PARTY LEADERS AT HAMILTON

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27499, 5 November 1954, Page 14

PARTY LEADERS AT HAMILTON

MR HOLLAND AND MR NASH BOTH MEETINGS WELL ATTENDED (New Zealand Press Association) HAMILTON, November 4. Both the Prime Minister (Mr Holland) and the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nash) gave election addresses at Hamilton tonight. Supporters of each party rallied round in far larger numbers than usual in this campaign. The meeting places were only half a mile apart. Both party organisations had arranged loud-speaker systems in the street, and many persons moved from meeting' to meeting for 10 minutes or so. Mr Holland, who spoke in the Embassy Theatre, which was filled with 1800 persons, said early in his address: “I never thought I would be able to tell any audience that for once in my life I have Walter Nash right down my street.” Mr Nash, who spoke to an audience that practically filled the 800seat State Theatre, did not refer to Mr Holland’? meeting. Both meetings were very frpe from interjections. Mr Holland said that the National Party stood for private enterprise and initiative, and would continue the policy that had brought great stability and prosperity. Mr Nash reiterated the promises made by him on behalf of Labour when he opened his campaign. -N.Z. TRADE WITH JAPAN MINISTEP’S DENIAL MR MACFARLANE “NOT CONVINCED” He had certain information which left him unconvinced by the denial of the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr J. T. Watts) that there was a trade agreement with Japan, said Mr R. M. Macfarlane, Labour Party candidate for Christchurch Central, in an election address last evening. Articles which Mr' Watts had said in Parliament were not licensed by the Government to come into the country were on sale in parts of New Zealand, particularly Auckland, to a fair extent, he said. It must be remembered. Mr Macfarlane said, that the Prime Minister (Mr Holland) had stated that New Zealand must trade with former enemy countries to preserve peace, especially in the Pacific. He wanted to know to what extent this was to be done. New Zealand had previous experience of a flood of cheap goods imported from the East.

“It appears that, if the Government aims to increase trade with Japan to preserve peace in the Pacific, it would only be logical to trade with China fbr the same reason.” Mr Macfarlane added. 1

LABOUR’S FARM POLICY

OUTLINE BY MR NASH (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 4. A programme designed to develop the primary resources of New Zealand and encourage an increase in farming and marketing efficiency was outlined by' the Loader of the Opposition (Mr Nash) at Otorohanga yesterday afternoon. His audience comprised 250 electors of this predominantly farming community. “There is no future for this country that does not come out of the soil,” said Mf Nash. “Labour pledges itself to use all the resources of the State to preserve, improve, and develop land as the nation’s greatest material asset.”

Labour would develop a scheme to assist farmers in preserving and developing land in the same way as it organised the rehabilitation scheme after the war, he said. It would do all in its power to prevent speculation in land and absentee ownership, on the theory that manipulation by city firms and speculators merely forced up the price of land, increasing farmers’ costs without material gain. Mr Nash said that Labour would aim at stability rather than rapid fluctuation of good and bad seasons, which had marked primary production in the past, and would observe the philosophy of the genuine farmer. It would encourage co-operative

enterprise, and. it would restore guaranteed prices for primary production.

“The objective of the Labour Party in primary production is to ensure payment to the farmer of a price for his product that will cover all his working expenses, including wages for his employees, and secure for him income in accordance with the time, skill* energy, and experience used by him in producing a commodity,” said Mr Nash. The Labour Party would use the pool accounts for the improvement of primary production, as was the original Labour policy. It would endeavour to re-establish the bulk purchase contracts with Britain, in the belief that the National Government

made a mistake in letting these go when the' basis for negotiation still existed. It will move quickly and positively to strengthen and improve New Zealand’s overseas sales and marketing organisation, particularly in the war now going on in Britain between New Zealand butter and modern forms of blended margarine.