POLITICAL NOTES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 489, 23 October 1925, Page 3

POLITICAL NOTES.

FROM THE HUSTINGS. MORE WAGES PROMISED. “First things first The first work of a Labour Government would be to restore wages and salaries to their .1914 purchasing power,” said Mr W. - Nash, at Day’s Ray last night. NOT FOR THE EMPIRE. “We do not stand for Empire,” declared Mr W. J. Rogers, Labour candi- - date for Wanganui, at a meeting a,t Wanganui, in reply to a question as to what wbuld be Labour’s attitude in the event of'war between Great Britain and Japan. A CLEAN RECORD. “There has never been one charge of dishonesty laid 'at the door of the Reform Party, and I think that is -sufficient proof of their fitness to gov- - erri.”—Mr James Hargest, Government candidate for Invercargill. CLOSING UP'MR. HICKEY. “The. Labour candidate for -laiver- ' cargill mentioned .that he did net want to go into personalities,” declared Mr Hargest, Government candidate for Inve.rcargill, “but incidentally mentioned that' the other two gentlemen in the contest were titled. Sir Joseph Ward can speak for himself, and if you. like to consider the rank which was conferred upon me by the <King as a title, then I say just htis : that I earned l it, and that Mr Hickey - had he been so inclined might have earned a corresponding rank at the same place, at the same time, and in the same manner as I earned mine.” - “LET THEM GO HOME. “The time has come when that .beautiful old club—the Upper.' House ; —should be abolished,” said Mr A. L. Monteith; the Labour candidate for Welligton, East, at Oriental Bay. “They work an average of‘s hours 35 minutes a month during the session, and get £350? per annum for ’it. The old gentlemen are standing in the way of progress, and we would be doing them a. service by letting them go home. They should not have to worry about the affairs of the State/' , . THE REASON. Scientific investigation had proved that there was sufficient coal here to last for 2000 years, with the possibility o£ enough existing to last eight z to nine thousand years. Yet, declared Mr H. E. Holland (Labour-Socialist) at Invercargill, 20 per cent, to 2'5 per cent, of the cpa.l at present being consumed in New Zealand was being ’ brought into .the country. A Voice: Too many strikes, Harry. .COPIED FROM AMERICANS. When Mr Massey assumed the Premie)ship: he had said the working people were going to get a square deal, remarked Mr J. W. Munro,-Lab-our candidate for Dunedin North. He asked them had they got a square deal ? He had noticed a whole page in the daily newspapers, recently, - with Mr Coates’ photograph prominently displayed, which stated that his slogan wats: “More business in Government and less Government in business.” - That was a slogan copied from the Americans. Mr Coates evidently thought it was a fine thing to fool the people. . . LAND POLICY. . After criticising the Labour Party’s “usehold” land policy Mr F. J. Rolleston, Reform candidate for Timaru, offered .two suggestion to prevent land speculation. One was, to iinpose an increment value, and the other that all transfers of farming land should be subject to the consent of the Land Board, so that the parties concerned would have to appear before the board and show that the price being paid was a fair one, and that the purchaser was in a position to make a success of the farm. This was the procedure in regard to Government leases, and it had worked well. Had such a law been in operation at the time of the boom many buyers of land would have been saved from ruin. It might not be necessary to have such a law always in force, but it could be made to operate at any time when there appeared to be any likelihood ' of speculation or boom prices. The farming industry was of isuch vital importance to New Zealand that one was justified in taking drastic steps to prevent the recurrence of what happened in 1920. He offered these two remedies as a better means of dealing with the land question than the “usehold” pblicy.