IF ELECTION WERE NOT HELD

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 127, 22 February 1941, Page 12

IF ELECTION WERE NOT HELD

Mr. Broadfoot’s Warning Dominion Special Service. NAPIER, February 21. If the election were not held at the right time the people would have lost the freedom of their elections,” said the M.P. for Waitomo, Mr. Broadfoot, in an address to members and supporters of the National Party today. “We expect elections in October,” he said “Whether the life of Parliament is to be extended I do not know, but if it is the Government will do so at its own peril.” Mr. Broadfoot said the Labour Government, and specially Cabinet members, were deliberately clouding the political issue. They persistently maintained that they stood for democracy, while all the time they practised principles of State socialism. Though it was not realized by the people, the basic issue between the National Parry and the Labour Party was still democracy v. State socialism. Tlie Government’s practice was to restrict the individual’s rights, and every major piece of legislation placed on Statute Book by this Government seriously interfered with hard-won private rights. Mr. Broad foot gave instances of the effects of restrictions on sending money out of New Zealand, and said it was scandalous that a New Zealand sob dier was permitted to receive only 1/6 a day. “It just shows,” he said, “the mess into which our finances have drifted, and this is not a legacy the Government inherited but the situation after over five years of so-called scientific management of the monetary system by a Government and. Minister who were going to insulate New Zealand against the impact of events overseas.”