HON. E. A. RANSOM

Hokitika Guardian, 1 December 1931, Page 2

HON. E. A. RANSOM

VISIT TO WESTLAND ADDRESS AT PRINCESS THEATRE .A CAPITAL RECEPTION HIS ADVICE TO THE ELECTORS • An .attentive, hearing/ interspersed wijh a few humourous interan* effusion .of cheers, the introduption of a mild form of rowdyism toward the end, combined with some, personal statements, wera tbe outatanding features of the pdliticai. address given by the M.inlfter of‘ Lands, Hon. E. ’A. Ranson, at the Princess Theatre early ’iMt svening. J 'V ‘ [

fI y Mr is paying a hurried ,%isit i* ** ? to tb^ Elect6rat«, and during jL£ ilithe fa" is underpaying a strenuous campaign wiiritb Mr ;J/ W; Greenslade, Coalition

‘ * ' candidate ! for. Westland, in' the,,inter* ./,* P' ests of the .present Goverjiment. : r . I* 3 f After j two meetings, ode at Otira, ; and one gt Jtnmara yesterday, Mr R&n- ---* **;' afljn ’ pfid rfc brief' visit' -to' US “4prior/tf> goipg through to Greympotlv ’f s 1 wherp h» /ppnducted a large meeting a j hour of the peeting ■ 1 % the peeplp commenced'to P nsemble, apd in spit* of the’Konipwhat there was quite a large attendance. Graens||fde/were greeted with applause they tools fthe platform with' the Mayor pf. A. ferry. The introduced .Mr. Ransom, arid pleaded that he/ be„. g i vena ir atten* rr" tjive, hearing.\The speakV er, hp sai'd, had had'.come to Bfokitilta af a Air it. was; very, gratifying to * candidate, 'Mr Greehslade; and to.' b.ini?elf, to'see such a good gathering at thatfour. There wiis not' Very much tihi| v at his disposal, bpt he , would endeavour >to';hladp'i%; many] points of his;'apeech before 'the electors as i>6ssible/: ' - j ••■’.‘.V •*' r ■/■'. ..- -v;' '■ - constituency did’mp .the tr tid return’ roe unopposed, I; saidlMr lUnPbm. V itCmy'/ duty,. . not .V.to rerhqin idle, at to visit [otliferelectorates, .arid 'piace /before '.thp . ejectora. thp ( ,'pdlioythe ’ GpYerniriferit. The . present -Elections,; jwhich ;>takq place' next • Wednesday /is Jthe' inost pnique/in the'history-pofi the dominion,'as>;never be'foje l dn i jthe ; histo^fe ! 6f vthis ? country, hayp: the; people been •to support; a!l Coalition j Gpvernnient. • 'The -cifcum-

; 'sfyrqtm(U^ quite- out of ! the grievpu* jsuffetyn&i ■ eVpii; •xperidnced - before. I he|td ; pf,ii' depres. . siou iii: „180P;1 jiut., cwinot' rqeajl; ’it;. M* tftaiiglj in' business at.-.the. time., \V" ;,v lSa3t in but w© emerged?from? it,' very quickly.” . ■ pt'K V ) ■ d ‘ “Ibis deprepsion ia not only DominTherefore. We-haveto,. think of. what has givenirise. to -it, ahd.by ’what; mean a. We can overcomeit. *Jt undoubtedly is the aftei’-efFeets of the . Great War when tig debts were run. up. A reaction set in and we simply have to face it: I confidently believe, however, that the Dominion will recover more ' quickly than any other part of the Empire. It is. a great country and cap- „ able of greater and quicker revival, and local conditions ; can be overcome.” “We should forget our, differences of opinion, insofar as party spirit is eon- ' cerned, and get together for a general solution which will relieve the country.” Local troubles could be overcome if •they-were all to make sacrifices, provided that: they were equally distrir buted. f, Mr Ransom dealt pt length with the conditions leading up to the formation , .of the present Coalition Government. • The United Government had a chequered career, and was called upon to face many big problems, including earthquakes and other disasters. It did not seem likely that Parliament would go the full .term of office, however, but he, the speaker,' believed they would, pro-. •' vided the legislature was always in the ; best interests of the. people. The posit--3 ion became very grave/ just as Empire : conditions had become very serious. The Prime Minister, Mr Forbes, was of the opinion that the affairs of the Dominion needed such, careful handling that he considered the formation of a Coalition Government, and with this end in view he invited the three parties to meet together and form a policy to overcome the situation. United, Reform and \ Labour each appointed three represen- , tatives and Independents one, to form * a committee. This committee met for a considerable time and collected evidence bearing on the issue from every posible section of the community. The outcome was that they were able to view the country’s difficult position. The outstanding feature wag the difficulty in which the primary producers of the Dominion were placed, for they were in grave danger of being forced off their farms unless assistance were forthcoming. It was estimated that fully 30 per cent could carry on unassisted whil> an additional SO per cent could also carry on with some slight assistance. “As long as T cm Minister of Lands,” said Mr Ransom, “no Crown tenant, ■' who is working honestly, and to the best of his ability, will ever be disturbed as far as his tenancy is concerned.” (Applause). Parliament, at jta lgst passed an Act which • ~ ' ::■*

prevented Mortgagees from taking unfair- advantage qf tfie' Mortgagors, for ?t. was 1 recognised - that the-..farmers’ position , was .so : essential that they must be .safeguaVded at all costs. Ther e , were still; 40 per cent, who would gu to. the wall unlesjs. assistance were forthcoming. Oyer'9o'per cent, of the Dqunnioti’s wealth csm«, from the land< so it .would be Aeeji how the position .was,, as : the health was diatributed " Wey"; the whole of the popular tion. decidetl tp tahb'-acticfp tq protepr them, •!' '■> Aftfr full consideration - had beep giveh t to the . t ppajtion, it was realised .that; in;view qf, the. grave,circumstances, the only course to: pursue was the establishment of .a, National Gpvernment. TJia.iPrime ••Minister: therefore invited the* different parties to form a National •Government,, but' it was not. too- we'll 'received. Mr- Forbes was a hard map to, shift.-'Tie >yps not. .qujck v in putting forward ideas, but "when ideas were spbmittefl;' there was no man in, the Govevnniejit whose. opinion And judgment ,110,- ; |hq, speaker, would 'rely on' 1 more. Mr . Fo.r-bes then said that he would not proceed further w;th the inter-party committee,' but ..vfould form a National Government.' The Leader of the Labour . partijr;' Mr Hbllapd ■ signified • his unwillingness to . participate, While the Deader of the . Opposition, Mr , CoAtpf, .Wanted three days to go into the mpt- , the eijd' of' that time he sqld he wita prepared to fall in. with the jdea, but -Mr Holland again’ refused uhips (they].'yifere;} prepared, 'to: accept. Labour's .policy, ' ; «T i arrif’i speakjhg with a full liuoriVjjAdge,' as-'l jwas one, of. the United Fatty’s- represehiatives!’ said Mr Ransom. ’v Ai mdstr.difficult position was v firing the M|n|ster' forj-Fir)ianc : e : J ' : 'On the estimates -was ehdwn a, deficiency of £6'586Dj0(W,,.' unless eebnomies. 5 ■' Itn -wasi aßTvery^difficnlt'Vmatt#r> to effect;, economies- . without certain -hardships. /EyeryiMinLter wato asked .|o reduce the expeqdjiura/ qfHis departiiient by JO per cent,, and‘each said '}t wag :poaßj.blo if he were gfvan $. free hand,lt.-meant ■ ths-\, cuttjjig’ out of services,’and the discharging of, a nUip- : ber of < men, wee a" difficnit thing '.to do in-; view-'of: unemployment, and •it- was ! very-regrettable l that 1 they had to do so. ;,F,cpp<imijes tfqye carried out, leaving to., be made up by additional taxation. 'Time went on and it was fobnd necessary to make further reductions.- Mr Ransom detailed the manner in' which this was done, and said that. it was not. possible to cut down to any further extent. The one great difficulty facing the country was the fact that £1,700.000 less was received from primary industries during the last two years than for the two previous years, because the Old Country was unable to keep up trade as it was suffering from an even worse depression than New Zealand. There, unemployment was rife and the Sum of £100,000,000 wa-s being paid out in unemployment insurance annually. It was indeed in a bad way because fiscal policies of past governments had allowed of free trade. But the day had arrived when foreign countries were able to supply goods at prices .which the-British manufacturers could not touch. Speaking for the Government, continued the speaker, they did not regard a low wages standard as being good for. the country. He outlined the work iMr Forbes had done at the Imperial Conference, where he had urged the need for looking after the primary producer. He had urged tftat Britain should look after her own manufacturers first, and then her own countries with regard to exports. (Hear, hear). There had been a great change ill,the fiscal policy since Mr Forbes had come back. Great Britain should look at the interests of her colonies, who were entitled to consideration where their exports of foodstuffs and raw materials were concerned. Why should foreign ecmnfues> be showed to fill up the markets with their goods, while the Dominions starved. Mr Ransom referred briefly to the depression in America and compaied the conditions responsible with those of Britaiu. America was self, contained whereas Britain was not, being spread all over the world. Nevertheless Britain was able to produce any and every article within the Empire, and therefore it should be arranged that one part of the Empire should be able to supply the other. “If, by interchange of goods, we can meet our obligations, it will mean one medium whereby we can overcome our difficulties.”

' In New Zealand, he said, there were many things to do. They must increase the number of primary producers, by .the cutting up of the larger estates, and bringing into operation idle lands. He foresaw that they would have to contend with lower markets in the future, qnd if they were going to accept lower prices, they must increase

their bulk to make the- receipts equal. The Government meant. to meet that feature, and since 1928 an Act had been passed for the. development of undeveloped lands. He referred to the great pumice belt in the North Island, Saying that, contrary to opinion, it .afforded great (Opportunities to the wealth of the Dominion. This iand had been inspected by the Department of Agriculture, as well as the Scientific Research Department, and it was found that it copld be made eminently productive.. iHe detailed work that was being carried on in this class of country at Ngakuru, and of the wonderful results that had been obtained. It offered splendid opportunities for young men, and every chance would be them, and the speaker believed that they would make good.

Mr Ransom went on to deal with some of the promises that had been made by the Labour Party as to what they would do if they were placed in power at the' Election, but he was sure that not many people would be borne away by such statements. Labour had promised to subsidise the primary producers out of the Consolidated Fund. How could they? ‘‘You cannot take out of the fund unless you put something in first” he added, "and the only way that Labour cap carry this into effect will be by increasing taxation. If Mr Holland can do it without increasing, vVell ail I can say is . that he is the greatest wizard that ever lived.’ It was, said Mr Ransom in conclus’on, the duty of ail to assist the country to rise, and help the Empire to wh ! ch we all belonged, and the only way was to suppovt the Coalition Government oil December 2, Instead of a Coalition Cfbvevnment fie would like to see a National Government for this was no time when party policies should be observed, as it was not in tbe interest of the country. A section of the crowd t.»>iu cue end showed some slight opposition but they cries, at the end of iv.e speech, .were lost in applause by the great majority lor the speaker. Mr \V. Jeffries rose to move a vote of . thanks, and was greeted with cal.s and interjections from the noisy element • ,

'‘-That’s only Moscow at the end of the hall,” he saia amid laughter.

Cej paye much pleasure in moving a vote of thanks to Mr 'Ransom for his able address, and a- vote of confidence jn the Coaljtiofi Government. I put forward this resolution without the slightest reservation. As a resident of ■this district for a good number of yeqrs. ... A voice; The years during the War? Mr Jeffries: I volunteered, but was rejected, and my name, went into the war list. I was not a conscript.

A voice: You had your photograph ■faken with the men. Mr Jeffries said the people were faced with Ithe i question of ranging themselves pq the side-of; loyalty “to your King and country, or throw in your lot ;with lawlessness, ruination, and, as ( in. . , , Mr Paul Renton seconded the motion, which wqs carried by. acclamation and was followed by cheers for the'Hon. Mr Ransqm, the National Government and the candidate for Wetland, Mr J. Greenslade, while ,at a call, cheers were given fdr “Jim” O’Brien. • Hon. E. Ransqm • moved a vote qf thanta to 'the Mayor for so aW presiding and this was ' carried with a P’ pl-iuse, A highly successful meeting tfien came 'to 3 successful conclusion at 7.30 p.m, . The Hon, Ransom after meeting a number of the residents then left by car for Greymouth, while Mr J. W. Greenslade left for Ross where he was to speak at 8.30.