MR M. WARD Once upon a time, Nelson had ...

Press, 10 November 1981, Page 20

MR M. WARD Once upon a time, Nelson had ...

“Remember when ...” is the title of a small brochure which the Values candidate for Nelson, Mr Michael Ward, is using to exemplify the changes in lifestyle in Nelson over the years, changes which he considers have left Nelson the poorer.

Inside the brochure he lists the changes, and there will be a lot of the Nelson electorate who will agree entirely with his criticisms.

There was once a time (he says) when Nelson had several bakeries (now "think big” and a monopoly); fishermen owned their own boats (now joint ventures which overfish); the harbour was a place in which to swim (now polluted); everybody had a job (now unemployment); a family could live on one income (now unfair taxes, excessive interest rates, and the hard sell); and when an overnight ferry to Wellington sailed from Nelson (now coastal shipping at a low ebb and the railways run down).

These “remember whens” are that base upon which Mr Ward is building his election campaign. He, himself, is a very small businessman, known in Nelson as the skilled craftsman who sells his worked silver trinkets from a barrow he pushes

around Nelson streets. He is 39, and is married, with three children, aged 14, eight, and 18 months, and is a qualified teacher with a diploma in fine arts from the University of Canterbury.

He sees as critical national issues the immediate cessation of the “think big” projects and the repeal of the National Development Act; the development of a longterm sustainable energy policy which emphasises solar, wind, and tidal resources; and the promotion of job-sharing and part-time work and payment for those caring for dependent persons.

As a proponent of women’s rights he seeks the reform of the abortion laws to give a woman the right of choice, the provision of freely available counselling and contraceptive advice, and the end to discrimination against women.

Mr Ward advocates both the scrapping of A.N.Z.U.S. and a ban on all visiting weapons of war, conventional and nuclear. “In a world which has done little to overcome the causes of poverty besetting it, New Zealand should give a lead in ending the squandering of vast material and human resources on preparations for war,” he says. On the local scene, as well as the "remember whens” he takes issue with the building of a pulp and timber mill by C.S.R.-Baigents, an industry which would tie up timber and yet provide only an additional 100 jobs at $1.5 million each.