POLITICAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3866, 3 November 1928, Page 3

POLITICAL.

(LABOUR CANDIDATE AT FOXTON. Mr. Taylor, Labour candidate, for Manawatu addressed the electors at Foxton in thei Town Hall on Thursday evening. There was an attendance of about 125. The Mayor (Mr. Perreau) presided, and the candidate was accorded a very patient hearing with practically no interjections and at the conclusion was only subjected to one question, and was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. The Mayor in introducing the candidate said that he had had a private conversation with him on the land question and his views were worthy of serious consideration. Mr. Taylor, who was greeted with a round of applause, paid a tribute to Mr. Roberts who had contested the seat as the Labour candidate at last election. He hoped he would leave the ground as clear at the conclusion of the contest as Mr. Roberts had done. He had worked side by side with Mr. Roberts on. farmers institutions and both held the same ideas. The candidate then went on to criticise the Government. He said at the last election the Government had been returned by a huge ma-' jority and the people had, therefore, endorsed its policy. But for the past three years the Government hadn’t played the game. They’ were now talking years back to drag people away from the real issues, and the mistakes of the past three years. The Government had played into the hands of private money-lending institutions by its actions in connection with the Post Office Savings Bank. He said the Labour Party would establish a State Bank with the sole right of note issue. Assistance would be given to the small farmers and workers whose interests were as one. The farmer does not know what to do with his sons as the Government provided no means for placing them on the land and they drifted into the labour ranks. Labour promised the farmer a better system, whereby they could settle the land on sound lines and get rid of the mortgagee The Government had failed in its land policy. He dealt at some length with the Dairy Control Board. Mr. Grounds had been slighted by the Prime Minister whose action had played into the hands of Tooley Street. The Prime Minister, “like a snake in, the grass” had met the Tooley Street magnates without Mr. Ground’s knowledge and as a result Tooly Street had been given the milk and the dairy farmers the “dummy.” 1 “When the Prime Minister had been tackled in the House on his action every Reformer had / hung down his head in shame.” The dairy farmers had had to fight the same class of people when they started co-operative butter and cheese factories, but they had won out. Regarding the withdrawal of control he said that Mr. (Coates' weakness had cost the Dominion two millions—“and we had Tooley Street beaten.” Dealing with the land question, he said Labour offered the people the best freehold in the world. The Government in this connection were the tools of the money-lending institutions find we are out to stop it. The land policy of the Government was not putting people on the land; it was driving thousands off it, he said. New Zealand was overvalued to-day and in a serious position. Mortgages had increased and land gambling was rampant. The present trouble in the flaxmill industry to-day was due to that gamble. Millers were paying royalty that they shouldn’t pay and as a result wages were reduced. Those in the industry should get rid of the financiers and the royalty. The workers and their dependants should not be made to suffer. He adversely criticised the appointment o£ the railways manager at a salary of £3700 a year. A voice: He is a good man. Yes, said the candidate, his salary has gone up and wages go down. By the appointment of a manager they had passed over the control during the period of his appointment. He referred to statements made at a Reform conference in Wlellington at which the Hon. Mr. Hawken had advised not to talk of reducing wages or labours share in profits. These were some of the things which happened behind the scenes. Labour opposed the wheat duties and paid flour should be allowed to come in free from Australia and lessen the price of bread. The wheat duties had been retained to keep certain South Island Reform members in Parliament. If Australia can compete at a cheaper rate in regard to wheat and flour, then let us have it, he said, as it would assist the man with a large family. The candidate also criticised the pork industry bonus. Reverting again to the trouble in the flax industry he urged that the millers, tradespeople and workers should get together and hear the true facts and put all the cards on the table. He advocated a sliding scale of wages which would go up as well as down. If the millers could not run the industry then he said the State should take it oyer and run it. When Mr. Coates comes through it will be settled, he said. He again reverted to the profits made by the insurance companies and quoted the South British Company as having earned 170 per cent, and other companies were nearly as bad. * Labour intended to attack them and run the insurance business. The insurance

companies, he said, are fleecing us wholesale, and he asserted that with State insurance we would have free hospitals, free doctors, etc.

He referred to what Foxton had done in regard to taxing themselves for fire fighting purposes and the insurance companies were getting away with the results of people’s taxation. He criticised the soldiers settlement and said the returned soldiers were now fighting a mortgage as a reward for their services. Big squatters had sold the rotten parts of their land, some of which wouldn’t grow decent scrub, to the Government for soldier settlement and with the proceeds had bought Government lands which were free of income tax for 20 years. Some of the soldiers had been starved off their land and others had hung on until they got a revaluation. The returned soldiers had been sold to the squatters of New Zealand and the Government had written down a little oven five million pounds and you and I have paid it, he said.

A voice: The Prime Minister is a returned soldier.

Yes, said the candidate, but he gets a salary and the other fellows get wages. The candidate also adversely criticised the Government’s immigration policy and the pamphlets issued in England. He compared leasehold favourably with freehold on the estate of the late J. R. McDonald, between Shannon and Levin. When the slump came more than one half the freeholders on that estate lost their holdings, but not one leaseholder. “As long as I pay my interest, John Bull says that it is my home. They can’t touch it.”

In conclusion, he stressed the remarkable growth of the Labour .movement, in spite of the capitalistic Press. Twenty-eight years ago Labour only polled 63,000 votes in England. At the last elections Labour’s votes totalled 5,41)0,000. Labour gained one and a quarter million votes in, twelve months. He regretted that the present Government was ruining this beautiful country of New Zealand. Electors had their remedy; to wipe them off the slate. (Applause).

In reply to a question by Mr. C. Hunt re the United Party’s proposal to borrow 70 millions, the candidate said: “I don’t know how Sir Joseph Ward can do it. If the security is there any one can get money. When the loan is spread over so many years the big figures disappear. The Reform Government are borrowing just as much.” A vote of thanks was accorded the speaker on the motion of Mr. C. ,Rand and carried by acclamation. In acknowledging the vote Mr. Taylor said if elected' he would fight “tooth and nail” for a fair whack and for any reasonable request. He did not think the sitting member had done much for his end of the district. He was out to fight for the workers and the small farmers. A vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding concluded the meeting. MR. McMANAWAY’S 'CANDIDATURE. Mr. McManaway, Independent Reform candidate, spoke at pVTiranui on Thursday evening and received an attentive hearing, and was accorded a vote of thanks. Owing to the flood, Mr. McManaway was unable to speak at Moutoa, but will do so at a later date. REFORM COMMITTEE MEETING A committee meeting of local Refoi'm supporters will be held in the Masonic Hall on Monday evening next at 8 o’clock. Mr. Linklater addressed a large audience at Bulls last night and was accorded a sympathetic hearing. At the conclusion a vote of thanks and confidence was earned against a motion of thanks and no confidence in the Government. Mi’. Taylor, Labour candidate, addressed a large audience at Levin last night and received a good hearing. Mr. McManaway addressed a well-attended meeting at Levin on Wednesday night. Mr. Linklater addressed a crowded meeting at Levin on Thursday night and was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence.