CHRISTCHURCH SOUTH

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24043, 3 September 1943, Page 6

CHRISTCHURCH SOUTH

NATIONAL CANDIDATE’S TRIBUTE TO LEADER If elected for Christchurch South, Lieutenant Ron Guthrey, M.C., official National Party candidate, told electors las. evening, he proposed to form committees throughout the electorate to whom he would go for guidance and advice. “And I hope that Mr R. M. Macfarlane will be one of the chairmen,” he announced, amidst laughter. It was the duty of every Parliamentarian, he added, to keep in touch with his constituents. The reply was prompted by a question whether he would support a school in the neighbourhood of St. Andrew’s Schoolroom, where he spoke at a fairly well attended meeting. Mr G. T. Weston presided. The candidate was given a most attentive hearing, and at the conclusion of his address received a vote o' thanks oh the motion of Mr C. K. Perry “I wish to congratulate Lieutenant Guthrey bn a splendid maiden effort,” said the mover. “It augurs well; not only well for him in political life, but for the betterment of government in this juntry." “I am offering myself as a candidate for Parliament in the farvent hope that in so doing,” Lieutenant Guthrey explained. “I shall give a lead to other young men throughout the Empire, and especially those young-men who are fighting on active service, to take a part in the winning of the peace to come, and to ensure that our comrades shall not have died in vain." As a returned soldier, he said, he was not interested in political controversies. “But I am very much interested in the welfare and future of this wonderful country of ours,” he -e----clared. “This war has proved conclusively that New Zealand has a wealth of youth with courage, determination, and outstanding ability.” When he was approached by the National Party, said the candidate, he st-ted that if elected to Parliament he would insist that returned soldiers should receive the rights promised to them, and he would ensure that rehabilitation schemes be placed on a sound, constructive basis, and carried out promptly and efficiently, whether they came from a National or a Labour Government. “I told them that I was determined to enter politics with a free and open mind, absolutely free to express an independent judgment on every measure brought forward, he said, “and not bound bv some out of cate tradition to vote in the direction dictated by the leader of the narty T wished to be free to vote and act according •to my -onE' , ience, so that should not become a mere party hacic He had beei. assured bv Mr S. G Holland that he would be perfectly free to carry but those principles Therefore, he nad replied that if the National Party had a policy that was constructive, sound, and practical, then he was willing to stand as an official National candidate. - . Lieutenant Guthrey gave the following reasons why he could not consider standing for Labour: it was a class oartj controlled by trade union bosses; the National Party was the peoples oarty, as it stood for all classes and the well-being of the country as a whole; Labour stood for State control “I believe in the right of free enterprise as essentia) to prosperity and the itality of our country.” he declared. “T believe in personal freedom without needless State interference In the lives of the people.” , Neither would he consider standing as an Independent, as he believed that a majority of Independents in the House would be a purely destructive force. “Being fundamentally opposed to Labour.” said the candidate. I believe that there ir onb’ one alternative to a Labour‘Government and that is a National Government,” _ Commenting upon Mr Hpllapd. he said: “I found in him an honest and sincere man. a man with a sense of humour, and a complete grip of tional and international problems ! be lieve that he is a man with an unblemished record, a man who has made a success of his own We. and a man well qualified by epenenceandcom mon sense to direct the affairs of tins country.