Preventing Another World War

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30219, 26 August 1963, Page 12

Preventing Another World War

(New Zealand Press Association) WANGANUI, August 25. The major problem facing the Labour Party was the question of what could be done to prevent another world war, the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nordmeyer) told a rally of the women of the Labour Party in Wanganui on Saturday.

Mr Nordmeyer outlined the tremendous destruction potentials of the atom and hydrogen bombs.

Mr Nordmeyer emphasised the importance of the part which could be played by women in insisting that something should be done “in this business.”

He had been delighted, he said, when a petition, signed by 80,000 persons, had urged Parliament to take action in the proposal that a nuclearfree zone be established in the Pacific and that the suggestion had been most favourably received on both sides of the House.

This was a step in the right direction, he said. The Labour Party would do its utmost to promote the ideal of peace and it would support all reasonable efforts made in the defence of world peace. To all practical purposes, the election policy of the Labour Party was complete and a meeting of the candidates would be held soon, Mr Nordmeyer said. Mr Nordmeyer reaffirmed the party’s policy that credit and currency should remain the prerogative of the State and controlled in the inter-

ests of the people themselves

The Labour Party proposed to use Reserve Bank credit to the fullest possible extent in the interests of maintaining a stable price level. He urged his listeners not to condemn the hire-purchase system as such. Some people preferred to mortgage their future security rather than wait until they had saved enough to pay for the commodities they desired.

However, there was something radically wrong with the system as it was carried out today, which compelled hire-purchasers to pay at a rate of 18 to 20 per cent interest on their hire-purchase costs, and the Labour Party was determined to put the interest rate on a more equable basis.

“No-one can buy anything on hire-purchase until their credit-worthiness is established,” Mr Nordmeyer said. If a purchaser had been proved to have neglected to pay his accounts in the past he had no chance of making hire purchases today.