WELLINGTON NORTH

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 307, 22 September 1943, Page 9

WELLINGTON NORTH

Desperate efforts were still being made by Mr. Semple to disentangle himself from the implications of the statement which he made at the opening of the Dixon Street flats, said Mr. T. C. A. Hislop (National, Wellington North), speaking at Molesworth Street last night, but the public were familiar with his verbal distortions, bis comic-opera utterances and gestures which smacked of the old melodrama. The weight to be attached to his arguments was illustrated by three recent instances. In Christchurch he boldly proclaimed that New Zealand did not owe a “brass razoo” under leaselend. Subsequently the Public Accounts disclosed that this country owed millions. In Wanganui he extravagantly claimed that the National Party had opposed bitterly the creation of the Reserve Bank. Actually the Act bringing the bank into existence was put through by the National Party in the face of intense Labour opposition. Mr. Semple had said that in effect, it would take almost double a normal lifetime to acquire the freehold of a house under the National Party scheme. Elementary arithmetic showed that it would take 25 to 30 years. Arguments and glaring inaccuracies of that kind placed their own valuation on Mr. Semple’s statements. and the public would know what credence to attach to them. The Wellington City Corporation had made available a very large number of sections at the mere cost of services to the Government for its housing scheme and the corporation and enabled people to build or buy their own homes on easy terms. Mr. Hislop also dealt with the high cost of children’s clothes, and with matters -of educational policy. .Mr. C. H. Chapman (Labour), speaking at St. Peter’s schoolroom last night, said the Nationalists stood for private competitive enterprise. If this had any meaning it meant a higher cost of living, including rents of homes and rooms. Many people in Wellington North realized this danger and would vote accordingly. Unrestricted private enterprise brought -many evils in its train. At the Trades Hall on Monday evening, Mr. A. 11. Carman (Independent, Wellington North) stated his case for the return of members, free from party ties, free to represent the people as a whole. The old days of class distinctions were gone, he said, and the sooner we realized our unity as people with similar needs the earlier our difficulties, economic and political, would be overcome. Party politics tended to" perpetuate old feuds and divisions, whereas the main, need of today was co-operation and unity. The opportunity rested with the people to vote for the best men offering, not merely for the party label. To secure good government. good members were required—and the people generally must realize that their responsibility did not rest with a vote once every three or five years. They should maintain a constant interest m and control over the member who represented them. He should be required to report back regularly to his electors, give an account of his actions, and receive instructions. Mr. Carman also dealt witn the monetary question, and said that we must place human needs first, and that the machine, economic usages, political institutions, and monetary’ systems must all be made to serve man, and not remain his master. Mr. Carman protested against the degree to which the present Government had curtailed the traditional liberties of British people, and said (hat he believed in the right of every individual to freedom to express his views al all times. Restrictions, regimentation anti conscription of human beings, including children, were an infringement of the inherent riaht of freedom of choice o each individual. No man could have a higher miido than his own conscience, ano any State, which made it a crime, punishable with imprisonment, to be loyal to conscience, was not a true democracy, but was in that respect fascist. Mr. L. 'V. Dick presided.