The election

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 12

The election

Sir,—The Prime Minister surely has not lost all his marbles yet, for he must know he is talking nonsense, when he says an attenuated Federation of Labour will dominate the incoming Labour Government. As a labour activist for over 60 years and a union secretary for over 20, I know that unions never have and never will dominate any Government, whatever its colour. Unions are only one amongst many important sectional interests who will have the right to be heard. I am expecting dismayed protests from some in the F.O.L. camp as the fourth Labour Government sets about correcting the inequities of 30 years of National Government soft options and expediencies. Wage and salary relativities need a complete overhaul. A system of real collective bargaining embracing unions, employers, farmers, consuming public, and the Government is needed to bring in an overdue and more equitable income and taxation system. — Yours, etc., H. G. KILPATRICK. July 11, 1984.

Sir,—The New Zealand Party phenomenon and the pronouncements of Mr Jones surely provide the most curious happenings in our political history. The reasons given for the party turning on National are hardly more convincing than the Prime Minister’s stated reasons for calling this election. Sir Robert Muldoon’s muted counter-attack, and Bob Jones’s proclaimed expectation of a Labour Government, stretch credulity too far. Apparently both can live with Labour for a time. Through all the posturing, the real target becomes clearly evident in the increasingly hysterical deriding of Social Credit. The established third party has been the Government’s real problem. To financier Jones it is anathema, with its heresies of restoring money to its medium-of-exchange function, and cutting back interest on internal credit finance to little more than administration costs. The New Zealand Party fertiliser for your “exaggerated bloom” (June 30) is readily detectable.— Yours, etc., R. G. THOMSON. July 9, 1984.

Sir,—The National Party’s chances of winning the election would have been greater if the rank and file had completed the political coup of 1980 when they had the master mind on the ropes after his return from one of his