Mr Mathison’s View Of Labour Defeat

Press, Volume C, Issue 29469, 22 March 1961, Page 10

Mr Mathison’s View Of Labour Defeat

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON. March 21. The resentment of certain I sections of the working-class ! people of New Zealand to- ' wards Labour's 1958 austerr ity Budget was the first of 1 three major reasons why his ! Government lost the 1960 - General Election, said the former Minister of Transt port (Mr Mathison) at the s annual meeting today of the i New Zealand Drivers' Fed- - eration. t The conference was opened . by the former Minister, who s was heard by the president (Mr F. P. Walsh) and execu- » tive members o-f the Federation of Labour, and a I number of trade union leaders who attended the official opening. j The second reason for , Labour's defeat. Mr Mathison t said, was the apathetic attif tude of working-class people towards the election—l36,ooo I did not vote—and the third j reason was “the very attrac--1 tive and appealing promises contained in the platform of the National Party.” Taxation i The most appealing proi mise in this platform had yet . to be honoured, said Mr r Mathison. This was the promise to reduce taxation, . which was now postponed. I according to the Minister oi . Finance (Mr Lake) re- > cently, for “three, six, nine, or even 12 years." Those tax reductions, when they came, would undoubtedly apply to those earning more than £2O a week, and estate and death taxation. Estates over £30.000 had been "very very hard hit by the Labour Budget of 1958,” said Mr Mathison. Six months before the : election the Government s was sure it faced defeat at t the polls because of resent- : ment for 1958. said Mr Mathii son. Then, immediately be- > fore the election, the Government believed that the , workers had adopted a more . philosophical attitude tos wards the 1958 Budget. It , had found its mistake in No- . vember. i However, largely as a re- , suit of the 1958 Budget, New . Zealand, apart from the win- ; ter of 1958, had suffered no unemployment, while other . countries all around the world had been stricken

with large and increasing unemployment problems. Mr Mathison said he was sure that, on reflection now, working-class people who had not voted for Labour would have cause to regret that failure. Already the National Government had taken steps towards implementing its threatened actions against the workingclass. “Their regret will become more apparent as time goes on.” he said. Mr Lake's statement that taxation might not be reduced for anything up to 12 years “must be a terrific disappointment to the many people who expected the Government to honour its promise,” he said. Subsidies Heavy pressure was being placed on the Government by economists and by its supporters to lift subsidies, said Mr Mathison. These influences wanted the whole of the subsidy system removed. Another serious aspect of the Government’s policy which would affect workers and the trade union movement was the increase in immigration to 5000 a year. “I don’t think New Zealand can absorb 5000 immigrants a year,” he said. In the winter of 1958 unemployment had been avoided only by increased Government subsidies to pay the wages of local body workers. More workers had thus been taken on, and work done which otherwise would not have been considered for years. Extra men had been carried and employed by this means in the Auckland. Rotorua, and Gisborne areas through 1958. 1959, and 1960, said Mr Mathison. Otherwise there would have been unemployment. The removal from the Statute Book, after 25 years, of compulsory unionism could seriously affect New Zealand trade unions, workers, and the country as a whole, said Mr Mathison. The abolition of compulsory unionism, might well change "this happy state of industrial co-operation and amity.” Love, and a cough cannot be hid.—George Herbert