THE PATEA ELECTORATE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1922, Page 8

THE PATEA ELECTORATE.

MR’. J. R. CORRIGAN AT HURLEYVILLE. A PROGRESSIVE POLICY. Mr. J. R. Corrigan, the Liberal-Labor candidate for the Patea electorate, addressed the electors of the Hurleyville district on Wednesday night, when there was an attendance of about forty electors. Mr. D. Hurley was voted to the chair. Mr. Corrigan, who was in splendid form, gave a forceful address, trenchantly criticising the policy of the present administration and outlining his own ideas to bring about the increased production that ie necessary to bring the country back to prosperity. He received a very attentive hearing, his remarks being frequent!; punctuated with applause, and at die conclusion was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence without dissent. Mr. Corrigan said that he personally considered that a candidate for Parliament should show that be had something in him to help to improve the. legislation of the country. The New Zealand Parliament was at present like a hive of .bees with too many drones in it. They had eaten all the honey, and got New Zealand into a terrible state of taxation and debt. These drones had to be put out and workers put in: that is, men who could bring the country round again.

WHAT LABOR MEANS. He had been twitted for going in with those “labor blokes,” He wished them to understand that Mr. Holland did not represent Labor, but represented revolutionary Socialism, whose followers were not numerous in New Zealand. He was proud to represent LiberalLabor, because anyone who was not a Worker in this country was no good to his country’ and little good to his fellow men. Most people owed all they had to the humanitarian legislation of the Liberal Government. Unfortunately a lot of people did not appreciate this, and were voting Reform without being able to say why. New Zealand had got to be brought back into a prosperous position, and the only party that could do it -was the Liberal Party, which took charge in 1890 when the old Conservative Party itaa it, in just as bad a position as it was today, money being at a very high rate. In fact he had paid 12 per cent, on first mortgage and 15 per cent, on second mortgage, and was lucky to get it. He considered that the party now in power were class legislators, and legislated in the interests of the financial institutions and monopolists, in contrast to the Liberals, whose policy was the greatest good for the greatest number. The problems facing the country were Very great. They had a huge national debt, and to lessen taxation and create prosperity the country wanted a land policy, cheap money, contentment among the workers,, and more population. All these had to go together.

tfHE LAND QUESTION. Regarding the land question, hp said that in the early days the pioneers, as was only natural, took up large areas of I the best land. In order to burst up | these estates for closer settlement the •Liberals put on the graduated land tax, • and as this was being evaded by the I large landholder transferring part of .his land to relatives and friends, and "taking a mortgage thereon, the morttax. was brought down. This, nowever, was a somewhat iniquitous tax, as in some cases a man was taxed on his debts. He maintained that the land should carry the people. New Zealand was a producing country, but unless the land carried the people they could not have that increased production which was so absolutely necessary. At present the State had the land classed into three different classes. The practical farmer knew that .there were about twenty classes, and he considered that the land should be classified by experts, who were experienced farmers. The area of good land was limiled. and he considered that the best land should be made to carry two male adults to every one hundred acres, the second-class land one male adult to every 200 acres, and so on. Mr. Pearce was the only candidate who criticised his*land policy, saying that under that scheme a man might, hold the whole province by employing share-milkers. The graduated land tax would prevent this, but even if it did happen, the land would still carry the people. He pointed out that he was personally farming SOO acres. which carried 17 male adults’,, with 49 dependents, whereas huge tracts in the electorate of some of the best grass lands were sparsely populated. The men holding that land had bought it very cheaply, and could farm it in a slovenly way, and not in the best interests of the country. He maintained that if they wished the ocuntry to he prosperous they must put the people on the land and increase production. Mr. Massey’s- slogan since the war had been “more production, but he asked what had the Massey Government done to increase production. He asserted that the Massey Government bad done nothing to assist production. but had helped to retard it. This was a hard thing to say, but he • would prove it. Mr. Massey had got the farmers hypnotised into believin'? r that his was a farmers’ Government, but he would defy them to show any other measure that he had passed benefitting the farmer during the ten years he had been in power except the Meat Control Act. SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS. When the war was ended there was ■ a great cry to put. the soldiers on the • land, hut he maintained that the time ; was not opportune. The soldiers should have been met on their return and told the position, and reproductive public works should have been provided for them. The Government, however, , did not do their duty. They put soldiers on the land all over New Zealand, and he could not show a returned soldier put on the land in the Patea electorate who was doing anv good. When the slump camp in T 920 the Government should have played the game and cut, their losses, putting the land at a price at which the soldiers could make a llvr ’ ing. Nothing, however, bad been done i to relieve their hardships, except io tell ! them bv inference that they were not ? triers. No one. he said, was going to stand by and s-ee men who had put In j four or five years’ war service treated 1 like this by any Government, The sols dlers held on until they were put off, «r thalr atook Utam,

He strongly condemned the railway management.* Prior to 191-1 Mr. Massey said that if put into power he would show the bribery and corruption carried on by the “Continuous Government,” but he had found nothing in the pigeonholes. Mr. Massey made a -boast that he would revolutionise the railways. The , first thing he did was to send Home for a railway expert at £3OOO per annum to take the place of a man whom we 1 were paying £l2OO per year to look after our railways. No doubt Mr. Hiley ! was a good man, but the conditions at ■Home were entirely different, end he ! put in a voluminous report on the rail--1 ways that was too big for any GovernI ment to carry out. The railways were then paying 4to 4y 2 per cent. To-day, Mr. Massey makes the terrible admission that they were losing £3OOO per day, and the other day he said he thought they would have to shut up a portion of them and let the motor lorries carry the traffic. Though the railways’ hail an asset of £ol ,000,000, the Government was prepared to scrap a lot of them and allow the motors to carry traffic over toad’s that would be kept up -by local authorities, who would have to tax the producer for their upkeep. It made one Wonder whether “nine nights of Reform” were in the oil trust and wanted to get rid of benzine. He considered that if a business man owned the railways, he would endeavor to make them pay by popularising them and making freights’ and fares as cheap as possible. As it wlas the rates were so prohibitive that traffic was being driven on to the roads.

The men should be induced to take an interest in the railways by being given a bonus after interest on the money in. vested had been returned. This would foster individual effort by the men. It was hard to make them pay when they found that 124 head officers of the Civil Service were being paid £500,000 per annum. In 1920 these men were given increases totalling £77,000. Then, when the cut came along, after deducting the Increase, these men were onlj r affected to the extent of 47s 6d per man per year, while to the man earning £4 10s per week it meant £26 per annum. He strongly advocated the principle of a graduated deduction, making it proportionately greater to the higher salaried men, who could afford it. He pointed out that in 1912 the railway revenue was £3,612,000 per annum, as against £6,643,000, or nearly double now, yet they were losing £3OOO per day. He strongly condemned the payment of £30,000 to the engineering firm at Home in connection with the purchase of 45 engines and 250 trucks, and lie considered that Mr. Massey was running the country to ruin as fast as he could. FINANCE MATTERS,

Regarding finance, Mr. Corrigan maintained that it was absolutely necessary to have cheap money. Mr. Massey said that New Zealand owned one-third of the Bank of New Zealand, this being due to the fact, that in 1894 the Government had to guarantee £2,000,06J to prevent a financial crash. The speaker held that the country should purchase the remaining, two-thirds, not at inflated value, but at a fair market value. Th -y would then have a State bank, already established that could do the commercial business, and instead of < the profits going to “the nine knights,” as at present, they would go to the consolidated revenue and help decrease tion. Mr. Massey said they received £BO,OOO, as their share of the profits of the Bank) of New Zealand, so that the whole profits'were £240,000. the balance of £160,000,' going to “the airs knights” who kept him in power; If" was necessary when the slumfor the associated banks to ask for legislation, and the Moratorium Act was introduced. Had Mr. Massey been, a statesman, he would have j said that he would give legislation on coni dition that the rate of interest was not raised. Interest was then 6 per cent., but as soon as they were covered by legislation, up it went to 71 per-cent. That was exploiting the producer in the interests of the shareholders. Yet Mr. Massey posed as head of a farmers’ Government. In Australia, the banks never charged more than 6 per cent., because the Commonwealth Bank governed the rate of interest. In New Zealand, the associated banks were banded together <to exploit the producer, and the Prime Minister aided and abetted them in that exploitation by the way he legislated for the classes as against the masses. (Applause.) It was also necessary to have what were known as rural or agricultural banks, so as to give the farmer cheap money and leave the State bank to do the commercial business. If cheap money were available, they would be able to carry out a progressive scheme of production. Land would be available and there would be money for the people to procure stock, etc. If Mr. Massey wanted to carry out his slogan of more production, why did he not bring in legislation of this class? Mr. Corrigan thought the reason was because the people who kept him in power would not allow him to do so, as it would stop exploitation.

MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE. The Meat Control Act, which he considered was on the right lines, had done a lot of good for the meat producers by getting the freights reduced, etc. Since 1913, the dairy producers had been looking for some relief and better marketing of their produce. He was one of a committee set up to formulate a scheme, and he was one of the five men who had gone to the Government in connection with the proposed legislation. The, only alteration in the wording of the two Bills was that, where the Meat Control Act mentioned meat and slaughterhouses, the Dairy Control Bill mentioned dairy produce and dairy factories. Mr. Corrigan said that he had asked Mr. Massey to give the dairy producers the same legislation as the meat producers, who had the financial backing of the country; but Mr. Massey said that he could not do that, but he agreed with a suggestion that'they should approach the

associated banks for finance. He would I give the nine knights who were interested in the meat business power to raise deben- -. tures in London on Government security, I but the dairy-farmer would be forced to . go for finance to the associated banks, who would exploit them not a little but a lot, in order to fill the pockets of “the nine knights of Reform,” who .were large share- - holders. “Any man who milks cows and votes Reform deserves his head read for voting against his own interests,” declared Mr. Corrigan.

of life and a heavy duty on luxuries. Last year the Customs duties were revised, diamonds being admitted free, while infant foods were charged 10 per cent. The excuse in the latter case was that it was done to foster a local industry, but the speaker pointed out that it was assisting a monopoly. They should now see clearly that the Massey Government was not a farmers’ Government, and should support the Liberal Government. Mr. Corrigan referred to the charges of disloyalty that were continually being hurled at those opposed to the present Government. No man loved his country more than did the speaker, and he would not allow Mr. Massey to label him as a disloyalist without offering a strong protest. He strongly deprecated the talk of disloyalty, which was apt to place class against class, and was not in the best interests of the country. The Massey Government had put up three records for which they were entitled to credit: (l),They had been on the Ministerial benches for ten. years, during the most prosperous period the country had known, and had increased the National Debi by £53,000,000 and had left the country with an empty Exchequer; (2) they had appointed more Royal Commissions than all the other Governments in power in New Zealand, at tremendous cost, but he could not find one report the Government had given effect to; (3) there had been more strikes and industrial uqrest than with all the other Governments put together. In reply to a question as to his views on prohibition, the speaker said that he favored two issues being on the ballotpaper, viz., liquor or no liquor, with a 55 per cent, majority, and the poll to be taken every three elections. During the war period he was on the Efficiency Board. This board was brought about to create efficiency during the war, when men were earning gc od money, and there was a tendency to work two days and be in town three days. The Efficiency Board had done a lot of good. Mr. P. O’Shanassey moved: “That this meeting is of opinion that Mr. Corrigan is a very fit person to represent this electorate, and that he be accorded a vote of thanks for his address.” This was seconded by Mr. D. Hurley, junr., and carried without dissent.

He held that the Agricultural Department had not been kept up to date as it should have been. The Liberal Pa/ty kept it up to date, but since the present party .had been in power they had let it driftMr. Dixon said they had OQW-.teating associations. They had those before Mr. Masses came into power, and they were free. Dairy produce grading was free then. Today the daiiy-farmer had to pay for the grading of his produce and for cow-testing, whilst if they wanted a epw put under C.O.R. test they nqw had tp pay fur it. In regard tn tariff reform, Mr. Corri'gan’s idea was to endeavor to get as near a free breakfast-table as possible—i.e., have as light duties as possible on the neoeBsapss