LABOUR'S POLICY

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21580, 17 September 1935, Page 12

LABOUR'S POLICY

♦ "REMARKABLE INTEREST IN DETAILS" « MR SAVAGE'S COMMENT (PRBSS ASSOCIAWOJI lMLtaa.i.U.l WELLINGTON, September 16. In an address at Johsonviile tonight, the .leader of the Opposition (Mr M. J. Savage) said there appeared to be remarkable interest on the part of the press and Government supporters in the details of the Labour party's policy. The same interest in details was not apparent in 1931, when the same people were clamouring for the Coalition Government to be given an open cheque so as to be able to meet the changing conditions.

When the Coalition Government went to the polls in 1931 it had no policy, even in broad outline, let alone in detail. No one knew during the last four years what to expect next. The Coalition had asked for and had obtained a blank cheque. The Government had- done as it liked, or had done nothing, yet Labour was expected to provide not only a full explanation of the principles underlying its policy, which had been done, but also the actual details of how the policy was to work. The press and the Ministers said the people wanted to know. It looked something like a demand by intending passengers by the Limited express for an explanation of the working parts of a modern locomotive before boarding the train. Mr Savage said that a section of the press and other Government supporters had kept on repeating a gross misrepresentation of Labour's proposal for guaranteed prices by stating that it was intended to make good the guarantee by increased taxation. Such was not the case. Intelligent use of the public credit would enable any Government to provide for the equitable distribution of the country's production, without resorting to increased laxalion. The Government had overdone that already. For years taxation had been rising and incomes falling.