PRIME MINISTER IS CONFIDENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 46, 16 October 1931, Page 4

PRIME MINISTER IS CONFIDENT

?ytL TORQIUpH TAKES LABOUR #TO TASK FOR NARitf)# VIEWPOINT {'-FARMERS MUST"BE HELPED" WELLINGTON, Thursday. "I feel every confidenee that this country is' goihg ' to ' "get thfo'ugh jts troublds. 'It dep'Cnds fipon the " eharaetef arid fibre- of its people whether it "^Will win "out." 'We have a "difficuit task in f rorit of us* ahd it ' can ' only B'e accomplished by detefmina'tion "and "co-oper ation. thefe niust be aetermiriation '0'n""tKe parl; df"' the ' people to babk'up 'tHe Gdvefnment in 'fqstqying the , co'iintry ' to pfqsp'erity. 'Given' this we wiir'be ablp to fook hack' \yitb satisfaction pn''*the'se tinies," disagreCable as' they may ' be." " 1 - " f n these Words'"the'"Priipe Minister, the Rt. flon. G. W. Fprhes, concluded 9, Speech to:day in' the M'ouse of Representatiyes "ih justification of the Budgetary ^roposals.' * ' Ldbquf memhers, said Mr F.orbes, were tp 'be complimehted on the diligdiice ' they Ead " shown ' in theij;' researche's ihto' th'e past ydth the object Of iakmg 'to task the present "Minister. s 'of the Crown for the attitude they y^ere adqpting over tKe graduated lahd %&• ' 'Mf B. 'Fraser (L'dbpur, Wel|fngtpii' Pentrkj); " dThey '^ere spl'ar plexus ' blowsf' Mr Fo'rhes: '"Labour members seem to take' a delight in huntin'g 'in the gpayeyards *qf the past." * 'Mr Fraser rIs it not the graveyar'd of the future that is worrying the Prime 'Minister?." '

Mr Frobes. "Members on the Laboiir benches ^now as weli as anyone else that to-day conditions afe entirely ^iffei^ent. Never before have we been up again^t a set of circumstances such as we are up against to-day. C|TY MEN'S YIEWS The speeches which had been m^deJ Mr Forbes continued, could only have been deliyered hy city men and not' by a man who had been mixing with farmers. To-day the farmers" were ahsolutely desperate. Qne had only to ihove am'ongst them to find that out. There was scarcely a single farmer in Canterhury who was not payiiig his taxes, rates and 'wages out of capital. Many of them were goihg into' deht to do it. " Farmers ' were suffering more heavily* as a result of the depression 'than any other class ' Mr W. E. Barhard (Labour, Napier) : "What about ' the wage-earn-ers 1W ' Labour voices: "They don't count." Mr Forb'es said that when a section of the' conimunity was suffering as "the farmers '" were suffering, the G'ovefnm'erit" should do its utmfost to relieve them. "I have mixed with farmers for forty years and althou'gh I have been on ' opposite ' sides politically, I am ready to say that the' sheepfarmers of Capterbuiy" liave done 'a tremepdpus'l'ot to build up $he prosperity of tije prqvince,"' said 'Mr Forbes. "I have ' always felt IHat the' country should be indebte'd to these men. Now the position'has been reached when the descendants of the men who pioneered the country are up' qga|n^t it. There "is poi' one single man in the whole of North Canterhury whb pan sh'ow a favpurable halance sheet." • Mr Ept:fe s.ald Ws the 'Governmerit's duty fb'lobk after the men who were suffering. Ile would be ashanied Mr Fraser: "Yes, you ought to he too." ' 5 ' WOULD, BE ASHAMED Mr Forbes: "I would be ashamed if the Liberal Party gtood out against these nieh.'? For some time they had to look forward tp lower prices,' for their sheep products, 'and it was the duty of the ''G'overnihent to look after the sheep' men (of Canterhury. * Mr. J. 'S. Fletcher (Independent, Grey Lynn): '"What abPut the einctions iri Auckland'?" Mr. R. ^eiiiple' "(Labour, Wellington East') ' "They 'simp'ly don't count/'" Mr,.' Forbes said that taxation was always u'npopular, hut the 'Government was 'faced with the necessity of balanei'ng its Budget. ' The Labour Party was out for political adv'antage and it was not surprising' that" it was smiling ' over the "G'overriment's progiamme. ' Mr". D. "G. Sullivan (Labour, Aucklan'd)*: "There is a srtiile on ' the' fa'ce* of Jfh*e tiger." The leader of the Opposition (Mr. H. E. Holl'and)': "There must be a settled gloom 'over the Government." Mr.' Forbes: "Where a clear case of hardship ca'n be siiown to the Gov-ei-nmerit,' theh it is its dhty'tp relieve it". * There is no doubt that hardship exists so far as the graduated land is cohcerned. " The Labour Party 'talks abo'ut our' getting a mandate from the people, but the mandate of the Government at' present. is the welfare of the 'couhtry. That'is the mandate we are taking notice 'of at present." '"1 Mr. "Semjple: "Are you prepared to see*k a'mandate from th'e people?" * Mr." Forbes':* /The" people of this country* have comniohsense and th'ey will use it. I have had hundreds of 1'etters froin all parts of the country coihmeriding 'the ' Gbvernment ' for what has "been 'dohe/.' ' Mr. H. T. Armstrong (Labour, Christchurch Eas't) : "I would" like't'o have a look at some of the signatures.". The Prime Minister concluded by expressing ' confidenee in the future of New Zealand and in its ability to surmount its present difficulties.'