DEMOCRATIC LABOUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 September 1943, Page 3

DEMOCRATIC LABOUR

ADDRESS BY MASTERTON CANDIDATE FINANCIAL AND OTHER POLICY PROPOSALS. MEETING IN STATE THEATRE. An attentive hearing was accorded Aircraftman Donald Thompson, Democratic Soldier Labour Party candidate for the Masterton seat, when he addressed a public meeting in the State Theatre last night. The Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, presided over an attendance of about 450. k At the conclusion of his address the candidate was unanimously accorded a vote of thanks, on the motion of Mr A. I. Gibbs. Mr Lee, Aircraftman Thompson said, was one of the few men in New Zealand politics who had the courage of his convictions and stuck to his principles. That was a quality greatly to be esteemed and was a firm basis round which to build a party. Mr Lee’s party believed in democracy not only as applied to nations but also to parties. It believed that a member had the right to vote according to the dictates of his conscience within the broad principles laid down by the party and not at the direction of some outside group as was the case in New Zeala .id today. They were not fighting this war to preserve the old order of things and the old way of life. Too long had the world been ruled by old men. Aircraftman Thompson said an impossible position was rapidly being reached in •regard to the national debt. Interest was absorbing too much of the national income. New Zealand must learn as far as possible to finance herself within herself. After the war there would have to be some international debt readjustment scheme. REHABILITATION. There could be no true and lasting rehabilitation under the old system of finance, said Aircraftman Thompson. Labour favoured what were gigantic relief works, while the National Party stressed the land. The English market was not an expanding one. Pastorally, New Zealand had reached her peak. It was in agriculture that there was room for expansion. There should be no discrimination in rehabilitation. Men who had been directed into essential industries should not be forgotten. Aircraftman Thompson said his party believed that the issue of credit and currency should be under the direction of the Government and that it was possible to finance internally with debt-free money. The party would not take over the banks, excepting the Bank of New Zealand, which in belonged to the people already. With it as a people’s bank they could finance workers’ houses at per cent and gradually take over farm mortgages at rates that would allow their liquidation. Money, being vital to every human being, must be administered from a human angle. LAND POLICY. There had been no land policy in this country since the days of Seddon, Aircraftman Thompson stated. What could be better than to carry on where he left off? The L.I.P. tenure was the soundest and best tried method of closer settlement. It gave the man .with no capital a chance. Every farmer should have as much land as he and his family could adequately farm with or without the employment of labour. Freehold or leasehold should be available whichever the farmer preferred. Interest rates must be reduced to free the farmer. The farmer was now taxed on an exaggerated income and when the war was over he would have no reserves with which to make up his lost headway. If 1943 prices were being paid him, some form of deferred payments would meet the situation . The gravest problem this country had got to face was a declining birthrate, the candidate stated. The bestimmigrants were young New Zealanders, but 24 per cent of their marriages were childless and the average-sized family was children. The problem was economic. The State should pay an income to every mother, irrespective of her husband’s income, proportional to the number of children she had. The party aimed at a £1 per week per child. The outlay was a fraction of that spent on the war. (Applause). New Zealand’s internal economy was a very lopsided affair, said Aircraftman Thompson. Primary production dominated all and diversification must be the keynote. The production of raw materials for their secondary industries was advocated, such as linen flax, nut oils, sugar beet and timber. New Zealand could become the lumber country of the Pacific. Such an industry alone would pay off the national debt. All forms of State control should be applied by the persons or group that the control affected, said Aircraftman Thompson. If that had been done they would not have had the atrocious mess in regard to internal maiketing. Bureaucratic control was invaiiably unintelligent and unsympathetic. It was true democracy to let the people govern themselves. WAGE STABILISATION. Aircraftman Thompson said that at a time of ballooning costs the man stabilised on a low wage was up against it, such as the postman who received £4 13s per week. The civil service was the forgotten service. The • glaring injustice of paying into two schemes of social security, but only being able o get the benefit of one, was apparent to all. The wage tax should also be graduated. LAND. The Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Act, said Aircraftman Thompson, should have started with the man who had 1 more land than he could possibly use and have dealt with the land speculator. Instead of that it was an attempt to stabilise land and property values when the pound note was worth anything but 20s. The Governmen had plunged ahead regardless of economic repercussions. It had seen an injustice and in attempting to righ it had perpetrated more injustice. jjew Zealand should have a foreign policy, said the candidate, a closer understanding with Australia was necessary. They must oppose with all their strength any attempt of Americanisation. Aircraftman Thompson said nis party did not believe in interfering with the private rights of individuals —with people who were doing a good job. Their brand of Socialism did not mean the State control of the ownertaxidriver, the tobacconist, the farmer or the worker. Their brand of Socialism meant the national control of credit and currency for the benefit of all.