MR HOLLAND AT AUCKLAND

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27502, 9 November 1954, Page 14

MR HOLLAND AT AUCKLAND

Audience Of More Than 3000

FINEST WELCOME OF TOUR

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 8. Auckland tonight gave the Prime Minister (Mr Holland) the finest welcome of his three weeks’ country-wide tour when he spoke at the Town Hall. The audience of more than 3000— packed in on three floors—was twice as big as any previously addressed by the Prime Minister in this campaign. But by no means all the crowd was with Mr Holland. He spoke to a continual background of heckling from the gallery, and many of the men and women waiting in the foyer for his arrival were against him. Policemen were prominent . everywhere. Several patrol cars stood outside, and inside were about 40 uniformed policemen and women and 30 in plain clothes. Cheers and prolonged applause, drowning the bacxground of booing, greeted the 16 Auckland National Party candidates as they filed on to the platform at 7.55 p.m.. Mr Holland came into the hall as the tower clock struck 8 p.m. Many who were waiting outside were disappointed, for he had been with the Mayor (Mr J. H. Luxford) in the Mayor’s room for half an hour. As one man the audience stood, and amid a storm of cheering and handclapping, the warmest welcome he has had in his New Zealand tour, Mr Holland walked to the platform. “Three cheers for Sid” were given with a will, “For He s a Jolly Good Fellow” was sung and then the National Anthem. Most of Mr Holland’s speech followed the pattern of accounting for his stewardship—the same account as he has given throughout his tour. Social Credit “Fallacies” In the last 10 minutes Mr Holland found ‘fallacy after fallacy” in the Social Credit policy. He said he would reply to the Labour Party later in the week. “From Invercargill to Whangarei this election has been without the old bitterness,” said the Prime Minister. I think it is because of the widespread prosperity. You are all happy. People who did not support the National Party in 1949 and 1951 saying, This’ll do me.’ ” The background noise of booing and interjections grew in volume as Mr Holland went on. At times he paused to let it run for a few moments before he made a jest. When Mr Holland said he would “tell you something I know a bit about—finance” there was an outburst of booing. A woman—many of the interjectors were women—called out from the gallery, and the Prime Minister waved, and called out, “Hello, Gert, how are you?” An elderly man in working clothes got up and shook his fist, but his words were drowned by the clapping. “You’re absolutely right” agreed Mr Holland.

Mr Holland continued: “There is something we are absolutely and irrevocably committed to, and that is that we are not having any unemployment while we are on the Treasury benches.” (Cheers.) “We know there is going to be employment for everybody who is willing to work,” he said. Tn 25 years there will be about 3,000,000 people here. We are determined they are going to. be employed, and we look toward our manufacturing industries for that. Our factories are roaring ahead.” When he was discussing industrial matters the Prime Minister faced his most hostile and raucous barrage from a mass of people at the rear of the hall, as well as from a few women scattered nearer the front. “In 1951,” said Mr Holland, 'we tdok the challenge up and decided two important things—‘who was running the country’ (roars of boos from the hack and cheers from the front), and *who was not running the country’” (more boos and cheers). There was no profit in opening up old sores, but the people were' grateful to the - Government for restoring decency in industry, Mr Holland said. “But,” he added, "do not forget the masterly way Labour sat on the fence and did nothing.” Social Credit Policy After a continuous barrage of interjections, Mr Holland asked for silence and discussed Social Credit. There were half-a-dozen “hoorays” at his mention of it, but more silence from the mass at the rear than for some time.

The claim was that here in any part of New Zealand for the first time in the world could be introduced a financial system which would revolutionise the world’s economy, said Mr Holland, amid applause from Social Credit supporters. The sponsors of the scheme claimed that they could, without increasing production, vastly reduce taxation and vastly increase pensions. The noise again rose so that Mr Holland had to appeal for a hearing. Then he went on. It was not a complicated system, he said. If one had the right sort of ink, the right sort of paper, and the right sort of machine it could be done. The theory of Social Credit was that there'was a gap between the quantity of money available and the amount of goods and services that could be purchased with this money. They claimed that the “gap,” as they called it, was £190,000,000, but Mr Holland quoted figures as showing that the income quoted was actually £193.000.000 too low. ... “That is the first point of criticism, said Mr Holland. “There is no gap at all. They have the figures for different years jumbled up.” a nd salaries had been taken for 1950-51, “other income” for 1949-50, and the production of goods and services for 1951-52. Also if there had been less money than goods there would have been surpluses in the shops and thousands of workers out of their jobs, but neither was the case. Social Credit also omitted to note that the cost of materials m the price of goods was also someone else s Income, said Mr Holland, and they had forgotten to add this in. If the: Govemment is gome to create £190,00000 every year—and Social Credit say they will, why in five years they will have printed £1,000,000.000. “The place will be lousy with money—oh, that’s too strong a term. Urn sorry, I thought I was back in Christchurch. But imagine £1,000,000,000 in £1 notes all over the pL? -T'say this: the system is Impracticable, It will not work. It is dangerous. It will destroy our savings. The Germans tried it and look what hap Pe Mr- d Holland picked up some stamps and waved them, over his head. So much did the ..Germans inflate their currency that it cost 500.000.000 reicn marks to post a letter to Christchurch £25.000 at the original value, he said “We are not going to have that sort of thing in New Zealand.

Air Weapons Course. — Thirteen men who are training to be pilots in No 16 pilots’ training course at the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram will begin their alr _ w . ea PJ’“ s course at Birdlines Flat on Saturday. Tiurine the course, which will continue until November 24, they will fire rockets, engage in dive-bombing and low level bombing, air to air firing, and air to ground firing.