LABOUR CRITICISM.

Shannon News, 3 August 1928, Page 4

LABOUR CRITICISM.

UNEMPLOYMENT, BANKING, AND

LAND QUESTIONS

MR PARRY, M.P., SPEAKS AT

LEVIN

The Labour Party's election campaign, iii Levin was'opened in the Century Hall on Monday, when before an audience of about sixty, "an address was given by Mr W. E. Parry, member for Auckland Central.

The Mayor (Mr T. Hobson), who presided, said'he was sorry to see so fewpresent. He introduced Mr Parry, whose purpose it would.be to criticise the policy of the present Government. ■' His Worship solicited a good hearing for Mr Parry. ■- 8 In opening, Mr Parry said he was hot going to criticise the member, for the district, because he did not know that gentleman's opinions or ideas. He aid ,know that Mr Linklater was a very, "decent man, but apart from that Mr Parry did not" know anything of his politics because he had never heard him OTinnlr--

..• STATE ENTEPRISES. .... Mr. Par-ry stated that the Labour Party" """was the. legitimate suecess- ' or of the ' old Liberal-Labour Party and it : claimed tire. right to v carry 'on' that party»» .policy. to-day. - He referred to the criticism passed by the Reform Party, when in opposition, upon various State cn- - - terprises, one of their principal questions being, where was the money coming from to establish and run such ventures? The speaker'went on to consider the financial' genesis of the State Fire Office.'' All""the ; moti.ey that was voted from the Consolidated Fund for that foundation was £2500, and that was used for the purpose of buying furniture for the office.'. This Department had 1 saved' the policy-holders of " . this country four millions'' sterling, and . it had a reserve fund of approximately £700,000.- In the case: of the State Advances Department,. practieaWyf no. money was voted towards its establishment. To-day any student would be prepared to admit that .this. Department was. one of the finestvinstitutions : -in' the world. The same could be said ofthe Public Trust. With reference to the question of a State Bank, Mr Parry said.-that-for the establishment of the Commonwealth institution £IO,OOO was voted--thc .amount that it cost New ' Zealand for the expenses of the commission, .it sent abroad to inquire into rural banking schemes. The reserve fund of the Commonwealth Bank was now-approximately five millions. These facts were : quoted by the speaker to refute the suggestion by Reform politi- ' cians that the Labour Party would not be able to finance their proposals if they were in power. ,>5. IMMIGRATION AND UNEMPLOY- '. MENT. H . Mr Parry asked if theflffbvemment had carried out its last election pledges. He contended that it had not. The country wag face to face with the grim spectacle of the doss-house and the soup-kitchen—the same thing that took place under a Tory Government many, many years -ago. Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards were protesting almost every day against being compelled to vote money to relieve the poor and hungry, contending that such relief should be paid by the Government. It was true that to-day the unemployed army in-this country was greater than ever in the history of New Zealand. He would say deliberately that the Reform Government was responsible for this unemploymjent, and he could prove it. For several years past the Labour Party had protested against the Government's immigration policy. The Government had jeered at them and said that they were a selfish party. •having no desire to bring their kith and kin from England. The Labour members responded that they h:.d no objection to the people from the Old Country coming to the Dominion, but that they did object to the Government bringing' immigrants out when people of-this country were walking about looking for employment. (Applause). The Party believed that not a man or a woman should be encouraged to come to New Zealand until the workers of tliis country could be absorbed. The Party believed that every person in New Zealand should have a home and the right to earn a decent living. After provision had teen made for the people of this country, the Party would extend the hand of fellowship to their comrades across the seas, and when they were brought over, if this Party were in power, they would see that the development of the country was sufficiently manifest' to allow such immigrants to find suitable occupations. Since ."•1926 the Government had been responsible for 20,000 persons being forced into the unemployed army, through its muddling policy. When the unemployed had started parading the streets, the Government decided to establish relief works, at which they proposed to pay 8s a di.y to single men and 12s a day to married men. The impression was given that the Government were " making use df the unemployed to cut down the.wages in New Zealand. Mr ." . Parry said that quite a number, of the men on the relief works did not:,r,eceive the amount of wages promised;' if the ' - price per yard fixed by the Departmental officers Was not high enough, the workers were not able to earn 8s a day. PENNY IN A PAY ENVELOPE. \ ' Mr Parry added that.a case was cit- '/■'• ed in the House, by the member for Wellington Central, of a man receiving ~, " in his pay envelope, for a fortnight's work, afer deducting his board, a penny* to send to his wife and family. If the docket had not been produced in the' House, many people , would not have believed it. The worker had sent the docket to Mr Eraser, M.P., and asked him to return it to the Prime Minister with the man's compliments. Tha -member for Nelson had also been sent ',, a pay envelope with a penny in it. "Such a Government is not fit to govern coolies, let alone wlute men," was Mr Parry's comment. A Reform pamphlet addressed to

wives of working men was quoted by Mr Parry," as follows;—"Will .yon risk the security of your home life, ■ your husband's employment, and your family's future? Unemployment is «-t a • minimum. The average standard or | comfort was never higher. We are on the eve of a great forward movement. - The working people could testify as to 'the nature of the ■ "great forwaru > movement." They had had a vgrv;se. : . vere drilling for the last three year*. He trusted that, no matter what appeals were made by the Government, the average working man and woman would read closely and make sure that they were' not being misled as they were on the last occasion. Another document quoted.-by Mr Parry was an immigration booklet, entitled, "The Brighter Britain .of the South." He read as an extract, ".In \ T ow Zealand the average working nmu with a-family of three ami an income of £7 10s a week would pay no income tax, and would pay less, than £4 p.'. annum if he had an income up to £1 i 10s a week." This, he stated, was au inferential falsehood. The purpose otto was to convey thejniprossion to p 00..•

pie of the Homeland that the wage in New Zealand Was from £7 10s to- £ll 10s a week. '''You can the average immigrant-'coming to New Zealand when such advertisements ap-

pear," he remarked. "The other day one of the immigrants died on the road side for want'of food." Anotbe; statement in the booklet was, "If employment and accommodation are desired/this is arranged fmV No difficulty lias been experienced by the Departmental officers yet in this respect. It is one of the duties of the Department to see that migrants are temporarily housed and employed." REMISSION OF LAND-OWNERS' IX'POMF. TAX".

The Government, Mr Parry continued, had increased the taxation paiu by the .poor of this country by increasing customs duties. So, instead of placing taxation on the shoulders best abbto bear it, the Government had_ reduced taxation on the wealthy. This tuoit place, of course, prior to the last elecj tion, the Government of that day relieving owners of land from paying income tax, the legislation being framed in the interests of the large land-own-ers. Mr Ransom, the member for Pahiatua; had said in the House that !'■• wag prepared to pay income tax th.

moment that the Government was piepared to compel him to do so. He had '■ stated, from his own expejience, thai every sheep'wintered should return ;• net income of £l. The gross value o,' the return he then estimated at £1 5.-: Bd, of which the 5s 8d would pay tin. overhead charges and the costs of pro duction, ..with the exception of interest on capital and borrowed money. Tlv reason for his making that statement was that all the large sheep-owners wove people who had had the land handed down to them from their parents. In nine eases out of ten there was no money owing on the large sheep runs. because, in most cases, they were originally bought for a few tomahawk; and blankets from the Maoris. -MiRansom had also stated that there was a family :n the Hon. Mr McLoisd's electorate to whom the .rise of 4id per lb in the price of wool would mean £20,000 out of which not a penny of .incometax would be paid. At the estimate of £1 per sheep as a net return, the family's income for that year would bo £106,000, from which nothing would b, contributed in income tax towards tluupkeep of the Government, On the' same basis, the income of twelve sheepowning families last year would be £375,000. The Labour Party would challenge the Reform Government to come on to the platform and justify the legislation that it had passed -in this connection at a time when tincountry was in dire stress and required money for the purpose of carrying out necessary public works.

SAVINGS BANK INTEREST SYSTEMS.

Dealing with the financial institutions, Mr Parry said tha.t in 1920 Mi Coates, then Postmaster-General, introduced a Bill increasing from £SOO to £SOOO the amounts of deposits in the Savings Bank on which interest would be paid. The rate of the interest on current account was then 8 + per cent. The Savings Bonk had been a wonder ful institution, providing cheap moiie\ for advances to workers ami settlers. Without the cost of commission or mi derwriting, fourteen millions had been. used by the Government* from the savings'of the people, in small amounts for these purposes. To have raised t!ramount by loan would have cost £-1 000,000. After the Bill had been pa----

td, deposits flowed in. In 1925 the dposits above £2OOO numbered 457. nbnv £3OOO 116, above £4OOO 62, and <

£SOOO 45. In 1926, the numbers were. respectively, 505, 123, 07 and 51. The icSult was' that the'banks made a vigorous protest, The Government start'."! to. weaken, and last year an amending Bill was brought down by the Acting Postmaster-General, Hon. Mi- Nosworthy, who simply introduced it, the Min ister of Finance taking charge of iv. This measure reduced the amounts on which intercut was to be paid to what they were before the Act' of.lo-0, Labour members interrogated the Alinisto: of Finance, who pleaded with them, saying that all he wanted was to have his hands free —-he wanted to be able to raise the rate of inteiest if the banks raised theirs; in other words, he wanted the opportunity of competing if they raised the rate' of interest on deposit money. The Minister gave them to understand that, there was no danger. and the Labour Party let him have the legislation. What happened? In the monthly abstracts of statistics prior to 1927* it was usual to state exactly the withdrawals and deposits in and from the Savings Bank. These were no longer published, becauss the Government did not want the Labour Party to see how much money was forced out of the Savings Bank into the coffers of the private -banks. The speaker had recently obtained a report on the deposits and withdrawals, and this showed that over two millions had left the Savings

Banks and gone into the private banks. Labour members asked the ..Minister .vhy he was -not competing against th: banks as he said he would, and he replied that, if he hfid rai?ed the interest oil the large deposits, he would h'ave been compelled to raise the interest en 'he £14,000,000 of small deposits. One of the L-ibour members said, "But the banks do. not give interest on enrren accounts and we do." The Minister was cornered, becau-e he knew that 1 li-' infill deposits would not leave the Sav',3igs Bank to go wheie they would no r earn interest—only the large deposits would go. RURAL OBELUS.

Last year the Intermediate Rural Credits Bill wass passed. The Labour Party had said that- it would be a failure- because the bond-holders were not to have the backing of the Government and the public would not invest their money in bonds representing the mortgaged land of the farmers. The Opposition had said that the scheme would be a screaming farce, and whar they said had been justified. Th; Government placed £400,000 worth , f bonds on the market, and all that was taken, up -was £25,000 worth. Then the Government turned to the Bank of New Zealand and asked that institution to underwrite the £400,000, less the £25.000 that had been taken up by the public. In the first place the bonds weie issued at £O4 10s, bearing interest at 5-J- per cent.; but when they were issued to the Bank it was at £93 10s. The Government told the people that its heart bled for the farmers. Yet it had three millions of money in its own hands at 31 per cent, out of which it could have underwritten what was required for rural credits. When the Govern ment was twitted with this, its members said that the one per cent, given to the Bank was charged for underwriting. The Government would hear more about this transaction, at tlncoming election. . "LAND AND PENSIONS.

After speaking at some length on ban icing and land settlement, concerning tlw/lattei- of which subjects he. said ili-it in -1927 tbote were 310 forfeitures and 114 surrenders, comprising in all ttuS.OOu acres. Mr Parry said that in the present, election campaign money would ho sptut galore.. Who would And it? Who found it on the last occasion? If ■ho working farmer had asked himself chat simple question, he would not be in Ihe position hi which he now found himself. The money would be spent with the object of stampeding the public. He did not think that a second halo could be built round the. Prime Minister's photo. The Reform Party at last election had claimed that they had God, King and country on their side, so they left the Labour Party wi;h nothing, only a hope in >he people's capacity to understand the arguments put forward. On the coining occasion Labour wanted to be up and doing, and did not want to be pushed off its balance as it was last time. Dealing with the-Labour Party's const.) ucllve policy, Mr Parry said that they pledged themselves to give to the old age pensioner 25s a week, in place of the. 17/0 a week they weic receiving at present; and would also pay blind persons 25s a week.

After answering a number nf questions, Mr Parry was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, on the motion of. the chairman. The proceedings closed with the thanks of the meeting to the Mayor for presiding.