MR S.A. WHITEHEAD Rail link supported

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33985, 28 October 1975, Page 19

MR S.A. WHITEHEAD Rail link supported

YOUR CANDIDATES

The future is likely to prove the 1957 Labour Government right in attempting to link Nelson with the main trunk railway system, says Stanley Austin Whitehead, who is seeking from the- electors of Nelson their vote to put him back into Parliament for a seventh term.

Looking to the day when She vast pine forests of the Nelson district would be combined with those of Marlborough and the beech forests of the West Coast, to give New Zealand the raw material for a pulp mill somewhere in the district, Mr Whitehead says that a rail system will be necessary for the venture.

While still showing some effects of his heart attack five weeks ago, Mr White-, head. Speaker of the House and member of Parliament for Nelson since 1957, is

adamant that he will accept the Speaker’s chair again after the election, if his party is still in power and the chance is given to him.

It will be his last election. At 68, he will have passed the party’s compulsory retirement age by the 1978 election. Mr Whitehead has a special interest in forestry. Before entering Parliament, in the 19305, he ran sawmilk around Inangahua. He sees in the vast afforestation in the NelsonMarlborough area, great opportunities for employment and development.

At the moment, however, he feels the most pressing need is for more housing within Nelson itself. The Government will be releasing sections for sale as soon as developments were completed, he says. There are. too, big opportunities looming for design-and-build State housing.

The advancement of technical education in Nelson through the Nelson Polytechnic, delights him

for he has been associated with Nelson College and now the Polytechnic for 25 years as a governor. One of the problem areas of society, that of young school leavers, is being overcome by the Polytech-

nic. The establishment in the future .of community colleges will extend facilities for education to older people, he says. Mr Whitehead sees this election as being of “crucial importance” to the Labour Party. “Having been a member of the party for more than 40 years, I want to play an active part in this election when success for the Labour Ptarty will allow the continuation of the policy which has been so successful in keeping the economy of the country buoyant rn spite of worldwide depression. “Th,e Labour Government deserves to be returned because it has been more concerned with the security of opportunity of employment rather than building of overseas reserves. There is no doubt in my mind that the policy of borrowing to keep the economy moving has been of great importance to the country as a whole,” says Mr Whitehead.