THE ELECTIONS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21639, 25 November 1935, Page 17

THE ELECTIONS

TO «C| IWTOB or TWH MUMS. ' Sfr,—ln fairness to Pr. Campbell who i« to England. I would be 553 a you would publish the following. In tsaoy of bis South Island addresses Mr ■ Hislop, leader of the Democrat Durty, is reported to have stated that a Pamphlet issued under Mr Coates* authority and approval, but written by Dr. Campbell, included two statements which were quoted. These statements do not occur in any pamphlet IjgUfrt by Mr Coates; in fact, one of the statements was never made. J can say that neither of the statements quoted has ever been said or Written. Certainly they have never been submitted to, or approved of, by Mr Coates. The statement that they appear in pamphlets issued by blm is ii gross misstatement. ffce pamphleta issued by Mr Coates «ra dated:—"A butter quota Or a free market," May, 1933; "Reserve Bank of New Zealand proposal," September, 1938; "The Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Gold Question," December, 1033; "A Record of the Internal Debt Conversion," December, -1933; "Mortgage Finance," November 30, 2334; "Daiiy. Industry Problems," November, 1934; "Companies (Bondholders Incorporation) Bill," February, 1935; "Housing in New Zealand,'.' September 27, 1935. Compare these dates with the following account of the truth of the matter. The quotation, "The onus is on us to show that the communists in Russia are not wrong," occurred in a report of a speech given by Dr.. Campbell to the Wellington Philosophical Society on September 26, 1034, on the subject ox the gold standard and the implications of abandoning it While the statement itself may be harmless enough, Dr. Campbell at the time protested to the local press that he made no such statement Those who were present—reputabie citizens —agree that no such statement was made. The second remark which is misquoted in the report.of. Mr., Hislop's speech should read "Generally, the developments and the prospects sketched in these pages point to the need, to a degree that is not defined; of socialisation of agriculture." It occurs in a Siper read to the Royal Institute of ternational Affairs' by Dr. Campbell on September 10, 1934. The paper was entitled "England's Changing Agriculture—its Implications, for Countries of Supply." The remark was a purely objective statement summarising the discussion on the various countries examined. For the sake of correctness and to •bow how statements can be grossly misrepresented, I give the above facts. Dr. Campbell is now in England. However, it is a very clumsy attempt to attribute remarks to Mr Coates which were taken from a talk by Dr. Campbell, and with 1 which Mr Coates had nothing whatsoever to do. Mr Hislop should closely scan and check any so-called iacts given him by his advisers—l could not dignify them with the title "brains trust"—neither word seems suitable! " All fair-minded New Zealanders will assess such tactics at their true value. —Yours, fete., FRED. WAITE. Dunedin, November 23, 1935. TO TBS BDITOB or TBS PBBSB. J

Sir, —As some concern has been expressed by you regarding the relationship between Douglas social credit ant? the Labour parry, may We at this stage make our opinions quite clear. We believe that the real fight for civilisation and advancement lies between the people and the banking system. In • democracy, the battleground for such

a fight is the ballot box. The Labour party is challenging the present banking interests and the existing monetary system, which inflicts poverty amidst plenty. It is the advance guard of the new freedom.—Yours, etc., ALAN R. ALLARDYCE. K. A. LOVELL-SMITH. Y. T. SHAND. W. B. BRAY. November 18, 1938. TO . THB KCITOB OT TH* PEEBS. Sir,—Reading the various reports telegraphed and supplied to your journal, one would think Messrs Coates and Forbes were indulging in a sort of triumphal pageant throughout the Dominion. As one who will not support Labour, I cannot help thinking the reports are tinged with a sort of "wish being father to the thought." The thought that is uppermost in any townsman's mind is the difficulty of dealing with the voter who is so thoroughly disgusted with the present combination that he cannot see himself worse off under Labour. With this feeling I am constantly coming in contact. It is an exceedingly dangerous one, and it is stronger amongst those who perhaps should tolerate Mr Coates—but are filled with disgust at the thought of permitting the present Prime Minister to continue in office. It would surprise your journal to know how strong this feeling is, and what, an important factor it will prove next Wednesday, even with those who are so disgusted With the Labour mob rule at Woolstori recently. Like other Liberals, I feel that unless there is some promise of a readjustment of portfolios and the dropping of the present former Liberal Prime Minister, my vote will go for the Democrats, but if "Reform" would even •at this. late hour, come out boldly, both Labbur and Hislop would be, I am sure, effectively, swamped. We might even forgive that lamentably baa-lamb cry of the Prime Minister's, "it took us' four years to carry out our policy." The forceful conversion, the extra year's office, unjust taxation to meet debts, extravagant trips with families whilst unemployed starved, grudging Civil Service restorations—all of these I am sure, were emanations of Forbesian incompetence.—Yours, etc., N.T. FOR T November 22, 1935.

TO THB KDITOB OF TUB PBKS3. " Sir.-rShould not the politician who defrauds the public with false doctrine be treated as Public Enemy No. 1? The tolerance of the State, in allowing its citizens to be thus defrauded, is admittedly against the public interest. Dangerous and vital economic issues thus become so befogged that the State may well be deprived of the very act of judgment of the elector at the poll, which it now seeks, at a cost of £IOO,OOO. Thus the State allows its whole. economic life to be staked on the throw of a dice. The only protection the people have is the ex post facto operation of the sanction of public opinion. But this may only become effective. after it is too late. ; -In NewSout:% Wales'the. sanction of public opinion operated only after untold damage had been done. It was ■not until Great Britain's finance and trade were on the verge of collapse in 1931,, that the sanction of public lopinion shattered the dreams and :careers of her usurping doctrinaires. ! The lesson from Alberta will come in 1936. In the modern State the sanction of public opinion is, in diverse fields, always being slowly replaced by the 'sanction of the law. For example, it 'Vas long ages before, the dishonest trader was prevented oy State sanctions from defrauding the public. The fashioning- by the: State of sanctions,' both civil and criminal, has been Hi] slow growth. It is here suggested that the State might now consider the application of sanctions in the free-to-all domain of the politician. Legal sanctions may prove more effective than

free education! If a candidate deliberately trades in falsehood and misrepresentation, to the'damage of the State, then why should not the State protect its, citizens .by the imposition of a form of legal sanctions? Must the State for ever stand aloof from what should be the public ritual of laying bare the momentous fiscal election issues in their nakedness of truth? Yet to-day the candidate can with impunity adopt any form of dishonest artifice to enable him to get to, and do- irreparable damage at State headquarters; and at the same time such "representative" of the people can enjoy a four years' stipend from the State, with complete immunity. If the policy of the modern State is to protect the fool from his folly, here is an opportunity. It may seem fantastic to contend - that the State should impose legal sanctions on the dishonest utterances of dishonest politicians. But why? "Freedom of speech" would not suffer any more than our other industries from a measure of control It is not to personalities and political tomfoolery, but to the grave fiscal issues, upon which our prosperity depends, that the eye of the State is directed. If the State is to survive in democratic form in times of economic stress, then the State must minimise the risks of the great gamble, when it unreservedly stakes the livelihoods and prosperity of its people on the caprices of a misdirected and befogged electorate. In the future the State will no more allow the politician to sell "rotten goods" than it will allow the milkman to sell "rotten milk" to young children. If, in the presence of Public Enemy •No. 1, the State is as yet unarmed, may its citizens at least be forewarned. ■.-,,. We should "also proscribe Public ; Enemy No. 2. He is the currency crank, who by undermining our "financial stability" chips away the concrete foundations of our economic recovery. We should treat the circu-lation-of the counterfeit coin of false monetary doctrine in the same way as the State treats the utterer of a bad shilling. If any of your readers can suggest an appropriate form of sanctions, and an infallible tribunal, would they accompany a deputation to Wellington?— Yours, etc., . „„ JUSTICE. November 21, 1935.

TO THB ; IBITOB Of TH» PBESS, Sir,—The Prime Minister .(the Bt. Hon. G. W. Forbes), in his election addresses throughout the country, has been telling electors that a win for Labour will mean the ruination of Savings Bank depositors. Such electioneering tactics can only be described as despicable. Mr Forbes is not alone in adopting this form ol propaganda, as it is evident that the National party has, as a whole, adopted the "save your savings" slogan as its chief weapon of offence. Personally, I thmk that a sickly sentimental appeal to fear creates only a feeling of disgust in the minds of healthily-minded people. No one. I hope, will be deluded by such reprehensible tactics, and votes are more likely to be lost than gained by such utterance*), coming as they do from men who aspire to govern the country. What did Mr Forbes's party care about workers' savings during its term of office? There are few people in this Dominion who have not some relatives or friends who, finding themselves unable to get employment, had to spend all of their savings before they could obtain relief. Indeed the advice given to these unfortunate people was, "Spend your savings and get relief work"—a .further evidence of submission to the policy of deflation Initiated by high finance. If there is a rush on the savings banks when Labour is elected, make no mistake about it, it will not be because,, of . a feeling of insecurity (though it might be interpreted as such) but because of people's desire to spend savings on needful things, confident of real security in the future.— Yours, etc., SPENDING SPELLS SECUHITY. | November 21, 1935. TO THS EDITOR 01 THB PBKSB. Sir,—At Invercargill the Rt Hon. George Forbes, by small wit and bluff,

tries to make, light of Mr T, C, A. His* lop's charges as to the unsatisfactory way the public accounts have been presented. The Prime Minister avoids dealing directly with the charges, but make a number of irrelevant funny statements while fending and sidestepping the real questions at issue. A former public servant tries to come to his assistance, but with little success. In a published, statement the AuditorGeneral said, "The method of treating exchange in the public accounts lacks uniformity, and, in the opinion of the Audit Officer, is unsatisfactory, and in many cases causes the public accounts to be misleading and inaccurate." A statement like this ought to show the public clearly that Mr Hislop had some definite grounds for his charges as to the way the public accounts are kept, and the matter may now be left for them to form, their own judgment. —Yours, etc., TWO AND TWO. November 23, 1935.

TO TUB HDJTOB OT *H* SBMB. Sir.—After reviewing the different policies of the three parties now in the field, that is to say, National, Democrat, and Labour, I hove come to the conclusion that the man on the land to-day will be better served under the present Government. He will be safer with the devil we know than the devil we don't know. Many useful measures have been brought into operation to protect him on the land. Though not kindly received by the mortgagee they were introduced to save the mortgagor from bankruptcy. Well, the Government knew the farmer was the slave of the country. All this legislation was carried out under many protests from the Chamber of Commerce, and the commercial community, and many financial corporations, and even the law fraternity. When the exchange rate was raised Mr Downie Stewart thought fit to leave the Government. The loan conversions were the means of stabilising the price of money, which helped to meet high values of both rural lands and city properties half-way. We must admit this proved to be very useful legislation at a time when the country was going to pieces. The cry to-day with the town man is that we cannot tolerate a farmers' government any longer. The trend in the coming election is to get a town government composed of Labour lawyers and accountants, who know very little about the man on the land. I would, say, "God help the man on the land if a town government is returned," Its policy would be for shorter hours, higher wages, and scale charges, and all employees on the land would come under a union, so every vote cast for a change is a nail in the farmers' coffin. They have only to glance through the portrait gallery of the two local papers to see there are very few of candidates who know the first thing about the requirements of the farmer or the resources of the land which are the mainstay behind the prosperity of this Dominion.—Yours, etc., COUNTRY CHUMP. November 23, 1935. to this sditob or Tan mass. Sir,—As there appear to be a number of people in the Malvern County still undecided whether they should vote for Mr Hawke or Mr McLachlan in order to keep Labour out, I think a word of warning should be issued before it Is too late. There is absolutely no doubt that those living north of the Waimakariri have wisely made up their minds to cast a huge solid vote for Mr Hawke, the National candidate, arid those to the south of the river should make no mistake, and do likewise. In no circumstances should a second thought be given to Mr McLachlan, an every vote given to him is a direct vote to Labour. The Liberalism that Mr McLachlan endeavours to espouse is as dead as Julius Caesar, which any sensible elector should kr aw. The real issue lies between Mr Hawke, who represents sound government, and Mr Morgan Williams, who represents a party with decidedly unwound schemes.—Yours. etc MALVERN ELECTOR. November J!3, 1935.

TO THB BDITOB OF THE JBBBS. Sir,—"l don't know how I would get on about wearing a top hat," Mr Howard told a Spreydon audience the other night, when discussing his prospect of attaining Cabinet rank. Surely Mr, Howard is taking the gullibility of his audience a little too much for granted when he hints at any seluctance on his part to accept the responsibilities (and emoluments) of ministerial office. In his own words. I am convinced he could "manage all the rest of the duties." So far he has not failed in undertaking the duties (and accepting the perquisites) attached to the chairmanship of the Lyttelton Harbour Board, membership of the Tramway Board, and similar offices, Se we may yet see Mr Howard in striped trousers, spats, black morning coat, and shiny stove-pipe, a la J. H 7 Thomas.—Yours, etC " SOUP AND FISH. November 23, 1935.

TO TBII JCDItOK 07 THIS JUMBSS. Sir,—The Savings Bank in New South Wales was controlled by the politipal Labour party, and as a result it had to close its doors. There is something mean about the statement that political opponents of the Labour party engineered a run on that bank for the purpose of forcing it to close its doors, so as to discredit the Labour party. Nobody would bring poverty, and loss, and misery to thousands of the poorer people merely to damage a political party. Those who first started that story were indeed hard put to find an excuse for their party's incompetence. Mr Sage is merely repeating what he has heard. The statement by a Labour candidate that if there had been a similar run on the New Zealand Savings Bank for two days it, too, would have closed its doors is rubbish. Our bank would not have closed its doors until every depositor had been paid in full, if such was desired.

Our Labour party has done nothing to help the country during the last four years. Everything the Government did was wrong, in its sight. It adopted the attitude of "If you did, why did you?" "If you didn't, why didn't you?" When the financial expert visited Australia at the request of the Australian Government the Labour party raised the foolish cry that he had been sent by the Bank of England to compel Australia to submit to the Bank of England control. That was all nonsense. The Bank of England was probably very little concerned about Australian finances; that was a matter between Australia and her bondholders —thrifty people who had Invested their savings in Australian bonds. If our Government had not invited that expert to visit New Zealand and to give us the benefit of his knowledge and experience when he was so close to us, what & howl would have gone up from the Labour party against the Government for having missed such an opportunity. When the Government got the advice of experts on the exchange question the Labour party raised the howl "Why did you?" And because Professor B. E. Murphy was not one of the experts whose advice was asked on that question, it raised a howl, "Why wasn't he asked?" Professor Murphy has shown in his writings how the Labour party exploits other workers wherever it finds other workers squeezable, and the Trades Hall people do not like him. When that New Zealand boy. Professor Copland, visited his homeland the Labour party raised a howl that he was sent over by the Bank of New South Wales to tie New Zealand to that bank, and because while he was here our Prime Minister had a talk with him, it raised a howl about that. Speaking in Cranmer square on the occasion of the Labour party's emotion drive, in connexion with that sign the petition stunt, Mr E. J. Howard said that those who lived south of the railway in his electorate were better people than those who lived north of it—better because they voted for him. Such a low value to put on the intelligence of the people! Such gluttons for flattery, he must have judged them to be! And his statement, "If the Coalition Is elected, good-bye oldage pensions" is not forgotten. Coalition got in, and the old-age pensions have a higher purchasing power than they had before the slump. Why does he not admit that his judgment

was all wrong, and that Ills attack was without fouactetlop?— etc., November 22, 1835.