"FEAR COMPLEX"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 6, 7 July 1938, Page 6

"FEAR COMPLEX"

SUGGESTION RIDICULED

Mr. C. L. Hunter (Government, Manawatu), commenting on Opposition criticism of the social security plans, said it appeared as if the members of the« Opposition did not want to give security for the old people. He thought they were trying to create a fear complex in the minds of the people, by telling them that the present Government was'going to take the land from the farmers. There was nothing more ridiculous than a state-t men;t of that kind. The speaker recalled the years from 1931 to 1935, when thousands of equities were taken away from the people because the then Government had thought fit to reduce their purchasing power, making it impossible for them to meet their commitments. The present Government had raised the purchasing power, and had given the farmer a better opportunity of making his farm his own. He felt that the farmers did appreciate what the Government had done for them. He noticed that the National Party had adopted in a half-hearted way the compensated price plan! It had been stated that the marginal difference between the London price and the New Zealand level should be 4d a Ib. Just imagine the amount of overdraft that would be lying in the private trading bariks waiting for the day when the farmers could pay it off. Mr. Poison: Where did you get all that rubbish? Mr. Hunter: I have got it from various National speakers who have been perambulating throughout the country. He went on to say that the Government had given the dairy farmer a definite minimum price that enabled him to budget properly. "People will not stand for the twaddle that the Opposition is trying to put over them," j he added, "and will not throw away the substance they are getting today for the very thin shadow offered by the Opposition."