IN PEACE AND WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 251, 23 October 1944, Page 2

IN PEACE AND WAR

LABOUR PARTY'S RECORD

DEFENCE BY MR. FRASEF.

(P.A.) INVERCARGILL, Sunday. The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, in a speech at Winton on behalf of the Labour candidate in the Awarua by-election, Mr. L. S. OT>ullivan, defended the record of the Labour Government, both in the four years of its tenure before the war and during the war. Apart from some interjections in the early part of his speech, Mr. Fraser was pri ven an. attentive hearing, and his remarks were frequently greeted with applause. Mr. Fraser said that the war had interfered with the Government's programme of social progress, but the Government's achievements in the four years before the war had been copied-in other countries. The social security programme of New Zealand had attracted the attention of the whole world. It was the foundation of the Beveridge plan in Britain. The war had stopped the Government's house building programme because military requirements had come first, but the Government was now getting back into its stride in house'building.

The excellent record of the country in the production field was also outstanding, continued Mr. Fraser. This had been achieved under the Labour Government, assisted by the War Cabinet, which contained stout members of the Opposition who stood by the country loyally. Legislation providing for a minimum family income and minimum wage that would, in sickness and in health, in employment or in unemployment, be adequate to keep a family on a good standard of living, would be achieved before the present Parliament finished.