ON THE HUSTINGS

POLITICAL POINTS

WHAT CANDIDATES SAY

.Mr. Holland will promise anything, and promise to give away anything— that doesn't belong to him.-—.Mr. P. Carr (Labcur;. Auckland West.

Mr. Holland says there will never be a slump again; of course there won't, because he'll never get back there to stage it.—Corporal W. H. Oliver (Labour J, Manawatu.

Social security is our baby, not Mr. Holland's. Our opponents said it was a weak baby, but we reared it, and now they want to steal it.—Corporal W. H. Oliver (Labour), Manawatu.

The Lend-Lease Act is an admission that the old system of international credit cannot continue. 1 believe that after the war the debt balances will have to be adjusted, and. 1 believe, largely wiped out. —Mr. J. Hogan (Independent), Hutt.

I have been asked if 1 am anti-socialist. 1 reply I am not anti-socialist, but 1 am definitely anti-party. Whether a gang calls itself National party. Labour party or anything else, they are the ones who are anti-social. — Stafl'-Sergeant Plane (Independent Group), Grey Lynn.

I've never been dictated to, and I'll never be dictated to by any man, party or group. ... If you want a yes-man, don't vote for Taylor; if you want a party hack, again don't vote for Taylor.—Mr. E. B. E. Taylor (National), Lyttelton.

I favour reducing the number of members of Parliament- by 25 per cent. As for the Legislative Council, and for all the use it is. 1 think it should be abol-ished.-—Flying-Officer E. \V. Sinton (Independent), Remuera.

Nationalists say they can vote as they like without party discipline. That does not work in practice. Messrs. Kyle, Massey.' Endean. Hamilton and the late Mr. Coates were all disciplined because they opposed the party in caucus.—Dr. Finlay (Government). Remuera.

The three R's which exist in New Zealand to-day are rules, regulations and red tape. You can't do anything in New Zealand to-day without becoming entangled in them.—Mr. J. Satterwaite (National), Timaru.

It is impossible for a small country like New Zealand to insulate itself from the rest of the world, just as it is impossible to detach itself from war. No country to-day can live to itself. We must trade with other countries. — Miss Ellen Melville (National), Grey Lynn.

I am asked whether I favour dictation by Roberts and Co. I deny such dictation. The only dictation of the Government today is by the people of New Zealand. If by sectionalism my opponent means sympathy for the underdog, I'm proud to be a sectionalist. —Dr. Finlay (Government), Remuera.

The National party, if elected, would not bring down a bill like the Land Sales Act two or three days before the end of the session and sit till 6 a.m. in order to pass it. If that is democratic government. I don't know the meaning of the word.—Miss Ellen Melville (National), Grey Lynn.

The experience at the end of the last war showed that cheers for the returned men were plentiful, but jobs and houses were scarce. We Know that the cheers will still be plentiful at the end of this war, and it will be for the Government to see that jobs and houses are plentiful, too. —Mr. P. G. Connolly (Labour, Dunedin West).

I think there is a case for the gradual introduction of an economic, industrial or vocational basis for the Legislative Council. The council has been doing a good job for some time, but I feel there is a case for reorganising that body to make it really an industrial type of Parliament from an advisory point of view.—The Minister of finance, Mr. Nash.

Our national debt is £500.000,000 and we have a population of 1,650,000. This debt is only £150,000.000 less than the 1914 public debt of Great Britain, with 45,000,000 people. We cannot go on piling up this mountain of debt, plus eternal interest. I was pledged against it in 1035, and in 1938, and I am against it still.—Mr. W. L. Barnard (Independent), Napier.

"I don't like the word 'rehabilitation'; we will have to get another name for it. Rehabilitation means putting a man back where he was before. I don't want the men to come back and think we have not progressed in the last four years. I want to see them have something bet-ter."—Staff-Sergeant H. M. Bagnall (Independent Group), 'Auckland West.

If they were to suggest taking another 1/ in the £, and it was to go to social security, then I would say take it. But it would go hard with the man with two or three children. So I say take it from the man who has plenty. We have about 20 men in this country earning £10,000 a year. Certainly they pay something like 17/6 in the £, but they still have 10,000 half-crowns left.—Mr. P. Carr (Labour), Auckland West.

The outstanding success of Mr. Curtin's party in the recent Australian elections, 1 believe, is the first indication of a world-wide trend to the "Left" by the so-called common people in their search for the New Christian Order, which is imperatively necessary if we are not to continue our wholesale sacrifices of the world's youth to the pagan god of war.—Mr. H. Atmore (independent), Nelson.

The present monetary system will destroy prosperity and manufacturing power in this country and shatter industry. Why talk of a new order, with debt mounting, mounting and mounting in crushing proportion? From the time you left your homes to-night to come to this meeting till the time you can get back home you can console yourselves with the thought that nationally you are £30,000 more in debt.—Mr. Norman Douglas (Democrat Labour), Onehunga.

Two years ago a man in Grey Lynn told me that if you put up a broom stick with the official Labour label on it the people would vote for it. I don't agree with that party system. The Labour party admit they are tied by the Easter Conference. The Independent group policy is formulated by men who have the courage of their opinions, and no one outside the candidates has formulated one word of that policy.—Staff-Sergeant Plane (Independent Group), Grey Lynn.

In some cases from 50 to SO per cent of the products of New Zealand industry have had to go into the war machine in the past year or two. With the Japanese menace receding we can devote a greater proportion of our factories, machinery and manpower to the production of goods for the civilian population, and instructions have been given to that effect. I think in the year to come, and progressively then onwards, the civilian population will have ■more supplies.—The Minister of Supply, Mr. Sullivan.

Otago is going back while the North Island is prospering. Why? Because our members of Parliament have done absolutely nothing to foster the life of our community]. That is a serious charge to make, but you all know that it is perfectly true. Our members of Parliament have been suffering from sleeping sickness for many years. We are represented by drones who have done nothing for the province in which they earned their daily bread.—Mr. L. S. Cassie (National, Dunedin North).

The New Zealand Manufacturers' Association focussed the attention of the Government on the shortage of manpower in July last. The Farmers' Union has again and again appealed for an over-haul of manpower commitments, and the Federation of Labour itself demanded from the Government an overhaul of commitments as far as girls are concerned. Generally, there is a widespread feeling that we are not only over-com-mitted, but that no attempt is being made to put the matter right.—The Leader of the National party, Mr. Holland, in the Auckland Town Hall. * * * *

I am a National party candidate because I am absolutely convinced that a radical change is necessary in our public life and that the men who to-day profess to govern us will, with their follies and their extravagances, bring us to financial ruin, and, what is worse, moral bankruptcy. The internal situation of New Zealand to-day, with the tremendous growth of government by Order-in-Council, of bureaucratic control, of boards and commissions, and of taxation, has reached such a stage that it is time the average I citizen, the man with a stake in the country, with a few ideals left, played I some part in its administration.—Mr. J. T. Watts (National. Riccarton). I