Four candidates compete

Press, 10 November 1978, Page 4

Four candidates compete

A joint meeting of the lour candidates standing in tie Rangiora electorate at-| Iracted a very lively audi Ince of about 200 in Oxford! In Thursday evening Constant interject ions. >articularly aimed at the; National and Labour party landidates. brought some might talking, but did ittle to upset any of the andidates. The Social Credit candi-. late (Mr A. Barwood) protided good entertainment icith his presentation, and ;ould well have captured tome votes. If there were voters in the tudience looking for an liternative to the two main iiarties, the Va.ues candidate Mr R. H. Schluter), would ave impressed with his jirect talking on the Values »arty policv The meeting, run by the Dxford Jaycees. was opened by the Labour parts candidate (Mr D S. McKenzie). Mr McKenzie said he was lhe man to vote for, for ac- 1 lion and results. He said unemployment. touid be overcome only byi regional development. To get tnore from exports there had jo be a greater breakdown ln the bulk of primary prod-! rets as close as possible toj the source of supply. Mr McKenzie said he had had an undertaking that r. ithin six days of the l abour Party’s being elected Io Government a meeting would be held at the Kaiapoi' Woollen mill to discuss its future. Energy farming had to be undertaken so earnings from agriculture resources did not get used up in paying for oil imports. The unemployment benefit should he directed people to provide employment such as in forestry, in factories, or farm fencing, laid Mr McKenzie. He said people did not need graphs or lines to show them the increased costs of

groceries, unemployment, and the economic situation.; All knew the true position. Mr Barwood said it had taken a long long time to! convince people of their “doom.” The party had pre-! dieted a recess within 20' years unless there was a war. The country had its! recess and no war. People had had a “gutsful” of inflation and unemployment. A borrowing coun-; try had inflation and then credit squeezes were applied, pushing up material costs. A Social Credit government: would not borrow from the World Bank. ‘‘We will be our own mas-! ters,” he said. Social Credit would get! people back to work and it would not require two in-i comes to support a family, I It would move back to 40 years ago where one income: supported a family and: allowed them .to live! “decently.” The financial structure in New Zealand had to be! changed and interest rates; lowered to enable loans to; ,be repaid with very little! added to the capital cost of! an item Values was looking into] the future — a future to owe to our children.” said Mr Schluter. Values was the only party looking in this direction and it believed that it had to be a sustainable future. Values believed that New; Zealand could achieve con- ' tinual growth on the basis [of an industrial society. Mr Schluter said that New Zealand could achieve this because its greatest asset was I in its land “It’s a finite resource, but we can make better use of i’vha’ we have with * and-: factor tax. This in itself would stimulate farming and bring about increased sroduction.” he said Farmers would receive an; income commensurate with [ other sectors of the com-

.munity and the ridiculous: . range' of subsidies and in- ! centives in the farming in-; 1 dustry would be eliminated. >: New Zealand had a cha-! •jotic transport system. Depen-' .'dence on transport should be J i. reduced, and industry should t :be brought closer to the: ;, people. Coastal shipping, particularly involving barges . and fuel additives, would reduce the country’s dependence on oil imports. New 'Zealand had a renewable resource in methanol. The Labour Party's tax' proposals brought strong re-j buke from the National can-' didate (Mi D. F Quigley).! 'He contended 'that the; Labour Party was being : “politically dishonest” by! claiming to be able to stimulate the economy and ending 'unemployment by tax cuts. ' Mr Quigley said there had ' been substantia! progress; made in the income field. ■There was unemployment, I but with a slow decrease in inflation this would drop, ! i The economy was in better! (shape than it had been but ■was ftnelv balanced The ;[ National Party intended to ’ stimulate more confidence in the economy and restructure !it for the future. > To move New Zealand for-[ ward National had stimulated exports in the primary! and secondary sectors. There; was a new thrust into horti- ■; culture which was promis-, png. Farmers now received 'guaranteed prices for in-i (come and help given to the! manufacturing industry had! helped add greater export; orders for many companies. Mr Quigley said there had: ' i been substantial progress! made in the electorate in the; la t three vears. The Oxford! ’ area school had been made possible because loca’ neople : had helned him ro push for; the facility. The meeting was followed by written questions on; topics ranging from party; performance to unemploy-! meat.