REPLY TO NATIONAL PARTY LEADER

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 187, 4 May 1940, Page 16

REPLY TO NATIONAL PARTY LEADER

President Of People’s

Movement PRINCIPLES TO BE PUT FIRST “It is interesting to compare the views expressed by many newspapers concerning the People’s Movement with that of the Leader of the National Party, said Mr. E. R. Topp, Dominion president of the People’s Movement, in a statement yesterday. “Mr. Hamilton calls us political Rip Van Winkles, but strangely enough the newspapers, and 3000 people in the Wellington Town Hall last Tuesday evening agreed that the principles and general outline of the policy of the People’s Movement must be put into effect if this country is to avoid the last plunge into totalitarianism.

“Mr. Hamilton of course, claims that these principles are the principles of his party, but again the newspapers and the Town Hall meeting seem to have agreed that the drift toward bureaucratic control, with all its accompanying suppressions of the rights and liberties of the people, has been of long standing. The present Government has merely gone faster and further. Indeed, if the present Government had chosen to take a less spectacular course, it could have implemented almost the whole of its policy from the legislative basis already on the Statute Books when it came into office. In other words, control and regimentation, and the drift away from democratic Government, were no new things when the Labour Party assumed office. That is an important point for party advocates to consider. > National Party and War. “If, as Mr. Hamilton claims, the principles of the National Party politicians are identical with the principles of the People’s Movement, one wonders why the National Party and those from whom it descended fail to give legislative effect to those principles when they had the opportunity. Actually, they went in the opposite direction. However, I do not wish to embarrass Mr. Hamilton. I would however remind him of the following remarks in his statement: — I “(l)It is appropriate to mention that we are in the midst of a life and death ' struggle. “(2) People are not in the mood for domestic politics or self-seeking. Now Mr. Hamilton, the National Party, is at present inarticulate as a Parliamentary opposition. This, therefore, must mean that the National Party is satisfied that the Government is following the correct course in its utilization of New Zealand's manpower to the best advantage of our war effort and the Empire’s need. The National Party is also satisfied that the Government is following the correct course in regard to assisting the farmers of New Zealand to increase our food supply to Britain and her Allies. We disagree both with the Government’s policy and the National Party's silent acquiesence. We believe it to be in the best interests of the country and the Empire not only to make our disagreement public, but aljo to suggest com-mon-sense alternatives. It is our intention to do this. Principles Before Party. “We are not concerned so much with putting a'.political party into power, but we are vitally and actively interested in putting our principles into power. There is a vast difference between our organization and one that has as its first thought the success of a political party. I repeat what I said in the Wellington Town Halllf there is no change in the present political parties and their policies—that is, if we believe that our objectives cannot be achieved through them —we shall'not hesitate to place a party in the field to fulfil our purpose. If we were not emphatic on this point our advocacy of our principles would be mere hypocrisy. “I would point out also to Messrs. Hamilton, Forbes and Coates that if our principles are to be put into effect, it will be necessary to overhaul drastically- the undemocratic, oppressive and undesirable legislation now on our Statute Books. And this means going a good deal further back than 1935. If the National Party is prepared to do this, and if it is prepared to support without reservation our objectives, and if we are satisfied with its personnel and qualifications, we shall support it. That is the only sincere and sensible attitude we can adopt.

Task of Policy Building.

“The question of vote-splitting has been raised and answered. May I add that we, as a movement, are both vigorous and determined. We most certainly shall not adopt the weak attitude that our principles should be jettisoned because they may conflict with party interests. Those principles have been stated. We have given some indication of the policy necessary to put them into actual practice, and we are working steadily at that vital task of policy building. In addition, we are going through the length and breadth of New Zealand to mobilize that majority of public opinion which really believes in our objectives—however much it may have been diverted in the past. “In short, we sincerely believe that we must be positive, aggressive and uncompromising as far as the policy which is necessary to save this country from disaster is concerned. Politicians vVill have the choice of adjusting their views to our purpose. We most certainly do not intend to adjust our objectives to their purpose. That is the situation in a nutshell. Political Truces.

“Finally, I want to refer to this question of unity. We have a very poor opinion of those who might attempt to shield their weaknesses behind the circumstance that we are at war. Undoubtedly the war effort is the vital issue today. But let us accept it at that, and work for it accordingly without so much talk. These brave gestures of political truces are ridiculous when everybody knows that party activities are continuing as assiduously as ever beneath the surface. The type of political truce which we shall observe is to refrain from capitalizing selfish advantage from the circumstance that we are at war. There are a good many sections who might follow suit. “Our activities in the advocacy of our principles have nothing to do with the war effort. If either the Prime Minister or Mr. Hamilton thinks otherwise, then let him be consistent and disband his own organization entirely for the duration of the war. 'The people’s movement is not merely negative. Our intention is to put British democracy to work as it should be, and in this we are giving the people who believe in British democracy the first live, aggressive, positive and constructive movement that they have bad for many years."