PARTY POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 46, 23 August 1922, Page 5

PARTY POLITICS

1 v. v r A SPEECH DISCUSSED - : ' LIBERALISM AND SOVtETISM. Party politics may now be expect** to be heard on tie 'fioor^otrthe House of Representatives Yesterday there was \a instalment, when •Mr ~H" 1 Holland (Buller) referred to the " Dominion ' report of the Prime Minister1 * speech at , Foxton H« said h.e was. not suggesting that the Prime Minister Was responsible v for the " Dominion's" report, or that he would be so dishonourable as to state ddch a fooliih. he as the paper published , but the report credited the Prime Minister with gaying-that the policy of th* Labour Party was 1 simply one Of eon-« fiscation Mr 'LyMiar " That is correct " ,' Mr Holland said that the report said, further, that the Labour Party admit* ted it, whereas the Prune Minister knew well that that had-been denied on the floor of the House. The Prime Minister objected to tha use of the word he He was not going to allow Mi Holland of anyone else to suggest that he had told a fooluh lie Mr Holland E&id he wm not suggest, ing for one minute that the Prime Minister was dishonourable, enough to tell such s> foolish he He realised that the responsibility was that of the hews ; paper, but the report would be published throughout New Zealand and he / wished to give the Prime Minister the, opportunity of putting himself right The Prime Minister said that his reeollection of what he Said was that the Labour Party's policy was the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution, anil'exchange, and if that was , not confiscation, he- did not know what. i was <" * Labour members: " Oh'" , , The Prime Minister • " The honourable member and his friends may say , ' Oh •' but can they deny that their policy is the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange'" Mr Holland: " That is correct, but that is not ihe point This report says that the policy is one of confiscation, and that the Labour Party admitted it ' The Prime Minister repeated that the Labour Party would nationalise the whote country if it had the opportunity Later in the day the Leader of the Opposition (Mr T M Wilford)'a>o referred to the speech, and made an emphatic repudiation of the suggestion that there was no choice for the count ty but j Reform or Sovietism at th« General Election He^ quoted from a leport of thn Prime Minister's t speech at Foxton to the effect that Mr Wilford had openly , stated in the House that he had negotiated with the Labour Party, and there i were signs of the alliance in the House I only last week The fight would be*" 1 betwoen Reform and Labour, between the Union Jack and the Bed Flag of Socialism "-That, I consider," said Mr Wilford, "is hitting 1b«lov« the belt " The Liberal Party upheld law and order, and detested direct action • The members of the Liberal Party were i* loyal Britishers, and its candidate^ weri loyal Britishers They opposed^ Soviet ism, and believed in Liberalism They believed that the best basis for loyalty was a deep love of country. "We say to the people of New Zealand that we art as loyal as the Prime Minuter "\ Mr HoUand. "That v not .saying much." ' \ ' Mr Wilford said that they knew thai that was to be the Prime Minister* policy They knew that then wodM ( be no policy in the Budget* The Prime Minister, and the whole of, the Reform Party and the Reform Press, were afraid, and, instead of coining idown with' * policy to fight the Liberal Party with,, they were coming down with the cry that everybody who opposed Ihe Prune ' Minister wm disloyal, I an pmud ofmy King and my country. Bwsrj naa behind me is proud of hu King and Via country! We are m loyal U W «aaa on that'side, and perhaps more loral. I never said in this House that I w«a prepared to negotiate wjth Mr. Holland. I said this: that I was prepared *o ants* into negotiations with Labour to prevent vote splitting to gefr proportional representation My policy is aa diatanet froja that of the Labour 'Party aa H v frosn the Prime Minister's. I w^b to gay V» „ the Prime Minister that thata is Bo aam. ' ber on this side wh« will yield *ta Mm in .loyally His loyalty n tbg*rmmg and hp utterance " ' " The Reform Party ia not afratt of. the Liberal Party," said thaß^'ONß] Anderson, in reply to jMr. WBSdhL tfce Leader of ■the Opposition bad paid Ifcs* there was no negotiation *i* the Üb> , our Party Waa it not issyautiiai *> attempt to come iojm anaagenant with a sub party for the purpose ot putting, the Government oat of power? II 4a Leader of the Opjnaiboß ejpaotad the publio to baliava tkal thtas-'wwe no M-, gotiations, than ha thMgfct the>pubh«/ mu*mb -