MOMENTOUS TIME

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 120, 17 November 1931, Page 10

MOMENTOUS TIME

APPEAL TO COMMON-SENSE

STABILITY THE ISSUE

•. (By Telegraph.—Pre* Association.) TE KOPURU, 16th November. In his opening address at Te Kopurn last night the Right Hon. J. G. Coates said:—

"Certain measures have already been taken as part of the general .policy. A great deal has yet to bo done. If the people give tho Governoj^nt ita confidence it will bo enabled to finish this task and take effective steps toward ensuring a return .to prosperity on sound economic lines. Anything 'we undertake to-day might be changed by financial developments to-morrow. The position is changing almost daily, and it is difficult to see even as far as the end of the financial year.

; "The. Coalition Government will make no extravagant promises for. a speedy return to prosperity, because it is impossible in existing circumstances. We appeal to the people to realise the seriousness of their responsibilities in choosing the Government;for the next three years, possibly the most crucial years in the history of .the Dominion. :

''This is no time for recrimination or for the expression of political differences. This, can truly be described as the Dominion's hour of -need. The people rallied to the country's aid during the wartime crisis. The crisis today is not one of a physical dislocation, but one of economic stress. The seriousness of it cannot be ; over-empha-sised. It is not too much to say that the future: of the country is at stake during this election campaign.

. "There is a danger in this election of side issues, clouding the main issue in the eyes of the people. Independents have come from ajl quarters, and some have refused to sink their party feelings. Mr. Forbes and myself,,as joint leaders of the Coalition Government, appeal to the judgment of the electors to return a sound and effective Administration.

''This is not an appeal to sentiment. It is an appeal to that sound commongense of the people to safeguard their own interests and to help themselves tip the difficult road to economic stability/*