'St Albans a two-party race’

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 19

'St Albans a two-party race’

It would be a battle between Social Credit and Labour to win St Albans, the Social Credit candidate for St Albans, Mr Quinton Manson, has said. Mr Manson quoted a survey conducted in the electorate by the Labour Party which showed that Social Credit was a “solid second” behind Labour in voter support. National was running third, he said, and he disagreed with a news media report which maintained that Labour’s lead in St Albans was insurmountable. "I am sure I can greatly increase my share of the vote," Mr Manson told an election audience of four. He attacked the Tax Re-

duction Integrity Movement (T.R.1.M.), saying that its pledges implied opposition to the penal system and conscription. The first pledge in a list of five that T.R.I.M. wanted all political candidates to sign said that any legislation for compulsory ' association should not’be voted for. That meant he could never vote for any legislation to do with the penal system or for conscription in time of war, Mr Manson said. The pledges supporting turnover tax. forbidding voting for legislation that reduced competition, and forbidding the government to increase taxation or spending conflicted with Social Credit policy.

In the light of the underhand tnethods T.R.I.M. had used to get the names of Values Party candidates, it should take’a look at the meaning of integrity, Mr Manson said. Recent polls which showed that Social Credit had lost support could not be believed, he said. The polls used samples of 1000, which worked out at only about 11 people in each of the 92 electorates. “You could not call that a representative." Mr Manson said. None of the sample voters were taken from towns with populations of less than 2500, he said, and Social Credit had a lot of its supportersi>in smaller towns.

The amount of television coverage given the parties at the time polls were taken had more to do with the result than which way people were thinking of voting. That was proved when Mr Muldoon’s popularity seemed to increase while he was at the Commonwealth heads of government conference, and when Social Credit's rose during their last conference, said Mr Manson. The General Election would be the roost important in New Zealand’s history, he said. Its result would affect everybody. “It is imperative that the unbridled power of the National Government must not be continued," he said.