NEXT ELECTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1941, Page 8

NEXT ELECTION

ON PARTY LINES

REGRET AT PROSPECT

"YES"-MEN DEPLORED

Mention was made by Dr. O. C. Mazengarb in his address to a meeting of National Party supporters at Karori last night that some weeks ago publicity was given to expressions of regret that men who had been brought up and educated in this Dominion did not offer themselves as candidates for Parliament.

. The people who made these complaints, said Dr. Mazengarb, entirely overlooked trje fact that at the last Parliamentary Election the National Party induced many competent men to make the sacrifices which public life demanded and offer themselves as candidates. What was the result? With but a f2\v exceptions they were all rejected at the polls in favour of candidates whose special merit was that they were prepared to become "Yes" men in the ranks of the Socialists.

"Today people are not in the mood to indulge in party politics," he said. "Their minds are centred on the war. From the outbreak of war the activities of the members of the National Party have been specially directed to I the war effort. If they criticise at all, it is because the Government has been using the emergency of the war as a cloak for the unfortunate results to the community of their muddling the business of the State. "There has been a distinct tendency I among the apologists for high taxation,; rising cost of living, and interference with business to make the war the excuse. But we cannot overlook the fact that our reserves were spent, the cost of living liad risen considerably, and restrictions had been placed upon imports some time before war broke out. "It is obvious from reports appearing in the Labour Party newspaper that its branches are actively organising throughout various electorates for a pending election and those who are opposed to the Government must necessarily organise too. SERIOUS PROBLEMS. "But the problems which face us today, both externally and internally, are such as this country has never been called upon to face before. The power to issue paper money and to prevent people from obtaining access to the goods they desire is almost entirely in the hands of the Minister of Finance and Customs. To my mind, it is absurd to think that any one man can better determine what is good •for the people than the people themselves. "Personally, I think that the future administration of this country would be better arranged if, at the next election, the people could go to the polls and vote -on the personal merits and qualifications of every candidate irrespective of his former party leanings. This is apparently what the People's Movement and other similar organisations want. But the Labour Party will have none of this. It adheres to the notion of having 'yes' men pledged to the objective of Socialism. It wants to keep up the old bitterness against the men who were in power at the time of the depression, despite the fact that the depression came about by matters over which the then Government had no control and despite the fact that many of the Coalition men are not now engaged in active politics, or are retiring from public life.

"As only party men are still required on the Government's side, it looks" as if we are once r.xore doomed to have a party election. In those circumstances the National Party organisation must appeal iot the cooperation of all men and women who are opposed to the evils which are incidental to Socialistic contx*ol. Those evils are an inflation of the currency, a scarcity of goods, a restriction on enterprise, and the wasteful extravagance in Governmental administration."