SOCIAL CREDIT

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27675, 3 June 1955, Page 6

SOCIAL CREDIT

PRESIDENT REPLIES TO CRITICISM DEBATE SUGGESTED A reply to remarks on Social Credit made by Mr J. B. Jenkins, chairman of the Canterbury-Westland division of the National *Party, and a challenge to him to debate the question in public were made yesterday by Mr T. A. Ward, president of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Social Credit Political League.

“Mr Jenkins’s curious and rather hysterical attack on Social Credit must surely open the eyes of many people who previously could not see why Social Credit opposed the National, Labour, and Communist Parties impartially,” Mr Ward said. “In urging all New Zealanders to declare Social Credit a common enemy, Mr Jenkins, by implication, links together National, Labour and Communist supporters, and lest this seems incredible to the casual reader, please remember that each of those organisations supports a system of ‘debt finance,’ whereas only Socia l Credit advocates ‘credit finance.’ “Mr Jenkins next tries to discred t Social Credit by linking Social Credit with religious beliefs. Is he attempting to state flatly that Christian principles and political competence are incomparable? If so, would he suggest that the present members of the House of Representatives are non-Christians or else politically inept? If not, what does he mean? “And so Mr Jenkins sounds the clarion call to battle against these Social Crediters, who are all loyal supporters of the Crown and staunchly patriotic New Zealanders,” Mr Ward said. “Perhaps Mr Jenkins would care to fire a shot in the campaign. After all, to be competent to criticise so trenchantly, he must have studied Social Credit very deeply. Would he care to debate this very vexed question in public?”