MR R. M. GYDE Interest rates the villain

Press, 9 November 1978, Page 10

MR R. M. GYDE Interest rates the villain

New Zealand has been sold down the drain, says the Social Credit candidate for Christchurch Central, Mr R. M. Gyde. “If you owned a bank, would you

l borrow money from anI other bank at’ 11 per cent j interest? That’s exactly i what this Government has

I done," he says. All local issues in I Christchurch Central, and j issues of more national i interest, have their cause lin the interest rates ■ allowed by the Govern- ' ment, says Mr Gyde. j Local bodies cannot get I finance for public works because they cannot hope | to pay back the interest i charges on the loans, and ! so the works are not ati tempted. ! There is a school . planned for Woolston, | which should have been i built and operating this I year, but the Eduation | Board cannot find the j money, says Mr Gyde. j Mr Gyde is a credit j union trustee with 16 j years’ experience in the building trade, and 14 | years in horticulture. Aged

49, he is married with two children. Although he has belonged to the Social Credit Political League for almost 20 years, this will be the first time he has stood for election. “I’ve lived in Christchurch all my life — you could class me as a cityslicker, or a city-dweller. I’m used to handling businesses, and dealing with people from all backgrounds.’’

Woolston residents are “not happy” about the failure to build the local primary school, because it means their children have to travel too far to a school that is overcrowded.

The same area suffers from poor designing that has not given residents an accessway to the shopping district. Consequently they have to travel a mile to shops that should be only 200 yards away if there had been proper designing.

Voters are very interested in the economy, says Mr Gyde. Other parties are talking about regional development, but he says what is really lacking is the New Zealand market, the man in the street.

“He’s the man who makes secondary industry go. he is the New Zealand market. The interest rate is so high that there’s nothing left to buy local goods.” Mr Gyde believes that by removing tax on the fist $lOO of income and reducing interest rates on first mortgates to 3 per cent (there will be no second mortgates) a Social Credit government would put money back in the ordinary man’s pocket. New Zealand could do a lot to expand its overseas trade by making bilateral

agreements with Third World countries. A trade delegation from the Solomon Islands approached

the Social Credit Dominion Council about three months ago, because of the interest the party had expressed in bilateral agreements, says Mr Gyde.

“This is how we are going to get Lyttelton and other ports going again.” Christchurch Central may have been a safe Labour seat, but Mr Gyde says he is aiming to win: “I know what to expect

and I know what I'm likely to get.”