Public Opinion.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 319, 19 December 1929, Page 8

Public Opinion.

(A COLUMN FOR THE PEOPLE) MR. CLINKARD’S ADDRESS. (To the Editor) Sir, —When giving his post-sessional address at Matamata the other evening Mr. Clinkard made reference to the amount of money advanced by his party to farmers and workers since they have been in office, and compared it with the amount advanced by the Reform Party. Mr. Clinkard is reported to have said that Mr. Downie Stewart provided only £750,000, whereas the United Party loaned £3,740,000 to settlers and £3,374,000 to workers between December 10, 1928, and October 31, 1929. Would Mr. Clinkard be good enough to tell us where he got his figures from, for there is a big difference between his figures and the ones given in the “ Monthly Abstract of Statistics ” for November, 1928, and October, 1929. Quoting from the November “ Abstract of Statistics ” of 1928, the Reform Party advanced £1,699,820 to settlers and £1,121,810 to workers for the period October 1, 1927, to September 30, 1928. Now, the October, 1929, issue of the “ Abstract of Statistics ” states that from October 1, 1928, to September 30, 1929, the amount advanced to settlers was £2,835,355 and to workers £2,531,124. It will be remembered that the Reform Party was in office from October 1 to December 10, 1928, but what amount they advanced during these two months and ten days it is impossible to say probably £400,000 to settlers and £200,000 to workers. By deducting these two sets of figures from the amounts quoted above it* would give us the amount advanced by the United Party between December 10, 1928, and September 30, 1929, roughly £2,400,000 odd to settlers and £2,300,000 odd to workers. Yet, by adding only one month more, viz., last October, Mr. Clinkard raises the amount to over £3,700,000 for settlers and £3,300,000 odd for workers. In other words, over £1,000,000 was advanced to settlers and a similar amount to the workers in one month. Some lending ! Now, sir, let us look at this lending business from another angle, and from this hngle it will give us an idea of how the Reform and United Parties treat the settler and worker respectively. For the year ending September 30, 1928, there was advanced to settlers £1,699,820, and the amount repaid by the settlers was £952,155, which means that only £747,665 of fresh money was advanced to settlers by the Reform Party. During this same period £1,121,810 was advanced to workers, while the repayments amounted to £386,121, leaving £735,689 of fresh money advanced to workers. In this case the settlers got slightly over £II,OOO more advanced to them than the workers got. Now, for the year ending September 30, 1929, £2,835,355 was advanced to settlers, and £1,237,214 was repaid by them, leaving £1,598,141 as fresh money advanced to settlers. To workers for this period was advanced £2,531,124, and the repayments were £481,964, which leaves £2,049,160 as fresh money advanced to workers. In this case the workers received £451,019 more than the settlers, and this is practically the United Party’s period. If these figures are not correct I

shall be very glad if Mr. Clinkard will correct them, and also give the source of his figures, for at no point do the above figures tally with Mr. Clinkard’s.—l am, etc., A L. M. NICKLIN.