MR HOLLAND TO RETIRE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28354, 13 August 1957, Page 12

MR HOLLAND TO RETIRE

Mr Holyoake Ai Successor

(New Zealand Preu AMoctatton) WELLINGTON, August 12. The Prime Minister (Mr Holland) announced today his decision to retire from politics this year. He was speaking to the twenty-first annual National Party conference. / ■ Mr Holland said he would nominate the Deputy-Prime Minister (Mr K. J. Holyoake) as leader of the Parliamentary National Party at a special caucus of National members of Parliament tomorrow. He hoped the conference would then confirm Mr Holyoake as leader of the party. This, he said, would allow Mr Holyoake to go into the General Election later this year as Prime Minister. Mr Holland said he would retire at the end of the present session, which is expected to be early in October. Mr Holland did not give his health as the sole reason for his retirement, but said he had received two health “warnings”—one at the time of the Suez crisis and the other at the time of the recent back injury from which he is now recovering.

Arriving at the conference in the company of Mr Holyoake, the Prime Minister found that 360 delegates and many observers had packed into the concert chamber of the Town Hall. There was a tense atmosphere as the two men walked up the aisle. Preliminary proceedings lasted nearly an hour, and then the presiden* of the National Party (Mr Alex McKenzie) delivered his presidential address. Mr McKenzie then called on the Prime Minister. Mr Holland, who spoke with considerable emotion at times. Although under strain, he spoke with fluency, and his speech was interrupted by applause, whiph reached a crescendo when he sat down. The Prime Minister was followed by Mr McKenzie and Mr Holyoake. who both paid tributes to him. “I have reached the conclusion that I would be foolish to ignore two warnings given me,” said Mr Holland in his address to the conference. “I had to take this decision myself. I had a warning during the Suez crisis which we kept to ourselves, and now there is the present one.

“It is not |he next months but the next three years which have to be taken into account. The last thing I want to do is to let down the party to which I owe so much.” New Blood

After reviewing his 17 years’ leadership of the party, Mr Holland said he felt that *his own personal position should be looked at in the light of these years of work. It might be a good idea to bring in new blood. Mr Holland said he had always hoped that when the time came for him to consider retiring, the country would be in a state of prosperity; and that Was the case. He wanted any change to come when the party was in good heart.

‘‘The question of my health has, as you know, been under considerable discussion,” said Mr Holland. "There have been a number of newspaper reports, much of them sheer invention, particularly in their accounts of what my doctors have advised me.

"I am grateful to say that I have made steady progress and there is not the least doubt that I shall be thoroughly fit again.

“Not even my sweetie is allowed in the room to hear what the doctors are telling me,” said Mr Holland in a reference to his wife anc’ to the credibility of newspaper reports of his health. It was his duty, he said, to make any announcement to the conference, which was the organisation which had appointed him.

Mr Holland said that although he was making good progress it would be improper to tell 'the conference that everything was all right. It was not, but he was making very good progress. “Most Loyal Colleague”

The Prime Minister said that not only was the party in very good political order but there was also available as a successor to him his deputy, Keith Holyoake, who had been a most loyal colleague and supporter.

"In these circumstances what is the best thing for me to do?” he asked. ‘‘l do not think I should take unnecessary or unwarranted risks. No-one can help me. I myself must make the decision. “The time has arrived when without doing the party injury I can hand over to someone else. I can sa> with great pride that I trained him. He has stood by me through thick and thin, and our relations have always been harmonious. I think I should make way.

“I have often been told to take things more easily. The fact is that New Zealand cannot afford a part-time Minister. The job demands the best that is in a man. "Having made the decision to retire with the party in good order, I should like to see the session out,” continued Mr Holland “I shall call a special caucus tomorrow and I shall ask the remainder of my colleagues to allow me the great privilege of nominating my successor. I hope you will in this conference confirm Mr Holyoake as my successor as leader of the party, so that he can have the distinction of going to the country as its properly-constituted Prime Minister. “I am not in the slightest doubt of the wisdom of the course I have announced,” said Mr Holland. The Prime Minister said he

wanted to express his appreciation of the loyalty and kindnesses he had received up and down the country. He also thanked the party president, Mr McKenzie, for his support and co-operation throughout his leadership of the party. Finally, said Mr Holland, he wanted publicly to thank his wife, without whose help all he had done would have been impossible. Mr Holland also thanked members of Parliament and his Cabinet colleagues. Party Achievements When dealing earlier in his speech with the achievements of the National Party in office, Mr Holland said that some persons wanted to dismiss the Government’s success as a matter of “pot luck.” It had not been good tuck but good management, he said. “If all else I say is forgotten, I hope it will be remembered that in my view the best people to administer the private enterprise system are people who believe in it,” said Mr Holland.

Some persons wanted the National Party to forget its record. However, if these persons had good records they would want to talk about them as much as the National Party should talk about its accomplishments. After 22 years in the National Party he was proud to think that the basic philosophy of the party was as strong as ever. The Government was not resting on its record alone but was offering the country a bold, imaginative, and practical policy. Mr Holland said he hoped he might be forgiven for thinking he had played some small part in the country’s progress. He bad enjoyed those priceless things called loyalty, wholehearted enthusiasm, and devotion to a cause. “Sense of Satisfaction” “In these special circumstances it is a matter of great satisfaction to feel that for eight years I have occupied the higheset elective position in the country,” continued the Prime Minister. “I feel a sense of satisfaction, of something accomplished and something done. “We have established the principles of private enterprise and we beg of you not loosely to set them aside. We should remind ourselves that our principles and successes have been built on wellestablished lines. Don't let us depart one hair’s -breadth from the principles that we have proved. You may be disappointed the way they work out sometimes but the principles survive. Private enterprise needs elbow room.”

Freedom was not to be found in an economic straitjacket, Mr Holland said. The word “economy” was only another word for effort, production, work, and service. Success was a virtue, not a crime: The National Party should practise the simple virtues of tolerance, generosity, honesty, truth, and selflessness. “Let us care for the needy and unfortunate and stick to our principles, whatever the cost,” said Mr Holland. [Farther Reference, Page 14 J