CHRISTCHURCH SOUTH

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22717, 23 May 1939, Page 7

CHRISTCHURCH SOUTH

MR LYONS CONTINUES

HIS CAMPAIGN

LABOUR’S PROMISES AND

ACHIEVEMENTS

NATIONAL CANDIDATE’S

CRITICISM

The contention that there was a substantial gap between promise and achievement in the Government's administration formed the main theme of Mr M. E. Lyons’s address last night to electors of Christchurch South in support of his candidature on behalf of the National Party. Mr Lyons spoke at the Selwyn Street Methodist Church Schoolroom, where he had an audience of about 200. Interjectors were again present—they were described by Mr Lyons as a small subcommittee —and they kept up a steady criticism of Mr Lyons's charges against the Government, but the majority of those present listened attentively to the candidate and accorded him a vote of thanks, any dissentient voices being drowned in the applause with which the vote was carried. Mr Dcnvs Hoaro presided. -My charge against the Labour Parly in its administration is that while it has tried to put men into employment and to see that the standard of living was raised and assured, it has lost sight of the fact that to do good it must gel men into productive employment,” said Mr Lyons. "And by its failure to put these men into productive channels it has definitely' cut away much of the good it has endeavoured to do. Its intentions are well meant, but the road to a certain place is paved with good intentions, and it seems to me that it is heading for economic perdition. "I want to criticise the Government and point out. some things which 1 believe are definitely wrong and not conducive to the welfare of this country,” Mr Lyons said. "1 have been twilled bv questioners a.id interjectors already with cries of ‘Give us your policy.’ but mv replv is the reply of (he late Mr H. E. Holland, the former leader of the Labour Party. He said: 'I am not in the dock. It is the parly in power that has to he tried.’ And very largely in this contest I shall adopt that attitude.” ‘‘Tremendously Prodigal” If it had been so minded the Government could have honoured many of its pledges. However, it was clear even to its supporters that the Government had been tremendously prodigal ~i its promises, and that to-day there was a regular catalogue of unfulfilled pledges. One of them, and it affected every person in the country, was its pledge to reduce the cost of living. The Labour Party had said that all would be well if it were given power, and that the housewives’ pound would go much further than it did in the conditions that existed belorc the elections of 1985.

A voice: What about when she did not own a £

Mr Lyons: There was no need for her not to own a I am not going to apologise for some of the things my parly did. I criticised it just as much as any member of the Labour Party. But lam glad of the interjection. /or if to-day the Labour Parly were to suffer a fall of more than onethird in the income of the Dominion, there would be sugar-bags again. But no one wants to see it, I above till people. A voice: II will never fall. Mr Lyons: Then why has the value of overseas prices fallen by more than £8,000.000 this year? If it is possible to insulate, why arc the farmers of this Dominion nearly starving? Why is it not possible to restore that £8,000,000 In the producers of this country? Those questions need answering.

A voice: What did Ihe Government do the first Christmas after it came to power?

London Reserves and Employment Mr Lyons: You can be a tremendously good fellow with a lot of money. Labour was the luckiest Government Unit ever came in in this country. If ever a Government took over with a rise of the tide it was Ihe Labour Government, ft had a substantial reserve in London; but to-day there is nothing there. Later. Mr Lyons discussed unemployment. “Thai is dead and gone,” commented a man. “Yes, but the Government is collecting £5,000.000 a year for it,” retorted Mr Lyons. “Some people are fools enough to be hoodwinked. The problem of unemployment is definitely not solved. Who in this hall can say that it has been solved? To-day there are 1000 more dependent on the unemployment fund than there were before Labour came in.” Mr Lyons .submitted that the Government had failed in its promises about readjusting taxation, about housing, about the sales tax, about the exchange rate, and about the cost of government. There had been’ promises, 100, about B class radio stations and about guaranteed prices that had not been honoured. “We were told that there was to be debt-free money.” he added. “There were to be loans free of interest, and, above all, there were to be no overseas loans. Now wc have the Minister for Finance on a ship ploughing its wav to London, and I dare say he is anxious for it to put in a good many miles so that ho can be there to meet the creditors before the bubble bursts. That is the position to-day. The wish is not father to the thought, because that would be the worse for everyone of us.”

Mr Nash would probably be met with very awkward questions about the extravagant spending that had occurred in New Zealand, Mr Lyons went on. He would be asked why the Government had not encouraged productive effort. Mr Nash’s first trip to England had been with the idea of “bouncing the ball.” but to-day he was going Home in a very chastened mood. It was rumoured that Mr Nash had not wanted to go to England, and that he had been told to go by Mr Savage. A voice: Who told you that one?

Mr Lyons: The dogs are barking it n Wellington.