MR HOLYOAKE AT OAMARU

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28429, 8 November 1957, Page 16

MR HOLYOAKE AT OAMARU

Social Credit Attacked

(New Zealand Press Association) OAMARU. November 7.

“Girlishly terrified,” “Fables and myths,” “Utter nonsense”, were terms applied by the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) in referring to-night to the address by the leader of the Social Credit Political League (Mr W. B. Owen) on Wednesday night. Mr Holyoake was speaking to a full house of 500 electors in Oamaru. The meeting was orderly throughout.

Mr Owen had raised a lot of subjects and had quoted an awful lot of authorities such as Karl Marx and Lenin on the question of money, said Mr Holyoake. He had quoted the Guernsey report—“l can remember reading this shortly after leaving school”— and the Perth-Kalgoolie railway, but the exceptional thing was that right through a two-hour speech he had not mentioned Alberta, regarded as the haven of Social Credit. National Debt Mr Owen had also talked about the national debt, and seemed to be almost girlishly terrified, alleging that “the lot of us had been pawned to the trading banks.” That was very far from the truth, said Mr Holyoake. It was true that the national debt was higher, but the whole of the £757,000,000. except £165,000,000 incurred during the war, was represented by some national asset. Only £105,000,000 was domiciled overseas. Mr Owen had criticised the trading banks, but actually they held only £11,000,000, or less than 2 per cent., of the total national assets, said the Prime Minister. Mr Owen also had alleged that even the Maori wars had not been paid for, said the Prime Minister. “Have you ever heard such twaddle in all your life?” he asked. “That is utter nonsense. Both the Maori wars and World War I have been completely repaid. “Mr Owen also told us about communism. I don’t know if he succeeded in curdling your blood, but he must have succeeded in curdling his own.” Mr Owen had alleged that the ground was being prepared for a Communist takeover. So long as the National Party was the Government there would be no danger of the wreckers or the Communists taking over in New Zealand. War Pensions “You can raise a great deal of emotion and sentiment if you don’t tell a whole story,” said Mr Holyoake. Mr Owen had quoted a war pension payable to a blinded serviceman, claiming the amount was £4 10s a week. Mr Owen was mistaken, said the Prime Minister. The £4 10s was simply the basic pension, he said, when itemising monies totalling £l5 15s which would be paid to a blinded serviceman with one child. In addition, he was allowed to earn £2 a week. Mr Owen had also talked about bidding for votes, saying he was not in that business, said Mr Holyoake. “But just three short breaths later he had promised an additional £53,000.000 a year in public expenditure. This was a bid, surely.” In the last election Mr Owen had promised “benefits” which totalled £300.000,000 a year, but the only firm promises this year totalled some £50,000,000 to £7o.ooo,ooo—and all the other vague promises on top. “Where are all the vague promises of the previous election? Has Mr Owen lost faith? It looks to me he has, or else they may have wakened up to the fact that New Zealand people have a lot of common sense and will not swallow the whole bait in one gulp.”

Mr Owen had also quoted the report of the Monetary Commission in “big hunks” to prove Social Credit was a good system, but he forgot to quote the most pertinent points of the report on the Social Credit system.

Mr Barnes’s Campaign Delayed

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, November 7.

The election campaign plans of Mr J. G. Barnes, M.P., the National Party candidate for St. Kilda, have suffered a set back. He was operated on at the Dunedin Public Hospital today for the removal of a meat bone from his throat, and his wife expects that he will be unable to address political meetings for a while.