DOMINION'S PROBLEMS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 78, 23 November 1931, Page 5

DOMINION'S PROBLEMS

HON. E. A. RANSOM ADDRESSES ROTORUA AUBIENCE LAND DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS EVEN VOTE ON CONFIDENCE MOTION. ... • AND HOSTILE AMENDMENT The Minister of Lands, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, on Saturday night delivered an addres^ before a crowded audience m - ^ support of the candidature of tho official Coalition candidate for the Rotorua seat, Mr. C. H. Clinkard, M.P. In the course of . , his speeeh, which was punctuated freely with _ interjections, the Minister dealt with the land devslopment policy of the Government, and of his own department in partieular. He als° str|sssd the serious position of the national finances and appealed'3^! the electors to support the Coalition Party and return a strong Gov- ■ , ernment which alone would be capable of dealing with the situation. '

There was mild disorder at the eonelusion of the meeting, when following a motion of thanks and confidence in the Coalition, an opposition motion of thanks^ to the speaker, but of no confidence in the Coalition candidate, was put to the audience. On the voices, the voting on both the amendment and motion appeared to be evenly divided but amidst a hubfiub* of cheering and interjection the chairman, Mr. T. Jackson, deelared the motion to he carried. j The Minister was persistently interrupted by one member of the audience but when this man stood up following the moving of the amendment and endeavoured to address the meeting, the audience drowned his voiee by continued clapping, while he was plainly told by the chairman that he

would uot be aliowed to conunue. Tho Minister was Introduced by the chairman, His Worship the May or, Mr. T. Jackson, and the Coalition candidate, Mr. Clinkard. In opening his address Mr. Ransom stated that he had always been most optimistic regarding the prospects of aeveloping pumice eountry such as that which surrounded Rotorua and he was pleased to say that during the time he had held the portfolio of Minister of Lands, his optimism in that direetion had heen largely justified. Sacrifices Required The Minister appealed for support for the Coalition Government and drew a iwallel with the recent overwhe1ming decis on in favour of the National Govorirment in Great Britain. New Zealand, he said, was faced with a most serious position but he felt that the people would overeome all their nroblems and would not allow their difficu>ties to get the better of them. Sacrifices would be required

but the people would make them not only for the'r own sakes, but for the sako of the children who would cany on their work. A strong and stable government alone could deal with the present position and the electorate were given the opportunity of securing such a government by returning j the Coalition Party. Effects of Great War The Dominion was suffering at present from the after effects of the Great War the speaker stated. These results were not peculiar to the Great War for similar depressions had always followed other upheavals. I These depressions, however, had always heen overeome and he felt that the present slump would similarly pass away.

Position of Farmers Ninety per cent. of the exportable wealth of the Dominion was drawn from the soil but when it was realised that the value of our primary produce had fallen by £17,000,000 In the last two years it would also he realised what a serious position the Dominion was facing. Despite this fall in the value of our produce, imports had continued to he very heavy, but now it had been made plain that imports must balance exports, and imports accordingly had been considerably reduced, doing away to some extent with the adverse balance of trade. This, however, had in its^ lurn prcvided further worries for the Finance j Minister, who was faced by the fact that a reduction in imports corres- j pondingly decreased the customs revenue. I The serious position of the primary producers had been plainly placed before the recent Inter-Party _ Committee, Mr. Ransom stated. Evidence heard by the committee had shown that 40 per cent. of the farmers in New Zealand, under present conditions, would be unable to carry cn unless they were aecorded a very large measure of assistanee. The Government was determined that 110 man who could farm his land satis-

factorily should be forced otl his property. It had been realise.d that immediate steps must be'taken to relieve the position of the primary producers, and in this direetion a great deal had already been done. Sfeps For Relief The graduated land tax had been repealed, a sum of £250,000 had been transf erred to assist County Councils to reduce rates and so relieve the burden upon farmers, a further sum of £100,000 to reduce the price of f ertilisers to the primary producers had been made available, arrangements had heen made with the banks | to effect a reduction in the rata of [ interest oii overdrafts, and the Mortgagors' Relief Act, which provided legislation to relieve overhurdening mortgagees had been placed on the Statute Book. In addition, the operation of the State Advances Department had been further directed to assisting farmers in every way possible. Legislation had also heen introduced to provide assistanee up to £1250 for Crown settlers who wce prevented from developing their

farms by lack of capital. Already 274 farmers had taken advantage of of this provision and a sum of £113,,000 had heen advanced. He hoped, I also, that in the future it would be [ possible similarly to assist settlers on privately owned property. It should be xemembered that the bulk of the undeveloped land in New Zealand was privately held. The next greatest ■ area was under the jurisdiction of the Native Department, and the Crown itself held the smallest area of the three.

No Commerasurate Decrease Reverting to the marked decrease in the prices of the Dominion's primary produce, Mr Ransom stated that in spite of this decrease there had heen no corresponding reduction in the price of the finished article for which the New Zealand raw material was used. This position, he eonsidered, should be remedied at the earliest possible moment. As an xnstance, although New Zealand wool growers were receiving only from 4d to 6d per lb. for their wool, housewives had still to pay lOd per lb for knitting wool in the shops. There was something wrong when such a position ex* isted,— the fall in prices for raw mata erials should be correspondingly reflected in the price of the finished article to the eonsumer. ■ -

The Coalition Mr. Ransom dealt at some length, with the figures of the recent budgets and emphasised the tremendous deeline in the national revenue. Es--timates of> the probable deficit had*. been exceeded in each case and finally the position had become s'a* grave that the- Prime Minister, the. Right Hon. G. W. Forbes, had definitely informed the Inter-Party Committee that he considered that only a strong Government with a elear majority could deal with the situation. It was as a result of this that the Coalition had been formed. (Cries of oh! and general interjections). iu Continuing Mr. Ransom stated that he wished to make it quite clear that the invitation to co-operate in the National Government" had been offered to all parties, but Mr. Holland' had said that as far as the Labour Party was coneerned it would have nothing to do with it (Gheers, and cries of Good old Harry) . Mr. Coates, however, after taking

a few days to consider the position had intimated that the Reform Pai'ty was prepared to sink party differences for the good of the eountry and cooperate in the Coalition. In order to. cope with the situation it had heen hoped to carry on as long as possible ^ withont going to the eountry. (A voice: You wanted to keep your jobs). "Does'nt Need Help" It was realised, however, stated Mv. Ransom, that this would not be fair and it had heen decided to go to ihe electors for their verdict. He was quite sure that the eountry would |* support the attitude of the two modsrate parties in the House. (Disturbance and interjections). Mr. Ransom: ' Some people say that I have come here to help my

friend to keep his seat. Jae aoesn r need my help. (More disturbanee) . «' At this stage, the chairman appealed to the audience to give the speaker a fair hearing. They would have_ an opportunity of recording their objections on election day. Following this remonstrance there were fewer interjectioris for a period. Empire Prefererace | The Minister proceeded to refer to the visit of the Prime Minister to the Imperial Conferenee. Mr. Forbes, he stated, had been eriticised for his outspoken advocacy of inter-Empire preference but although his suggestions had not been adopted at the time of the Conferenee later events at Home had now suported the attitude he had taken up. The National Government in Great Britain today was prepared to carry out the ideas Mr. Forbes had put forward in regard to Imperial preference and Mr. J. H. Thomas (Secretary of State for the Dominion) , who at the eonelusion of the conferenee had said that he would he glad to see New Zealand's Prime Minister depart, was now embarking ,6n a erusade on behalf of Empire preference. A voice: Give us your policy. That's what we want. Cut all this stuff out.

Mr. Ransom: "Well, I will give,piy friend my policy. If preference for our products is not a policy I "vtauld like to know what is. (Applause). Purchase of Sheep Continuing Mr. Ransom stated that he did not believe in reducihg the wages of the worker but when prices f ell to the extent which they had done it was impossible to maintain the same rate of wages as when prices were high. In this eonnection he mentioned that when fat sheep had been at a very low price Cahinet Ministers of whom he had been one had recommended to the Government that 25r 000 head of sheep should be purchased to provide food for people in distress. Immediately the Government had gone on the market for these sheep, however, the price had increased, but the purchase had beeh. made and as a result two good objects had been attained. In the first place, a valuable food supply had heen provided for those in need and in the second place the Government had directly contrihuted towards an inerease in the price returned to the

producer. Lands Developed Referring to the question of lands development the speaker stated that here he felt that he was in clbse touch with his audience, as more developmental work had heen done In the Rotorua district than perhaps any other area in New Zealand. A voice : You have done good work. The Minister stated that although his first duty was to promote the