FINAL PARTY APPEALS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 227, 24 September 1943, Page 2

FINAL PARTY APPEALS

LABOUR LEADER

CONFIDENT OUTLOOK

POLICY IN PEACE AND WAR

(P.A.) • WELLINGTON, Thursday.

"There are many reasons why the Labour Government should be retained in administrative control of New Zealand, but there are three in particular which make Labour's victory at the general election poll on Saturday thrice assured," said the Prime Minister, Mr. Fra'ser, in a statement to the electors to-night. "The first of these reasons is the vital part the Government, with the full co-operations of the people, has played in developing and maintaining New Zealand's magnificent war effort.

"Secondly, the Government's record of legislation and administration, which before and during this war established a.id held a standard of prosperity and social security enabling the nation to wage war with vigour, efficiency and unsurpassed success. Thirdly, the pledge of the Government and the Labour party to make the post-war future of New Zealand better than even the best of the past, to rehabilitate all exService men and ex-Service women back to the highest possible standard of civilian life, and to give the whole community absolute security against slumps and vinous economic depression. * "Free of Pretence" "The policy of the Labour Government and party is free of pretence. We leave other parties to traffic in shams and peddle shoddy political wares. All that we have done and vow to do are part and parcel of the basic principles for which the New Zealand Labour movement always fought—principles that are embodied in the Atlantic Charter of the United Nations as the foundation of a new world order. "Let the electors anywhere consider the counterfeit programme of the Nationalist party. It now proffers a fuller cupboard than the one it depleted when in office, but if the door be opened in the clear light of experience there will be revealed the grisly skeleton of the Nationalist depression.

"There has been a great deal of talk by anti-Labour forces in this election campaign about the necessity for restoring old forms of freedom. The Nationalists want freedom for predatory vested interests, which simply means freedom to grab the highest possible profits from industry, trade and financial investments and the right to grind the faces of the poor. "The answer to that preposterous policy is this: Labour stands or falls by real and true freedom, which means freedom from want, freedom from exploitation and freedom from the fear of slumps and depressions. "I confidently ask for the support and authority of the people of New Zealand to enable the Government, firstly, to direct and carry on New Zealand's 100 per cent war effort until victory is won; secondly, to proceed with a complete scheme for the rehabilitation of our Servicemen; thirdly, to maintain the high standard of living of our people, including social security, during the war, so that further progress in social justice can be made in the post-war period. As Leader of the Labour Government and the Labour party, I face the issue of the election poll with the utmost confidence."