“FOOL’S PARADISE”

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 2, 28 September 1937, Page 13

“FOOL’S PARADISE”

New Zealand Under Labour Party MR. W. P. ENDEAN’S ADDRESS Government’s Series Of Broken Promises Dominion Special Service. ' Masterton, September 27. “A fool’s paradise of the Pacific” was the description of New Zealand given by Mr. W. P. Endean, M.P. for Parnell, when addressing a public meeting on behalf of the National Party in the Masterton Opera House to-night. Mr. Endean dealt with the Government legislation and its repercussions, and asked if the people were going to put back into office those who had made a Series of promises and failed to keep them. Was that the moral makeup of the people and the moral perspective of the nation? he asked. If so, the country had gone to the dogs. . The mayor, Mr. T. Jordan, who presided, said the people should take more interest in what was going on around them, and urged that greater notice should be taken of public affairs. He had much pleasure, he said, in welcoming to the town Mr. Endean, who was a good New Zealander, an exsoldier, and an alert member of the Opposition. Mr. Endean said the Opposition was fighting against great odds for New Zealand and liberty. It was going to stick to its' guns, and when its members were returned to the Treasury benches at the next elections they would see that the country was placed in a stable financial condition and that there would be sound economy. Referring to the visit of the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates to Ottawa, Mr. Endean said Mr. Coates came back to New Zealand with one million pounds for the farmers, and yet his visit was described as costly.

“Has it ever occurred to you that five Ministers of this Government have gone abroad this year?” he asked. They were a great quintette of statesmen who did not suffer from an inferiority complex, he said. When Mr. Savage arrived back in New Zealand he said he had learned nothing from his trip abroad. In the Old Country he had said there was no dynamite in his pocket, but rumours were heard all over the Dominion that the Government was going to take over the Bank of New Zealand. “Retreat from Moscow.” Then, continued Mr. Endean, there was the nebulous scheme of barter by the “Napoleon of finance,” who travelled abroad for the best part of 10 months while the people were groaning under the heaviest burden of taxation that the country had ever known. He failed in his mission of finance and made the great retreat from Moscow. Mr. Armstrong went to the textile manufacturers at Home and told them they must come out to New Zealand and be shown how to make textiles. Mr. Semple went to Australia and claimed that the Labour Government had wiped out unemployment, which, however, was not the case, and Mr. Jordan had stated he would see that neither man nor ships left New Zealand in the event of war. In that ease, said Mr. Endean, it would be a poor lookout if they were going to allow this country to be taken over by a foreign Bower. “Is this country proud of all this?” he asked. Voices: Yes.

“Then,” retorted Mr. Eudean, “all I can say is that New Zealand must have lost the backbone of the pioneers who made this country.” The Prime Minister had stated that the ship of State was nearly on the rocks when Labour assumed office, but what would have happened if Labour had been in power between 1031 and 1934, the depression years? There would have been absolute bankruptcy, asserted Mr. Endean. In the depression the previous Government was faced with £15,000,000 in budgetary deficits, but it had come through with flying colours. It could not have done that by inflation. “How did this Government get into power?” asked Mr. Endean. Voices: We know. Mr. Endean said it had got into power by promises to reduce and in some instances abolish taxation and by other means which were shrewd attempts to catch the votes of that great army of supporters of costless credit. Were the people going to put back into office those who had made such promises and failed to keep them? Was that the moral makeup of the people and the moral perspective of the nation? If so, the country had gone to the dogs, he declared. Mr. Endean said t’hat £27,000,000 more was coming into New Zealand than in 1931-32, and that was the reason for the prosperity of New Zealand. The boom condition was entirely due to the prices for primary produce abroad, but the Government was endeavouring to pump oxygen into the patient after his recovery. Mr. Endean emphasised the orgy of expenditure that was going on and urged the people against what would happen when there was another slump. “Trade Union Bossocracy.’’ Democracy did not exist in New Zealand, Mr. Endean continued, but there was “trade union bossocracy.” Socialism, he said, was defined as the abolition of inheritance, and he had heard Mr. .Savage say that if he had his way he would abolish inheritance. Stalin ’had said that Socialism and Communism were the same thing, but legislation could not bring all the people to the same level. Commenting on the Banks Amendment Act, Mr. Endean said the Minister of Finance became the supreme dictator of finance and could make or mar the country by one stroke of his pen. No politician should be in charge of the currency, for he could not withstand the temptation of bowing to the wishes of the people to issue more notes than the country required. After referring to various aspects of the Government’s legislation. Mr. .Endean declared : “This is not democracy, this is Russia. We sing the song ‘Britons never shall lie slaves,’ but we are slaves under the system ruling at present.”

Concerning the Primary Producers’ Marketing Act, Mr. Endean claimed the farmer had been “sold a pup.” He knew he was not getting adequate reward for his produce and labour, and the Government had driven his wife and daughter into the cowshed. “I have seen that in the Waikato,” said Mr. Endean. “You are working 40 hours a week but the farmer is working 70 hours.” The farmer, he said, should have the right and the freedom to market his own produce. When summed up the repercussions

of the present Government were astounding and staggering, said Mr. En<lean. New Zealand was the highesttaxed nation in the British Empire, and there was a flight of capital to Canada, South Africa, and Australia, and because of fear capital was prevented from coining into New Zealand. The Dominion had been called the paradise of the Pacific, but he would eall it the fool's paradise of the Pacific, and the people would all realise that sooner or later. New Zealand was too good a country to throw to the ravenous wolves of Socialism. It was a country worth fighting for and it should be worth living in.

Referring to the housing policy, Mr. Endean said the Government had built a big factory at Penrose and was trying to wipe out the building contractors. But, he said, it would be a better policy to do what was being done in New South Wales, where building societies were encouraged to build houses and received advances from the State.

In conclusion, Mr. Endean referred to the defence system, and said that in the past few years a sort of pacifism was riddling the country. The young people, he contended, would be much better off if they were trained in the bearing of arms, for there would be more discipline and they would be kept in A 1 health. The young people today were inclined to be a little Cl and the drill hall would do them more good than standing round the streets smoking cigarettes. Men and women, he said, ought to be so trained that when the time came some sort of defence would be put up, because the country was worth living In and worth fighting for.

At the conclusion of his address, Mr. Endean was accorded a vote of thanks with acclamation,