LABOUR'S AMBITION

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 63, 17 March 1925, Page 5

LABOUR'S AMBITION

TO OCCUPY TREASURY BENCHES

MR. HOLLAND AND A POSSIBLE

LABOUR VICTORY,

(SI TELB3IUPU.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

INVERCARGILL, 16th March.

Before an audience of 800 electors tonight Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader toi the Labour Party, said that he wished to dispel an erroneous impression which seemed to have been formed by reason of an incomplete P,ress report of an utterance of his at Timaru. The Timaru message' conveyed the idea, that he had declared that the immediate objective of the Labour Party was the possession of the official Opposition benches. This was not so. Labour aimed at getting immediate possession' of the Treasury benches. What he had said at Timaru was that the very least that could happen this year was that the Labour Party would gain the position of official Opposition, but he had also added that while this would give them greater ad-' vantages than they possessed while occupying, the cross' benches, it still would not give them the power' to enact into law the economic and political changes which Labour desired to make. What they aimed at was the power to legislate and administer, and he declared that a Labour Government was quite possible as a result of this year's elections, since all the indications were that the tide of public opinion was flowing their way. During the course of his remarks concerning the housing problem, Mr. Holland made reference to the Hon. A. D. M'Leod's speech at Fairlic, and said it seemed to indicate that the rate of interest on housing and other Government loa_ns would be raised. He expressed the opinion that if this were so it would probably be found that the financial institutions were behind the increase. If the Government rate were increased the rates of the private financial institutions would inevitably rise. He said Government* institutions should function to hold down tho rate of interest, not to increase it. What was wanted to-day was cheaper money.

Concluding, Mr. Holland said he hoped the party would be able to put up candidates in every constituency of* Southland.