TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1935. TO-MORROW'S ELECTION.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 89, 26 November 1935, Page 4

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1935. TO-MORROW'S ELECTION.

To-morrow the electors of MidCanterbury and Riccarton, in common with those in other parts of the Dominion, will be called upon to select their representatives in Parliament for the ensuing term. There are one or two matters, however, which require final discussion. The first is that this election, is one of the most important which has been fought in New Zealand for many years and vital issues are at stake. It is therefore of the utmost importance that every elector should register his or her vote, so that as full an expression of opinion can be secured as possible. Every elector has an obligation in this respect, and this is no time for the apathetic elector, the one who does not bother to go to the poll, but blames the other fellow if the advocate of his particular brand of politics is not returned. During the last month or so the electors have had a full opportunity of studying the platforms of the three main parties.

The National Government has come through a very strenuous period—the most critical in the history of this country. Its task has been an unpleasant one. for it has had to reduce expenditure and impose taxation in order to get anywhere near a balanced budget. A Government, like any business, must balance its expenditure with its revenue, or else untold trouble will ensue. It has now reached the stage when it can once more show a surplus of revenue; its task of steering the country through a troublesome period is nearly over, but there is much re-construction work still to be done. The Government has shoAvn itself to be efficient and competent to handle the big job, and the creditable manner in which it has dealt with the finances of the country and carried the Dominion through a strenuous period justifies the confidence of the electors. The credit of the country is sound; that has been proved by financial operations abroad, and the electors cannot do better than follow the example of confidence set by the investors and financiers and return the Government to office.

The alternative is either Labour or the Democrats. Both have brightly coloured programmes, but. a study of these shows that it is impossible to implement either without a vast expenditure of money, which certainly cannot be afforded at the present time. The Labour Party makes much of its monetary reform, but the tragic experience of Germany is sufficiently recent to deprive all those who are genuinely desirous of the country's real welfare to hesitate before embarking upon such a perilous course. The Government, when pushed on all sides for money, would no doubt have adopted such an expedient if it offered the speedy way out that Labour advocates suggest, but the true way to prosperity is not so obvious as that. As the party stands or falls on its monetary reform plan, it is of little use discussing the balance of its programme. "* The Democrat Party was formed presumably to drive a

wedge between the Government and its supporters, and its greatest objective is to .secure the fall of the present Government, no matter what dire results might follow. An important plank in its platform consists of State aid to industry;, out of loan money, to develop secondary industries, and, like the Labour Party, to tinker around with the exchange rate. This is not the time for an alteration in the rate, just when the business of the country is beginning to expand with the exchange at the present level. Any alteration, reduction or otherwise, will bring in its train a series of undesirable, and to business, disturbing movements, at a time when stability is so desirable. In one respect there is unanimity between Government and Labour, in that they both agree that the Democrats are interlopers in the political life of the country and that the real issue to-morrow lies between the Nationalists and Labour. In farming electorates like Mid-Canterbury and Riccarton, the electors will be well advised to support the Government candidates, not only because that party has a fine record behind it, but because,, it has saved the situation for the farmers and in helping to return the Government to office the wisdom of the choice and gratitude for services rendered lie along parallel lines.