CAUSE OF SLUMP.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 November 1922, Page 5

CAUSE OF SLUMP.

FALL IN PRODUCE PRICES. PREMIER QUOTES COMPARISON. LAST APPROPRIATION BILL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. An Appropriation Bill authorising expenditure, and validating unauthorised expenditure of £403,633 and irrecoverable debts to the extent of £19,843, was introduced in the House to-day by Governor-General’s message. It passed the second reading and the committee stage in five minutes. On the third reading, Mr. H. E. Holland (Leader of the Labor Party), criticised the administration of the Arbitration Court and the treatment meted out to soldiers in connection with pensions. In the election about to take place he deprecated propaganda based on personal attack and foolish falsehood. He denied that the Labor Party stood for disorder or Soviet rule. To say otherwise was a deliberate falsehood and calumny, which no honest man ought to adopt. The Hon. J. A. Hanan (Invercargill) expressed anxiety at the excessive land values prevailing, which were a handicap to settlers, and the sooner revaluation rook place the better. He asked the Premier in reply to give the House some information regarding the decline in the national income.

Mr. G. Mitchell (Wellington South) repeated his charges of aggregation of land, contending the Government’s figures supported his allegations. The Hon. D. 11. Guthrie admitted a certain amount of aggregation was going on. but the Government had done, more than any previous Government to put a stop to it. Hia officers were explicitly instructed to report any cases coming under their notice, and the evil was greatly magnified. Mr. Massey, in reply, said the Government was out to benefit the country by reducing taxation, because it was heavy taxation which caused unemployment. The Meat Control Board was not socialism, but co-operation, and would prove of great benefit to the country. Coming to the question of the decline in the national income, he quoted comparative figures and showed how our primary products had fluctuated in price. In April, 1921, butter was quoted on the London market at 270 s a cwt. Sy January, 1922, it had fallen to 118 s. Shortly afterwards it rose to 140 s, and there had been consistent improvement ever since, so that to-day it wae quoted at 208 s. which was not by any means a bad price. In April, 1921, cheese was quoted at 142 s a cwt. By January it had fallen to 86s. It then rose to 102 s, and to-day it was quoted at 108 s. The same rise and fall applied to meat and wool, so that taken all round there had been a fall of 60 per cent, in the value of our staple products, and that was the true cause of the slump. Coming back to the Labor Party, Mr. Massey accused Mr. Holland of being a revolutionary socialist, which he admitted, and which meant confiscation brought about by physical force and action.

Mr. Holland: “You are absolutely wrong.” In a subsequent personal explanation Mr. Holland said that when he admitted he was a revolutionary socialist he used the term only in a scientific sense. It had no relation to physical force and action. The Labor Party proposed to bring about the changes by constitutional methods. Mr. Massey, in reply, said it was possible to confiscate by taxation, apart from physical force. The Bill was then read a third time and passed. The Speaker announced that the Legislative Council had passed the Bill. Later it received the assent of the Governor-General.