LABOUR VICTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 307, 28 December 1935, Page 6

LABOUR VICTORY.

CANADIAN REACTION.

EDITORIAL COMMENT,

CONTROL OF INDUSTRIES

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

MONTREAL, November 28,

Bishop Philip Carrington, of the Church of England; diocese of Quebec, who spent a number oi years in Christchurch, New Zealand, before coming to Canada, told members of a service club at Quebec City to-day. that there was little danger of the newly-elected Government in New Zealand taking any rash or extreme measures. Bishop Carrington said he.formed his belief on his long study of the people and customs of the country. ''*•'. Victory of the Labour party in the New Zealand elections attracted a. great deal of attention in political circles in Canada, and evoked lowing editorial comment from the Montreal "Gazette," the leading Conservative daily: — > . "The National Government in Npw Zealand, headed by Premier G. W. Forbes, has been defeated after holding office since September of 1031, when a financial crisis in the affairs of the Dominion brought it into being. It was a Coalition Government, t standing on a platform of financial stability as a means to recovery, and pledged to a policy of Empire trade development.. It has been beaten decisively by the Labour party under Michael Savage. . . . Of Interest to the Empire. "The immediate future of New Zealand under a Labour Administration will be a matter of lively interest to the rest of the Empire. . . . It has been contended by Mr. Savage and others that the services already nationalised in the Dominion have been self-sustaining and that the public have had the advantage of lower charges. Assuming this to be so, the extension of the public ownership and public control system to include other industries, as well as money and credit, will mean changes of great magnitude and may easily have a serious bearing upon the economic future of New Zealand.

"The Dominion has already a central bank- similar to that which has been established in this country, and it is presided over by a governor trained in the Bank of England. The operations of this institution, however, have not been wholly satisfactory to the radical element of New Zealand any more than those of the Bank of Canada have satisfied extremists in this country. The Canadian people, however, have not asked for, or authorised, and are unlikely to see, any such dangerous experiment as the people of New Zealand have invited." "Exacting Test of Leadership." In a later issue the Montreal "Gazette" had an editorial article commenting on the assumption of office by the Labour Government in New Zealand. "The new Government must now take up the task which the electors refused to allow a National Government to finish," the article stated, inter alia. "Premier Savage is''pledged to obtain, among other diuicult'-'" things, more profitable prices for agricultural products, to find employment* for all able-bodied workers, to bring .public credit under national control and to restore all wages, salaries and pensions. It is a huge order in times like these, and the Labour Government will need to possess great capacities if it is to punctually realise its ambitions and maintain Budget stability. Time soon will prove whether the electorate did the right thing in refusing the National Government a new mandate to continue the sane policy it initiated in 1931 and pursued for four years, bringing order out of financial chaos and making the term of the For'oes-Coates Administration one of steady progress toward complete economic rehabilitation. Realisation of the benefits which the Labour leaders promised should accrue to the people of New Zealand if the Labour party were accorded a majority in Parliament will necessarily depend upon the manner in which Premier Savage responds to what is bound to be, under prevailing conditions, a very exacting test of. leadership, and largely upon his ability to avoid the pitfalls of Socialism which almost invariably beset Labour Administrations."