Speaking To Candidates

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32117, 13 October 1969, Page 16

Speaking To Candidates

A I). ( oat.--

C. E. Cullen

Soc. Cred.

Riccarton

If anyone should be in touch with what young people think today, it is Mr C. E. Cullen, Social Credit candidate for Riccarton. He says he enjoys having student boarders in his house in Studholme Street, and likes their company. Students today were taking a great interest in politics, he said. Even before his party had officially announced its policy, he had been asked to attend a meeting at Ham at which students made suggestions on education policy. Of youth in general, Mr Cullen said: "You have to expect young people to be influenced by modern trends, recognise their exuberance and be tolerant But there must be a limit as to how- far you can go. “Violence is a sign of immaturity in young people and is often due to lack of parental control and not being taught right from wrong.” Mr Cullen believes there is a heavy responsibility on parents to teach their children moral values. Even if a marriage is breaking up, he says, parents should stay together for the. sake of the children. Young people today, he -said, realised that this was the age of the machine, and they did not have. to work in the way their forefathers did. It was a transient stage, and it was understandable that some want to go to Australia and overseas.

More should be done in education, Mr Cullen said. “And we should also pay sufficient in salaries to keep our graduates here. One Ph.D., for example, was offered $6O a week here and $BO a week for five years in the Soviet Union. He is now in Montreal.” London-born, Mr Cullen was imprisoned in. Germany during the First World War. He arrived in New Zealand with 5s 6d fin search of a better life, which he says he found. He is now a semi-retired electrical contractor.

•? Looking more like 50 than his 70, years, • he was at first reluctant to discuss his age. Young people might have more energy, but they lacked experience, important in government, he said. He defined as “young” any age up to 30. “I am secretary of the Good Companions Social Club and like old time dancing,” he said. “I like people, the -music and the exercise which keeps . rheumatism away. “You can say I’m looking for a wife -il’ve had enough of living on my own and would much rather end my days with a wife,’ than in a home ’for’ the ‘aged.” Mr Cullen said he was dedicated to the ideal of doing what he copld for economic reform. This he Mid was the , reason behind his zeal in writing , so ;many letters to the newspapers. “I regard myself as only an instru- ’ ment,” he added. “If I can help rectify the present economic mess, then I 'will be satisfied.”

He went on to say that half the people who voted for him in Riccarton at the last election would have voted for Social Credit, and the other half voted , this way in protest at what the other parties had offered. How about his own image? Mr Cullen replied: “I want to appear as an honest man, dedicated and sincere.”

He said people had a right to vote for what they believed in. Many people were dissatisfied with the present regime and Labour, and they should be allowed to. express this. The knowledge that it is unlikely he Will be elected does not worry Mr Cullen. He said: “You have to approach the election with the possibility you might, even if it is improbable. If you did not, there would be no point in standing.” He said he would never hesitate to publicly disagree with his party’s policy. “I am well known in the party for expressing myself—they call me the firebrand. I have just written to Mr Muldoon and marked it private and confidential—you should see the letter. There is always a reply, very politely expressed.” Asked why he thought people were apathetic towards politics, Mr Cullen said this was because they had received such a poor deal from the Government The cost of living .had risen, as had rates, taxes and the national debt. “Every youngster born in this country begins life with a burden of $lOOO of the national debt,” he said. The reason for apathy was because the people had lost heart, they were “ground down.” “And they have lost hope because they have never been allowed to know what Social Credit can. offer,” he said. Weren’t New Zealanders better off than many peoples throughout the world? I asked Mr Cnllen. He said it was true that the country was wealthier than many others, but it was a question of the people being much worse off now than they would be under Social Credit. "The people are poorly off compared wjth what they could be,” he said. “And pensioners are ‘ground down.’ Some don’t have -enough to live on. This is a disgrace. The first duty of a country is to provide for its aged and infirm, and if it doesn’t then it is not civilised.” How about the acceptability of Social Credit and could people understand it? “Only people not Social Creditors don’t know what it is,” Mr Cullen said. “It is impossible to understand fully and not be one.” Asked about New Zealand’s role internationally, he said we had an obligation to. help l under-developed countries help themselves. . . “I would like to see New Zealand living in harmony with other countries,” he said. But Social Credit theories were never very far from his mind, it seemed: “The teeming millions of Asia and India need not struggle; by becoming a Social Credit country we would show by example how real the benefits would be. We would show the way to a better economic system which would enable them to more effectively help themThe Vietnam war was doing no good, and the reasons for fighting should be gone into to see if it was necessary to continue, he maintained. It had been continued only sb that American armament manufacturers could make

their profits. It could never be said of Mr Cullen that he is wanting in opinions.