PRIME MINISTER ON TOUR

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5346, 2 November 1928, Page 2

PRIME MINISTER ON TOUR

VISIT TO HAURAKI PLASMS* SETTLERS ADDRESSED. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon- JG. Coates, accompanied by Mrs Coates and Mr F. D. Thompson, private secretary, visited the Hauraki Plains yesterday afternoon and spoke at the Ngatea District High School, the Ngaf.ea Hall, and at Waitakaruru before proceeding to Pokeno. Residents from most parts qf the county, including a large number of ladies, were- present at the Ngatea Hall, the building, being packed to overflowing. Mr E. LWalton, county chairman, presided, and welcomed the Prime Minister and Mrs Coates to Nga.tea.

Mr Coates spoke for fqrty minutes, and was accorded an attentive hearing. He explained that he was travelling round asking the country to consider the claims of the Reform Party to be returned' to power. He wished to deal with several pqints which were interesting to local people. Concerning, dairy control, the leader of the Labour Party,' Mr Holland, had, during the past few days, made reference to a contract made with the Radio. Broadcasting Co., of which Mr W.' Goodfellow was a director. Mr Holland had circulated certain dates, but in these he was eight months out, and there was no connection whatever with anything that concerned, dairy control and broadcasting. With reference to t'he; appointment of the Government nominee bn the Dairy Control Board, Mr Coates pointed out that two- names had been submitted to the board and it had chbsen Mr S- Patterson. Concerning, the message hq had sent .from London to the board. Mr Coates said it was only the opinion he had formed when the facts had been gathered. He, as head of the Government, would have failed in his duty had he not cabled the information to the board. RURAL CREDITS. Thare was an impression .that there was an undue delay ip the working of the Rural Intermediate Credits schema This had only been in existence fqr lending purposes for a little over, three months, and in that time over £lOO,OOO had be|en loaned, out. The arrangements and machinery for the scheme had first to be set up. Over. 300 settlers had had advances, and seventeen associations had been registered, so some progress had been made. The Act provided fqr private persons also to obtain loans. Sattlers could secure advanc.es through their dairy company without waiting for the formation of an association, and the lja.n could be taken over by the association when formed. The Act was a fine one, as it acted,as a constant spur to promote competition for farmers’ business. ■

IMMIGRATION.

Unemployment was not the result of any action by the Government, said Mr Co;a.tes, and only a few believed the assertions by the fanatics to that effect. It was the result of an ecqnpnrc depression due to the fact that the country’s exports brought .a lower price than before. Primary producers’ costs were definitely fixed, and the prices received were not sufficient tq pay those costs. Hence the commercial men suffered with less, money being available, and; the ultimate recsuit was that there was aii increase of men without work. No legislation would overcome this, and certainly not the borrowing of £70,00'0,000'. Some people said that it had been caused by the Government’s immigration policy. He would say that up to three, years ago thq country was absorbing all the immigrants, ■ but who could see that a period of world-wide., stress was coming. The Opposition three years ago did not point it out, but kept urging the Government to undertake greater expenditure. DAIRY EMPLOYEES. The. statement had been made that the employees in the; dairy, industry had been excluded from the benefits Oif the Arbitration Act. This -was quite wrong. The amendmenti to the I.C. and A. Act made; provision for workers and employers to make any agreement they wished, and it could be approved by the Arbitration Court. The workers had all the rights they Ife,d : in the past, and it was only misrepresenting the position to say tihat they difi not. Many agreements had been made on a sliding scale, so that workers participated in the gpod times, and also participated! in the ba.d times for their particular industry. LICENSING. . . Aftqr explaining the pairing of members of Parliament on the Licensing Bill divisions, Mr'Coates said that no question had ever had a fairer run. AU the members of the Reform Party, and most of them held ve;ry decided views on the subject, had come forward and thanked him for tjlie fair run given the measure. (Only opponents of the Government had suggested that the Bill had not had a fair run. An indication of the fact that the N.Z. Alliance; was satisfied that) he had given the matter a fair -deal was that the president of the Alliance was coming out as a Coates supporter. REFORM LEGISLATION. Running rapidly through some of, the legislation passed by the Reform Government, Mr Coates asked how farmers would be getting on with the increased motor traffic aaid consequently increased road rates had the;y not the benefit of the Main Highways Act , and the Petrol Tax. For this alone the Government deserved returning. The advantages of the Local Government Loans Board we;re briefly mentioned, and it was pqin.ted out that loc,al rates were the biggest burden on the land and settlers had to be protected from themselves. Concerning long-tej-m finance, £8,500,000 had gone to that department and £1,'500,000 had beep made available for rural credits. Agriculture had been fostered and encouraged. Colleges had been established, so that there was now one in the North Island and one in the South Island. The Science and Reseprcji Board had; been able to givq i information of assistance to settlers

in the development qf their country. In education and public health strides had been made, and now it was possible for all children tq get on and have an equal chance. After detailing the advantages of thei school dental scheme Mr Cba,tes said that these few pqints wqre an indication of what would be continued if the Refoini Party was returned to power. LAND -SETTLEMENT. Dealing with land settlement, Mr Coates explained the methods designed to encourage the farming qf dif-. fe-i-.ent lands, and concluded by asserting that there were more men on the land than at this time last year or the year before, and a great many more than in the eyar before that. Figures might have been quoted to disprqve this, but figures could be got to prove anything. After complimenting Mr E. L (Waltot( on the manner he had accepted the decision at the candidate eliminating ballot, the Prime Minister urged electors to throw their weight behind Mr. A- W. Hall and help the country to go forwa’.d. The Government .had raised the. status of the country to a higher level than evqr before, u.nd if it was returned to power an era of prosperity could confidently be looked forward to. In reply to a question Mr Coates stated that the sliding scale duty on wheat might cause bread to cost more at certain times, when the world price of wheat was. low,, but it ensured that the price did not rise when the world pricq of wheat rose;. He quoted the pric.es of bread in Australian and Canadian cities to show that the price in New Zealand compared very favourably.

Mr H. Dent moved: “That this meeting accord a hearty vote of thanks to the Prime Minister for his able address, and also acknowledge its appreciation of the manner in. whic.li the administration of t|he country has been conducted during the past three; years, and express its continued confidence in the Government.”

Seconded by Mr J. Darlington and carried amid applause. In returning thanks, Mr Coates urged electors to carry those, me;nts into effect on November 14.