Those prices aro the top prices for top grades.'' Mr Dickie went on to point out some of the difficulties that faced Mr Nash in his quest. On© was the efforts being mad© by the British Government to restore prosperity in her own agricultural industry. Another was the reluctance to enter into bilateral agreements „ | individual Domdnions. A third was iiiic promise of the New Zealand Government to set up secondary industries as a means of absorbing surplus labour in this country. "After all we cannot expect to have it both ways," said Mr Dickie. "On the one- hand Mr Nash is asjking for goods and produce to be admitted to the Old Country free, then he proposes to set up se?ondary industries here and naturally will have to put duties on imported goods." Landing Costs. Mr Dickie mentioned that recently he had ordered an implement from the Old Country. It cost £40 in England, and the charges to land it at his fai'm amounted to £40. ' "That is just over 1C0 per cent- and it is a pretty good handicap to give any New Zealand manufacturing concern in a race against outside opposition," said Mr Dickie, "I he couldn't win with that start I* don't know who could. Certainly the opposition is not likely to appreciate such a start.'' The speaker added that Mr Naph had definitely stated 'that butter was not being sold in the Old Country cheaper than it was in New Zealand. "Our butter is being sold at 1/- a lb. in London," said Mr Dickie. "To-day you can't buy butter of any class at that price in Hastings." Declaringj that the mortgage legislation introduced last session was unnecessary, Mr Dickie said that it could not be handled in the Kouse at the time because, in response to a requeSt for information from the South African Government regarding the mortgage legislation introduced by the previous Government, the Hon. Minister of Justice, Mr Mason, had written that after giving it a trial it was doing very well and expressed other praise of this legislation, which was thrown overboard. Under the circumstances Mr Mason felt that he could not take a bill amending such legislation through the House. Tiie eft'ect of the new legpslation, said Mr Dickie, was that -the first mortgage was being placed in ihe position of a second mortgage. "Under the old legislation it was possible, in Taranaki for example, for 90 per cent. of the farmers to balance their budgets," said Mr Dickie. A voice: Why did the farmers vote you out then Mr Dickie : They did not vote me out. 1'm still in. . The interjector : But they threw others out. Mr rickje- Now, not voo much cockcrowing. You party may very soon get a shift. Mortgage Legislation. A weakness in the present mortgiage legislation, said Mr Dickie, was tHat no provision was made for what was to be done about depreciation. Touching on I.C.A. and other Labour legislation, Mr Dickie said that there wgs more unrest in industry at the present time than there had been for many years. He contended that the Ministera of the Cl-own were not firm efiough in the stands they took to handle the various matters that arose. He said that a Minister cut an undignified position regarding the sit-down freOziug workers' itrike, and then there was the instance oi' a iaiiiister of the Cro\Vn rushing round tle iVatferfront and in the "pubs" looking for rivo% firemen to put theni aboard the Maui Pomare. "Th£r6 is still the same vicious cjrcle of wages chasing prices," he declared. "There art hundreds of men, suc-h as civil servants, who Are on fixed incomes, and with the costs going up and up they arO powerless to lielp tbemtfelves. And eveXything is going up, despite the Government -bringing down Price Fixation legislation. No one has been brought to book because of the increas"d prices," he declared. Another eii'ect of the legislation had been to reduce employment of yoiiths ii'oni 18 to 21 years oi' age, aud replare them with boys and girls oi' i'l-oin 15 to 18 years. Those in charge of uchools were greatly perturbed at this position, Touching ou the Public Works instituted by the firesent Government, the speaker said that a good deal of it

was uneconomic and wasteful. He wislied that more had been done with regard to the backblock roads, pointing out that in some districts the settlers were snowed in every winter, but if the roads were metalled they would have reasonable prospects of gaining access. Uneconomioai Railways. Mr Dickie said that the Hon. B. Semple had done some good work in regard to level crossings, but the speaker contended that there was too inuch epent on uneconomical railways. In this regard, he was particularly interested to note that recently Mr Sullivan had said that h© would vote for the railway deviation at Palmerston North if the matter came before the House again, yet it was the Labour Party that moved that the work done in this regard be rooted up. Various poiuts in the trausport and allied legislation were next touched upon by Mr Dickie, who, though he agreOd that the doing away of the Transporb Board was a good thing, felt that the setting up of commissions was only a substitute. These commissions, he pointed out, had been- appointed by the Minister, who was the sole judge of any disputes, and Mr Dickie felt that the dice were heavily loaded against the decisions of the eommissioners. "The authority for the grantiiig of warrants of fitness for cars should not have been given to garage proprietors, said Mr Dickie. It laid them open to the insinuation that they were exploiting, or might exploit, the motorists. He hoped that soon there would be proper devices available for the testing of cars and proper control instituted t«» do away with the present un-satii-iactory position. Mr Dickie said that the transport autuorities had told carriers that they would b© well advised to join an association and eome to some agreement on prices and charges, and theh, if anyone indulged in prioe-cutting, he was liable to loSe his liceneA After all, we hear a lot about prjce-cutting, but not much about over-charging, ha said. "Ificidentally, who are the grAa-fcest priee-cutters in the world?" he asked. "There i& Henry Ford, who cut the pricO of motor-cars and bscamfe a multimillioilaire. He pAys the best iVages aild givek his employees the best conditions, and still sells his cars. Then there is Montagu Biyrton, who in England sold suits of clothes at 50/-, and he made plenty of money out of his price-cut-ting." Land Tax Unfair. Lleferring to taxation, Mr Dickie said tliat Any 1'orm of land taxation was a peual tax. It nevor achieved its objective, because it was uul'air. 'J'lie present graduatcd inconie tax also was not fair though it had helped to extract £6,000.000 tno:t in taxation this year. The smailer incomes were taxed too a far greater extent than the bi$ger in* coifiea, and the only reason tliat the

smailer incomes were attacked was to get the money required for all the "big schemes.'' A promise had been given that the present scale would be altered this coming year, and it was right that some change should be made, for it was not fair at present. The speaker said there was a tendency to set up a fioating debt, and this, he considered, would eventually lead tp defiation of currency if the greatest care were not exercised. "When there is a dppreeiated currency the costs of living go up. Oostlese credit is heading for defiation," he said: "The danger is that if a Governmeni; prints more notes to meet such measures, there will ultimately eome a repu&iation of debts, and this aspect was causing serious-minded people in New Zealand some concern. They are looking on what has been done with apprehehsion. ' ' QoncJudi'ng his address, Mr. Dickie said that under the new organisation of the National Party New Ztealand was going to have the most democratic policy ever ptf.t forward, and it was to be conducted on truly democratic lines. At the close of his address Mr. Dickie answered but one question before a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to him for his speech.