"DICTATORS RULE DOMINION"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 56, 29 November 1937, Page 7

"DICTATORS RULE DOMINION"

Labour Charged

COL. HARGEST'S ADDRESS New Zealand Approaching a Crisis COMMUNIST METHODS "The power i a slipping from you? hands to th.e oligarehy that calls itsell % Cabinet, ' ' said Colonel Janies Hargest, M.P. for Awarua, in a vigorons •ddress to the Havelock North brauch of tlie New Zealand National Party ou Saturday aftemoon. To a large audience which attended tlie party 'a gardea Party at ihe home of Dr. andsMrs E. K. Crompton, Colonel Hargest reviewed briefly the policy and legislatidn of the Government, and made etrong comment on the eft'ect of Labour 's rule, together with conjparisons with curreht affaira in New South Wales and Great Britain. The speaker was instroduced by Mr J. B. CampbOli, chairman of the Havelock North bianch of the National Party, after a welcome had been extendcd by Dr. Crompton. Parliamentary woxk at the pre/sent day, said Col. Hargest, had deveiopec into a fight which diff'ered essentially from the fights between IJnited and Beform parties in previou3 Govera. ments. It was realised now that those two parties had different ideals, but merely different leaders. He wished to Hiank those prearent for the assistance which they had rendered in the iight so far, and conveyed a massage of thanks from his leader, the Hon. Adam Hamilton. Mr Hamilton 's message was that in the crisis of New1 Zealand 's national history that was xapidly approaching, the fight was the people's concern as well as that of their representatives in Parliament — a struggle for the' freedom to which the people had been used, the freedom to which the people had been used, the freedom which the National Party hop$d to return to the people. On the result of the struggle depended very largely the future of the country 's affairs, and the future welfare of its people, Attitude to Opposition. Colonei Hargest told his ' audience that a .remarkable difference had .been noticed in Parliament during the last year in the attitude of the people toward the Opposition. In the first yeaT of office of the new Government there had been a feeling that they were fighting alone, and the party worked as it could, hoping that its ideals were right. In the past year, however, a most notable difference had xesulted. Now there was not a day upon which they did not get a niessage from some part of tnt> country, to say "Well don»." "One of the etrongest points we should. make, is a straight-out denial of the Labour Party 's claim that, when they took over the reins of ofiice in this country, they found a bankrupt country. That is not so. Every Ono of us will agree that, despite certain actions required in the depression years, we were fair to the people, lf we reduced the people 's privileges and took away part of their incomes, we were at least fair; if we took away part of the salari.es of teachers and others, we at least paid them, and that was not done in many Soeialist- countries of the world to-day. We were scrupuloualy fair to that class of people the Labour Party claims to represent to-day. ' 'When the Labour Party took over they did not find a bankrupt country. They found a balanced Budget. We had been able to restore some of the wages, not all of them, but absolutely all tho offiftes of the country were stable. We had a balanced Budget and a buoyant revenue. In 1934 there was not a department in the Government that did not have- on hand money for any purpose required, without having to go to outside sources for it. No Government ever took over in more favourable circumstances after a depression than when the Labour Party took over. We

had done some very unpleasant things, but we had brought our country through a crisis." iiabour Deficits Overseas. Figures were quoted in regard to the Labour Governments in New South Wales and Great Britain, in which the speaker stated that, following a yeac in ofiice, there had been deficits in each country of £14,000,000 and £150,000,000 respectively. New South Wales had closed doWn its savings banks and thoy were not re-opened until Mr ^ Stevens sucCeeded Mr Lang with a national government. The cry had gone up, when they were advised to proceed economicallv and cautiously, to instead go to the super-taxpayer. If the Labour Party were content to go along quietly, many people who were by no means pro-Labour would be con tent to leave them to it. Instead, however, it had been found that the cost of livmg was now as high as it had* been since the war years. It was now very difiicult to arrive at the cost of living today becanse it was going up every day. Many 'businesses were finding thinga- infinitely more difiicult now than during the years of the deprunsion, and yet the country was supppsed to be in a boom — was in fact, experiencing a boom. "It is only the fact that the banks are standing by them and hoping for a change, that many of the businesses are able to carry on," declared Colonel Hargest. Continuing his comparison with New South Wales, he stated that taxation in that State had been reduced over' the past five years, the period in which

Mr Stevens had been in office, by £30,000,000. Men on the wage level of about £3 a week were paying no wages tax at all, and larger incomes were taxed less than they had even been in the history of tbe State. The cost of living in New Zealand was now higher •than ever it hau been, and at the sarue

tiine taxation per head of population in New Zeaiand now amounted to ££J 16/-. In England, which was busy spehding millions of pounds upon a rearmament programme, the total was £5 lower, and in New South Wales 'from £6 to £7 10/- lower. The speaker pointed out that this amount a year would make a substantial endowment policy for old age. Maintaining Standards of Living. "We are not going to be charged with being wage-slashers or pensioncutters, and we have no desire to rcduee the standard of living," said the speaker, in a reference to the neeessiiy of redueing expbnditure, during which he claimed that travelling allowanees to departmental officers alone had been increased by £750,000 a year. "We cannot become a nation of leaners who lean on a benefieial Government whieh will pay out when needed." The flaw in the doctrine of increased wages w£ls pointed out by the speaker, who said that there were thousands oi people who had not participated. The larger-salaried workers had reeeived no increase, but more important were the many who reeeived who increase, but more important were the many wlio were retired from business, and were living on the fixed ineome from their life earnings who were now faced with higher priees for all commodities, and consequently a reduced standard of living. In the same category were dairy farmers, with a guaranteed price forced upon them and at tbe same timo having to be content with rising living costs, and the abnormally high wages paid in connection with the handling of their produce. Never had he heard a Minister or a single Labour M.P. express ihe slightest sympathy for peopie in such circumstances. Whenever the Opposition approached the matter they were harked back to the unemlovment reduetion question and kept there. The aim of the National Party was to keep down the cost of living, and to make

the wages of the worker worth the money they represented, which was not the case to-day. Labour 's UMulfilled Pledges. .The promisq of the Labour Party at the elections had been to reduca taxation, and there was documentary evidence in abundance lo prove the statements of Mr- Savage and Mr Nash that this was to be done. It had been promised to reduce the saies tax, but tnu had not been done, and they had now no intention of doing it. It was worth an iuereasing amount every year, and this year would total about £4,000,000. A year ago the taxation in the coua try amounted to £26,000,000, last yeur it jumped to £30,000,000 . and this yes»> £35,000,000 was expected from taxation. Taxation had been Taised by £9,000,0UU in two years. ) The dairy-farmer had been promisea a better standard of living. Tho guaranteed price scheme had been accepted, with no price named, and the farmer was now working for the samo amount in a country wiiere the cost or. living had risen tremendously. The produce had been commandeered, and the farmer got what Mr Nash said he would, and no more. His butter and cheeso was plaeed on the ship and it was then iryst to hina At the same time wages that no country could stand, because the work was not being done fo» them, were being paid to the men on the wharf who loaded the produce, greater wages than the farmer himself could hope to obtain. "This Government had set up a dictatorship that is as strong as the dic.tatorships we find in European countries, and 1 am speaking seriously when 1" say this," was the charge made by Colonel Hargest. "There is not a singie Cabinet Minister in New Zealand 'today that is not a dictator.

"Dictator of Finance/ ' .. :•» "Take the case of Mr NashrHe 'is the dictator of finance. He is the head of the Beserve Bank, and he runs it. He has the power to lend himself as much money as fiie wants. We sit in Parliament, going through the formality of going through the Estimates item by item, approving or disapproving, and we might just as well be home in bed. As head of the Beserve Bank he can lend himself as much money as he likes, without the necessity of going to Parliament for it. That is the position that has been taken by the Minister, and one that has never been sought by any Minister of any "British coutu try before." Every well-established transport business in the country, the speaker continued, was under the dominance of the Minister of Transport, the Hon. li. JSemple. Transport operators did not kno^v how long they would be able to continue in business, because their des- 1 tinies were in the hands who wielded the authority and could refuse a renewal of licences, "in the interests of the publie." The Court of Appeal agarnst them was Mr Semple alone, and by virtue of the Act he was not compelled to hear any verbal evidence, or to read any documentary evidence, and his decision was fikal. The Government had taken over and continued to operate 50 well-known bus services. Colonel Hargest stated that he knew of one near invercargill where the proprietor was making for himself about £4,500 a year, having built up the service from nothing. Yet from the whole 50, the Government had made last year only £21,000. Another 54 goods services were to be taken over. There had been no coinpulsion ln the matter, but the owners were told that when their lieences expired in a year or two, they would be "reviewed," and there was not one of them who, in this way, had not been t'orced to negotiate. Purchase of Plcots. Tne instance of the purchase of Picots the other day for £66,000, was also • mentioned. The Government haa bought the business, and given Mr Picot a job at £2000 a year. The farcical position had resulted that ths, dairy-farmers' money would ,be used to pay the salary of a man whose ,iob it was to keep down the prices of dairy produce. Colonel Hargest charged the Government with being Soeialistic, saying: "There are no half-ways about Socialism. I don't know if you read tho recent remarks by Stalin in his last speech when he is Teported to liavk said, 'Look at Bussia to-day — thatN Socialism/ I only know one definitio« of Socialism. It is a system that po-.-mits of State ownership of property and State control of employment. "There is only one difference" between Communism and Socialism, and that is that the Soeialist is prepared to get there by Jegislative means. Having got there, there is no differeixc'ff between the Communist and the Soeialist. The methods adopted by tho Cornmunists in Bussia are the methods of the Labour Party in New Zealand today. "We can se'e the hyoeritical attitude of the Labour Party to-day when any association at all with the Communist Party is denied. We know that the Communist will never vote fbr us; wo know that he will fight for Labour to the last ditch, even if he hopes to gain his ends from 'where they leave off. "Our Government has been handecl over to a crowd of imported irresponsibles to manage, but if we have a few months more now we'll get in and we hope to return the country to the prospenty it ought to have," he concluded. Colonel Hargest was vigorously applauded for his address, and thanked on behalf of the party by Dr. Crcmp-|. ton.