POLITICAL ADDRESS

Hokitika Guardian, 27 November 1931, Page 2

POLITICAL ADDRESS

MR J. O’BRIEN AT HOKITIKA SCATHING COMMENT OF COALITION labour strongly advocated

An. attentive audience and. a quiet, • wellconductea ; meeting greeted Mr Jasr; - O’Brien * last evening when b» made his - first official appearance in connection,: with bis election campaign as tile ■ .official Labour, candidate for Westland. - Long before the appointed hour of tbe meeting, the public began to assemble at the Princess Theatre, and at 8 o’clock, ’when )Ir O’Brien took the: platform with the Mayor, Mr 0, A. Perry, , there was almost a full house.' He was greeted with applause, and was' aocerded three cheers by the more enthusiastic: of his supporters. the Mayor,' £in presenting Mr O’Brien, vdsked the audience to giye the speaker an uninterrupted hearing. '‘lt'will he the best thing for you. to give him - a chance to express his views.’ 1 , ; ■ • v . 1 • , ;Mr O’Brien said that " the time had round-again for the elections. Efefybody; he: supposed, was gravely cbm?® l, n*A witß,th® way conditions were in the'Bominion to-day. He did not suppose, that in - the past 40 years, had the issues-been graver than they were at preset. He was sure th at the old er people would remember the struggles of l the earlier Governments. In 1800 V little band of stalwarts set out with :a-progressive policy which they lbid . before the people, .and which was subjected to criticism of course. The leaders, of this party were Sir George Grey,! John Ballance, and Richard John Siedddn. -When they placed their policy tejforeithe: country, thfe Press described them a? •“The Seven Devils of Social-; igia.” Their policy was referred to as (^rimnnistic,\Socialistic, and Anarchistic, and; they had tP face more abuse than, labour was called upon to bear, at; thp present: time. Even in. those dayf.'.they- had unempfey ment, as well as - soup i/ kitchens and the such like, ; while trade and commerce were at a standstill. ,' ,* ■’ ■ :-Stbj»My r stalwarts, • continued Mr o^rien, ::^d' down the foundations for the prosperity, of Now Zealand, as well as’,: laying down legislation ; that -16 year's'' :of • Tory oGvernment could ;■ not pull down. i Tbat' legislation was not plaped on ...'the Statute Book without sacrifice. It was unfortunate however, that the' young people pE.-to-ffevXiWbQ growing up, unaware of; the origin of; the.; social services which were to bc •njoyed;; appeared to. think that hblv aiways- had these things. WkNi ' : atori#s .of .;the old times are be* ihg told,-: they merely f'Oh yes, wt hiyedtaird,ihembefore.” Theseyouii gel 1 men"' and : women must .look out, or they’firiU loeing the priyiliges _ .that -tW Voider men have provided.” ; : “TMay,’’ said Mr O’Brien, “we have-A Coalition Governmet, headed by ope, George Forbes, at one tivhe, a Liberal It is goihg to . tear down, all that has been dime by the former Liberal Government. Condition is the combination of the worst elements of two parties, and H is going to bend the people to its will.” . - '

. Three years ago, he continued, Sir Joseph Vard'won at the poll, and came in with a. jingle of £70,000,000, which would not meen any tax to the ratepayer,and he .Was going to raise the wages to a; standard of 14/- a day. He wais a.sick man; and did not last very longl Mr Forbes waß chosen to wear his mantle, a man whose speeches were of a radical nature. Shortly after his appointment', he went to the Old Country where he attended the Imperial . Conference, In England he met the •u ‘Government- Heads, and possibly, finan- . -ciers. .He came hack an entirely different 1 man. and was not the same Mr Forces as who left these shores. Upon his return, he immediately started .to put his legislation into effect. He became a direct, exponent of monied in* tweets, and tore down the faßric of - Liberal legislation. The first ®tep was to balance the Budget, and civil servants had their wages reduced by ten per cent. Mr O’Brien.dealt at length with the flight Labour put up in the House to oppose the measure. “For fourteen days we fought this legislation,” he said. In the middle.of the debate, Mr Forbes changed the rules of the game, and introduced the “gag”, thereby limiting further discussion, and managed to ctffc his legislation on the Statute Books. Labour moved that all incomes below £950 be exempted, then. £9OO, and . £250.. Mr Forbes said that unless, all salaries ware cut, he could not get the -n million; and a half for unemployment purposes. The Arbitration Court and the Government Statistician bad computed the basic wage, which was about £4/8/a a week. They aIBO worked

up the figures each year as to what- a • working man with his wile and two children, could live on with the bare necessities: Labour continued to fight ; the measure , until they came to the ' last act of the tragedy, when they moved that the wages of charwomen be exeropt. the attention of Mr Forbes hewing drawn to the hardships that this would impose, but the “gag” was pass, ed. “It was the most heartless Government that Now 7o. n land has ever seen,” said Mr O’Brien. “We have never had such a Government on the Treasury benches before. They üßed to call Mr Massey a hard-bound Tory, but Mr Massey would, never for a single

second, have allowed such legislation to go through. The cut did not reduce the incomes of the wealthy, by a like amount. It is these heartless men who are coming before you as a. Coalition Government, who are cutting the pittance of the unemployed.” Referring to his opponent for political honours, the speaker said that Mr Greenslade was an old friend of his. “The only thing I am sorry for is that he is carrying the sins of the Coalition Government. I would not carry them for a second. I would rather be without ,a bite to ea,t. (Applause).' Mr Greenslade does not know what the Government, is capable of.” Twelve months ago the Government passed the Unemployment Act,' but its conditions had not been observed, The customs on goods had also been increased, the speaker reading out a list 'of the' necessities which had been affected.

Dealing with the social services, Mr O’Brien went on. to speak of the hospitals. He read a circular issued to alb Hospital Boards in the Dominion in April, and signed by M. H. Watt, Di-rector-General of Health. In this circular it was stated that “the Medical Superintendent might be able to effect savings in'the use and purchase of drugs or by the reducing the average days’< stay of patients. The Matron might be able to effect economies in the usp. of dressings. The Engineer might possibly suggest means of reducing the cost of fuel and light and considerable savings might also be possible by recasting the diet scale.” It was further stated that “the admissions to Old People’s Homes should be reduced to & minimum.” AU this meant that the patient was going to suffer every time; he was not going to be treated with, the best of drugs, and a little was to be saved in the matter of the dressings for his wounds. In the old hospitals, there was no light at all and now when the patients were given the benefit of a decent lighting system, it was to be taken away from them.” t

“I won’t elaborate on this,” said Mr O’Brien, “but will just leave it to yqur imagination. From a Governxinenfc«out «i»*«ave>N ew-Z©aland 'it? s -"dis-

astrous. It is an. instance of their cheese-paring. For years they had urged and fought for free dental treatment for children in schools and at last it came, in the day of tine late William Ferguson Massey. But this Coalition Government had a circular sent to ali School Committees in New Zealand m charge of dental clinics by the Director of Dental Hygiene, Mr J. L. Saunacrs, stating that the committees would, fn future, be required to contribute £SO per annum for each ’dental officer or .nurse employed. This -was to be collected by requiring every child treated at the clinic to pay 5s per annu*n. All children on the register of a. clinic on April Ist., 1931, were to be charged this fee as well as those enrolled after that date. The free treatment was to be no more and the people who had barely enough to buy the necessities of life were to have their children deprived of their free dental service! This was the work of the great Coalition Government! «

“It is far better to tend to tire teeth of children in their infancy, than build hospitals for them when they grow up” he said. • The Coalition Government 1 has also decided to interfere with your education system, and is going to close the Grade 0 and Grade 1 schools, arguing that they are too expensive. Those schools are the small ones in the hack country, and it is intended to teach the children by correspondence. In this district, the children’s parents are farmers and bush-workers, and there is no chance of them being taught effectively by correspondence. The children should not be refused th© pleasure and companionship of the playground. The Governmnt is going to cheat them, cheat them, cheat them. The Department also intends to cut down the free places by stiffen-

ing up the examinations. It is the most despicable, means of saving money that ‘this country has ever heard of (Hear, Hear).

Mr O’Brien wanted to know what the people had done to deserve the treatment that they were getting today. They were neither lazy, nor indolent, on the other ‘ hand industries had improved, while production had increased. He read figures compiled by the Statistician showing the great increases in primary products, secondary' products and exports during the past ten years. Everything produced primarily had increased by leaps and hounds.

From 1921 to 1931 the added value to raw material Ivy the workers increased by 33 1-3 per cent. This represented a total value of about £310,000,000; and the workers’ share of the added value after paying all distributive costs, was £157,000,000. In addition to this enormous increase of production in both primary and secondary industries, at the end of April, '"1931, r there were '" deposits in New

Zealand banks to the extent of over £55,000,000; more than ever before in the history of New Zealand, with the exception of o»e year. Also, during the years from 1922-23 until 1929 30 the assessable incomes in New Zealand had increased by over nineteen millions of pounds annualy and the taxable balance by over -£11,000,000 anually, yet at the same time income tax bad been reduced at the rate of £5,000,1X70 annually! And what was the rebuilt of all this V Wages had been reduced, there was great unemployment in the country, and 95 per oent., of tnie farmers of the country were faced with bankruptcy. And all for the excuse of balancing the budget, added the speaker. Referring to the question of unemployment, Mr O’Brien said that there were 52.000 men out of work ini New Zealand to-day, and never had one step been taken on the part of the Government to help them, except in, isolated cases. He read a petition he had received that morning signed vy twelve returned soldiers residing in complaining that 'they were not being treated fairly, in that preference had been given to strangers to the town when work was offering. •‘Repeatedly, some of us urged the Government that here were plenty of avenues where the two and a-lialf million pound? of unemployment money ! might be spent. There were thousands ! of acres waiting to be taken up, and |if the men were assisted to> go into I the farms, it would mean work altogether for five times as many a« those who had gone on to the land.” Mr O’Brien said he had alway# pleaded against putting the men on unproductive work. He would I'ke to j see moi i become interested in mining j Hon. I). Jones, Minister of Mints, and the hardest Tory New Zealand ua.s 'ever seen, and Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister for Unemployment had al- : ready given assistance in this direction.

“I believe that, in six or seven months’ time ithe timber trade will be ! flourishing again, continued the candidate. Notwithstanding Mr GreenIslade’.s- assault on Australia, I am j definite that Australia ha? turned the corner, and is going ahead. She is twelve months behind in her building programme and has to cutdi. up. and [there is only one place from where 'she car. get her timber, and that is fiom New Zealand. If I am elected, and I am confident that I will he, I i will be prepared to go to Australia for a few weeks and do what I can for the inditettry. I don’t think Mr jGreenslade knows very much about j conditions in Australia. Somebody has been telling him things about it. . One thing was sure, and that was that Lang, when faced with the question of paying interest on one hand, and of paying his starving people on ■j the latter, decided on the latter course. (Hear. Hear.) Great Britain wa® obliged to seek ft reduction in her rate of interest, payable over an extended period. If New Zealand were to do the same it would mean £480,0010 to the people here, and that was better than taxing the grower. Mr Ransom had said that they had had to reduce the land tax to help the farmers. None knew better than Mr Ransom that not one small farmer would he assisted by this legislation. The graduated land tax which had been placed on the Statute Book® forty years ago in order to prevent the accumulate ll of large areas of land under the one ownership, was abolished and he (Mr O’Brien) had a table before him which showed that if a farmer in New Zealand had a taxable balance of £SOOO, he would receive a decrease, of his tax of £4 3a 4d annually. However, the man who had a taxable balance below £SOOO received practically no decrease at all. Yet, the big land owners, who had taxable balances of £IOO,OOO and over, benefited to the extent of over £2OOO a year. The Government said they must come to the assistance of these farmers and the tax was abolished. The reason given for the abolition of the graduated tax was that the price of wool had fallen and that the farmers had had a had year, and these men, whose incomes had increased by thousands every year from 1923 until last year, had their taxes cut out merely because they had one had year. “It is' no wonder that the people with the big incomes like to control Parliament, and subsidise candidates from end of New Ze.-4la.nd to the other. If Labour cared to sell its principles it would get grants Just as great.” (Laughter.) “If you want the. farmer to be assisted in this country, I would say a reduction of three per cent, in the rate of interest, not one per cent, as Mr Ransom suggests. Today the returns for primary produce are lower, but the rate of interest is just the the same, and it is not fair.” The speaker said that Mr Holland never had any intention of borrowing £25,000,000. It was n false rumour which had been freely circulated, and which had been refuted in .the House. In conclusion,. Mr O’Brien said that if a person were to vote for Coalition next Wednesday, it would mean voting for increased unemployment, decreased wages, the chea/ting of the schools, decreasing the efficiency of the hospitals, and givng more money to the big squatter. Concluding Mr O’Brien said that there may be some matters those present were not clear upon, and any questions would he answered. He thanked them for many kindnesses in the past and the very patient hearing they had given him that evening. (Applause). QUESTIONS. Mr M. Keenan asked what would the candidate do in connection with the

discontinuing cheap rides for scholars to the High School. Mr O’Brien said if returned, and he had the power to do it, he would see that there was every efficiency in the education system and that every assistance was given every child to attend school, ‘even to help to increase the assistance that was given in the past. These cuts were not coining from the Education Boards, they were being forced on them by the Government refusing to pay the subsidy. He would do h.s utmost to push education ahead.

Mr C. Friend said he wished to repeat the question he had put to Mr Green.slade in reference to Dr Valentine and 'Messrs Hayes’ and Thompson’s retiring allowances. Mr O’Brien said when Dr Valentine retired he was given a retiring allowance of £650 a year. Hayes, Secretary to the Treasury retired on superannuation of £B4O and was given' a grant of £650. He had more money when he retired than when he was working. J. B. Thompson, under-Secretary of Lands retired on £B4O superannuation and he wit also a retiring al.owance of £625. These compassionate allowances were made out of the pennies dragged from girl® earning 7s 6d a week. In regard to the civil servants a definite agreement under the ’Superannuation Act was broken, and in some instances men who should be getting £3 per week, were only to receive 36s per, week. All who joined under-the Superannuation Act were being treated that way. It put a premium on dishonesty. But take the big man, H. H. Sterling who was getting £3,500 a year. He was given 5 years service thrown in and was to get nearly £2,000 a year superannuation, while they are giving him another £IOOO a year for n part time job. Then there was the cry of Balance the Budget. For year after year they hnd built up surplus after surplus of over 32 mil- , lions, and then when a bad year came they had to cut wages. It was merely an excuse.

Mr M. Keenan: Would lie be in favour of doing away with truant officers'.

Mr O’Brien said they could cut out many things, including truant officers, especially if they were going to teach the children by a correspondence course.

THANKS AND CONFIDENCE. Mr C. Friend moved a hearty vote of thanks and confidence in Mr O’Brien and the Labour Party. Mr E. W. Heenan seconded the motion and, would add appreciation of Mr O’Brien for his services for the past three years and the hope that he would again be returned. Mr W. Smith as an Anzac added his support to the motion. Mr B. Dowell thanked Mr O’Brien for the good work he had done on behalf of the returned soldiers. The motion was then put and* carried by acclamation. > Mr O’Brien thanked the assemblage heartily for the motion of thanks and confidence. If returned he would work even a little harder if that were possible to advance the interests of N the people. He also thanked them for many kindnesses extended during his term of office, It had never been hard to represent Westland as all had worked well together in the interest of Westland. He would move a hearty vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding. This was carried By acclamation and a very successful meeting came to a conclusion.