MR. MONCUR'S SPEECH

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 73, 17 November 1931, Page 6

MR. MONCUR'S SPEECH

(Continued) Tand the financial system in the hands ~of the people themselves. The years _1926-9. had heen exceptionally prosperotts years for New Zealand from the point of view of production, yet actually depression had become more "acute among the working people... Who ;.had got the money? • A voice: The sharks. P.O. Savings Bank Savings from the Post Office Bank ;to the amount of £50,000,000 had " been used by the Governmeht, which -paid 31 per cent to depositors and "lent it out at 4 per cent. proceeded the speaker. Working on a half per • cent margin the sum of £47,000 nett «had this yeaf been paid into the Con--solidated Fund. In contrast the Bank ■ •of New Zealand had in a time of '^stress made £850,000 profit, which "with balance carried f orward amounted to £1,454,000 approximately. "Out of the People." The South British Insurance Company was another illustration. The total amount of capital was only £67,680, and in 16 years approximately £3,000,000 profit had been made. ;fhe sum of £1,500,000 had been paid in this time in dividends, and in one 'year the dividend was equal to 170 per cent on the capital invested. In this manner the wealth of the people was diverted into wrong channels. U A Voice: Give us another one. Mr. Moncur mentioned the. Pukemiro Coal Company which had paid a dividend of 25 per cent, while the •New Zealand Insurance Company had paid a dividend of 12 per cent. • A Voice: Made out of New Zeadand. " Mr. Moncur: No, made in New Zealand — mad? out of the people. It was said that the New Zealand .Labour Party advocated Bussian me"tjhods and conditions, but New Zealand had always had a higher standard :of living than Itussia, and any man ,who would lower the New Zealand standard was not worthy of the name. They eould learn one thing from ..Russia, and that was the five-year 'plan. In New Zealand they did not "even have a five-weeks plan. (Applause) . The Labour Party had pleaded with the Prime Minister to institute a wages tax of Id in the £ up to £300; ljd up to £400; lld to £600, and so on up to 2s at £1000. That would have brought in £1,500,000 annually, and if that was not enough they couid .double it, which would mean £3,000,000, and redouble would only have meant a 4d tax on the lower paid wage-earner. Instead of that the Prime Minister had started with 2s at the lower end. Forced Labour Camps. At present there were- 50,000 unemployed men in the country and so far as its productivity was concerned, they and all their families and dependents could be taken and dumped into the sea without affecting- the volume of production. That was a .terrible position but it was true. Whai were all the parents with children about to leave school going to do with them? There were no jobs for jthem to go to. Would they like to see them out in some of the forced •labour camps which he had visited in the Uruwera country? Not very far from Rotorua even, there was one working a day excavating sod to earn 1/2. • Mr. Moncur strongly criticised the immigration policy of the Government which had brought immigrant:.to the country under false pretencecand to aggravate the unemployment posit.'on. The speaker quoted from ? booklet which he said had been distribuced in large numbers from the •High Commissioner's ofhee in Lon--don and in which he alieged that high'y misleading statements hac been made as to the prospeets for -immigrants coming to New Zealand. The Secondary Industries To remedy matters trade had to be righted. New Zealand could not rejnain solely a primary industry country. Secondary industries had to be encouraged, and one of the first was the timber industry. The Labour Party would place an embargo on all timber outside the country, and thus place 12,000 men back at work at one stroke. The next industry was the coal industry, and it was a moa stupid thing to import coal into New Zealand while they had coal miners out of work. It was like importing butter from Denmark. The ideal the Labour Party stood for was a democratie, educated, selfreiiant community in which all of the individuals co-operated to promote the development and the greatest happiness for everyone, concluded the speaker. This was not an impossible ideal; neither was it impracticable. Their ideal certainly lay in the future, but, guided by experienee, supported by knowledge, and inspired by an intense faith in the policy which they submitted to the electors, the Labour Party of to-day worked on confident that others, if not themse-lves, would enjoy the results of their efforts. (Applause.) There were no questions and the moving of a vote of thanks and confidence with a vote of thanks to the chair, concluded the meeting.