MR. DICKIE'S NAPIER ADDRESS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 74, 14 April 1937, Page 10

MR. DICKIE'S NAPIER ADDRESS

Disagreement "with Public Works Policy SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES "I will deflnitely say that the^ policy is wrong, ' ' said Mr H. G. DieMe, M.P. for Patea, in reply to a quesiioner at his meeting in Napier last night, who asked him if he disagfeed with the Public Works policy of the present Governmenfc. el kxiow that a lot of maChinery has been bought and has iiot_ beeti. tendered- for It is the nrst tiifie to ixiy knowledge that Goveinment depirtments have spent an enormouS amount of public raoney without calling tendefs. In addition, I will ti&y that Public Works wages are toe high, One cannot get nien to work seven days a wCek for 13 in prixnary industrieS, wMch are the Iife of the Dominioii, if they can get £4 a week fdr. five days work otl Piiblio Worlcs. " Mr Dickie delivered p address, tvhich waS substantially the same as that at Hastings, reported in last evening'S issue of the Herald-Tribiine. He gave a eriticisM of aspects of th§ Government policy which he coneidered to b§ uiiwise, and warned his- audienCe of •the consequences of that policy,. poinfing out that if the Budget, in spite of increased faxatiofl, was estixnated to balance by £150,000 only in a tixne of prosperity, that it would sliow a deficit ibl times Such as the past Government had had to eoiitend with. The audieace, although inclined at times to inlerrupt the speaher With intferjections, was in a .good mbod aiid gave him on .the whole a sympathctic hearing. At the conclusion of the address, several questions on minor points were addressed and answered, and a vote of thanks prdposed by Mr Juhn Mason Was carr'ie'l With hearty aeelamation. The Mayor of Napier, Mr* C. Oi Morso, prCsided.- r * * » "I have never known any Government that can win its way to prosperity by lavish expenditure. The thing to^ do is to balance your accounts, and to do that you have to do some very unpleasant thlngs, as we had to do/ ' 7,'a3. one of the reinarks xnade by Mf Dickie. .« * * "It is a slur on our citizens who have never tfansgresfcsed in any Way that a criminai who has come out of jail fr'Oin a li^e 'sentence can gO and by fight demand a penSion,"^ was a criticism of the pension legislation. The speaker prefaced his comment, however, by saying that he agreed for the most part With the Ssocial Services in which the Government had expehded part of the increased taxation revenuei * * * Mr Dickie did not think that the Seuth Island Main. Trunk line "would Cvef pay asle grease," and Charaeterised the action of the Government _ in proeeeding With the work as "creating a liability instead of an asset." " # # # When an iiiterjector made a vague reference to; "forgetting to put sdmething on the balance sheet, ' ' the Speaker replied amid laughter, "Oh no, cven Bob Semple's wheelbarrow will be in the balance sheet." # # ♦ Replying to a criticism of the acCuracy of a report regarding the Hon. W. Nash, printed irl a British paper, Mr Dickie said, "Don't get the opinion of the British Press that Mr Scrimgeour has of our PfeSs."

* # # The speaker espresSed a sincere hope that the system of paying a f xed price to dairy farmers for theiT butter would not result in a loss to the Government. "If so, everyone in New Moaland will have to beiir his sliai'e," he said. # An oblique reference to Mr Dickie 's operations as a farmer was made by one Of thoso pfeselit When the speaker said that the Minister bf Public Works had apparently foun'd no "scroungers" bn the aerodrome works he inspected at Patea. / " They aro all on the farms," said 'a voiCe. * =» # "The National Party has 60 seats to offer to strong men at the next elections," conciuded the (Spealter. '"It belioves us to be up and doing i nd to have our candidates selected for those elections "