LABOUR AT OPOTIKI
VISIT OF MR. HOLLAND AN ELECTION CANDIDATE (.From, Our Orcn Correspondent .) OPOTIKI, To-day. I The first Labour address ever given i in Opotiki was delivered on Saturday ‘ night by Mr. H. Holland, Leader of the i Opposition. The building was too \ small to hold the crowd.
The mayor, Mr. G. S. Moody, introduced the Labour* leader, who received an attentive hearing, the meeting lasting nearly three hours. The speaker dealt chiefly with the Labour land policy and the Dairy Control Board. He severely criticised the Government land policy and said the position was steadily growing worse and land aggregation was increasing at an alarming rate. When the Labour Party got into power one of the first steps would be to break up large estates for closer settlement and thus increase production. Reform claimed to be the friend of the farmer, but the primary producer had been badly let down. So far as he was aware the Bank of New Zealand had made no move to help the farmers as empowered by legislation. It was essential that the farmer should have cheap money to succeed. Inflated land values were driving the people off the land and it was necessary that the value of the land should be reduced to its true productive value. The Government’s ridiculous policy of buying land for soldier settlement was one of the chief causes of inflated values. The soldiers on the land were not getting fair treatment and the valuation of the holdings needed still greatly reducing. The speaker severely criticised Mr. Coates’s dealings in connection with the Dairy Board’s working and stated that Mr. Coates was actuating the board. He would be compelled next session to explain sev-
eral matters in connection therewith. The board should be allowed to function without political interference.
At the conclusion of his address Mr. Holland was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.
In reply to a question he said that if a strong enough request were made Labour would contest the Bay of Plenty seat at the next election.
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Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 39, 9 May 1927, Page 7
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343LABOUR AT OPOTIKI Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 39, 9 May 1927, Page 7
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