TIME IT WAS STOPPED

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 124, 21 November 1935, Page 28

TIME IT WAS STOPPED

UNHOLY CONSPIRACY

MR. HISLOP'S OPINION

vßy Telegraph—Press Association.) NEW PLYMOUTH, November 20..

• The leader of the Democrat Party, I Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, in a speech here, I said it was perfectly true that he had j criticised the present Government very I severely, but his criticism would always be fair and perfectly justified. It was from,the lips of members who formed the United and Reform parties that the strongest criticism of each other had come. In support of this he quoted from an official statement issued by the Reform Party in 1931, three months before the Coalition was formed. On April 29, 1931, Mr. Forbes had made a public proposal to Mr. Coates that the Reform and Uni*ed parties should disband with a view to forming a new nationalist party. The reply of Mr. Coates then was that Mr. Forbes was engaged in a clever piece of party tactics in a desperate attempt to save his bankrupt and discredited party from the fate which it so richly deserved at the next General Election. However, Mr. Forbes and Mr. Coates got together and the result had been disastrous, which was exactly what i Mr. Coates prophesied in 1931. An official pamphlet of the Reform Party had asked whether Mr. Forbes had any mind of his own and whether he was not the weakest Prime Minister New Zealand had ever had. Mr. Coates and his party had laid charges against the United Party and Mr. Forbes and then joined with them as an accessory after the fact.

Mr. Hislop said that this unholy political conspiracy must be stopped. The Government by party intrigue, manoeuvring, and hypocrisy tried to force itself upon the electors as the only alternative to Labour. It was time the people had a straight, honest, and sincere party before them and that some of the elements of sincerity and honesty were introduced into the politics of this country.

PEOPLE'S SAVINGS

WILL NOT BE TOUCHED

Suggestions that people would lose their savings if Labour was returned, were refuted by Mr. R. McKeen, Labour candidate for Wellington South, last evening. The. Government had proposed a short-range plan for unemployment relief work whic.h they r said would absorb several thousands of men, and at the same time they were dismissing men on public works, he'/said. That had to be expected, as. Mr! Forbes had stated in the House that he would carry out the same policy again as he had ✓arried out in the past, which, of course, meant unemployment and retrenchment in the public services. Mr. H. F. Toogood, the Nationalist candidate, .he said, had endeavored to. leave the impression that if Labour were in power people would lose their savings. Those statements were machine-made and were part of the Fbrbes-Coates-Masters propaganda against the Labour Party, said Mr. McKeen. Labour 'had seven clergymen among its candidates, and hysterical advertisements were proclaiming that, the reformed money system which Labour advocated would steal people's savings. Considering the way the Nationalist Party had plundered and robbed the people of their wages, pensions, jobs, interest, and superannuation, their cry against Labour seemed humorous. As a matter of fact, the. Government had reduced the value of every New Zealand pound by five shillings when the exchange had been artificially raised. Mr. McKeen quoted Queensland to show that under the Conservative regime people's savings were reduced, but urider the Labour Government they were increased. The Labour Party desired to create conditions that would enable people to live decently and have something to saVe.

Mr. McKeen referred to the fact that Mr. Goldsmith had recanted on a decision arrived at during the Democrat Party conference in Wellington, when the party's attitude on a no-confidence vote was discussed. "Is Mr. Goldsmith withdrawing from the Democrats in view of his announcement that he will support Labour on a noconfidence vote?" asked Mr. McKeen. "Mr. Goldsmith has rejected the decision of the National Council of the Democrat Party." .'A vote of thanks and confidence was carried..

CHANGED OPINION

LABOUR AND ELECTORS

In an address at Berhampore last evening, Mr. H. F. Toogood, National candidate for Wellington South, said that the changed opinion in the city electorate apparently had become alarming to the Socialist Labour Party. A few months ago the Socialists, including Mr. McKeen, were so sure the city seats were securely held that they spent much of their time, neglecting city interests, and attempting to win the farmers' vote, and to this end promised the farming section of the community anything and everything they could think of, and of course at the expense of the city dwellers. "The result is the Socialist Labour Party has lost ground in the cities and has gained nothing from the farmer," said Mr. Toogood. "There is no doubt of the definite change of opinion amongst the less noisy and more sober-thinking section of wage earners, and this is causing the greatest possible concern to the Socialists who dominate the political activities of the Labour movement. The fear of drastic monetary changes, including definite statements with regard to printing an excess of money, which is recognised as being a worthless expedient, and which will seriously affect the real value of wages, is now too great to be'overcome by any denials by the Socialist, and any protests which they may make that they would do no harm to the wage earner, and the small investor, are without avail. Mr. Lang made exactly the same statements when he attempted to control private credit in New South Wales. "It is so well known that it was the small investor and the salaried servants of the State who first' suffered in New South Wales, that there is no need to explain what would happen if a Socialist Government attempted to "monkey" with credit in New Zealand. Many thousands of electors in Wellington South who in the past have voted the Socialist have come to realise this, and appreciate the danger of continuance of their support. "City interests both big and small," said Mr. Toogood, "realise the extent of the contempt to which' they have been treated by the Socialist Labour Party, and they can now measure the neglect of the city constituencies, and the demand is for the services of men who will be an assistance and not a hindrance to city people."

The Democrat Party, stated Mr. H. G. Dickie, National Government candidate for Patea, when speaking at Hawera, would have only about two seats in the new Parliament. "They will be able to go to Wellington in a two-seater car, - ' lie said, "but they can't have the dickey seat."