ELECTION ISSUE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 117, 13 November 1931, Page 8

ELECTION ISSUE

\ SAFETY V. SOCIALISM

COALITION MANIFESTO

JOINT LEADERS' APPEAL

& FREE HAND ASKED FOR

In a manifesto issued last night on behalf of the Coalition Government, the joint leaders, the Right Hon. G. ,W. Forbes and the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, seek a mandate from the people at the forthcoming General Election to enable them to meet the economic situation boldly and without delay. A free hand is asked to permit new conditions to be met as they arise. The issue, the leaders state, is between a strong, safe, careful reconstruction policy and the "delusive promises o£ Socialism.'

The manifesto is as follows: —

**This General Election takes place at a time of grave national crisis in New Zealand, associated with economic stress and peril affecting the whole •world. In the last two years our national income—the income of the people o£ New Zealand as a whole —has fallen by £30,000,000. The prices realised for our exports alone has decreased from £56,000,000 two years ago to £36,000,000 this year. "Talk will not alter hard facts; and the fact is that, as a people, we are now faced with the necessity of living on ft reduced income. If we are to avoid national bankruptcy, the destruction of the people's savings, a collapse o£ business, and oven more extensive unemployment, then we must meet the situation boldly and without delay. It is to do this that the Coalition Government was formed; and it is *o achieve this task that we' now ask a mandate from the people. "The electors of the Motherland have recently shown, by an overwhelming vote, their determination to face the crisis with characteristic courage and resolution. The people of New Zealand are now called upon to prove themselves equally determined te return a strong Government armed with authority to take all such measures as maybe necessary. The situation is changing 80 rapidly that responsible men cannot commit themselves in advance to the details of a policy which may need to be modified continually to meet everchanging conditions. The Government must be free to meet new conditions as they arise. . , ' "The issue at this election is between the strong, safe, careful policy of reconstruction adopted by the Coalition Government, leading the Dominion back to prosperity, and, on the other hand, the delusive promises of Socialism, which can lead only to disaster. We are confident that the people of New Zealand will respond to the call now made upon them, and that they will not, in this hour of crisis, be deluded by wild theories or reckless policies which can only result in irreparable damage to our credit, and. to the whole economic structure of society. The effect of such doctrines must inevitably be to delay the revival of busijiess and industry, to postpone our economic recovery, and thus to render it even more difficult to provide work for the unemployed. ... '' This is not a time for recrimination or for the expression of party or personal differences. It is a time for us to stand shoulder to shoulder. The Reform and United Parties have combined for the achievement of our common purpose, that of enabling our country to overcome its difficulties and return to prosperity. As leaders of the allied parties, we appeal to' the electors to give the Coalition Government's candidates wholehearted support in the forthcoming election, and thus to assist us in the task to which we have set ourselves." "