STIFF FIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 43, 19 August 1941, Page 6

STIFF FIGHT

ELECTION PROSPECT

NATIONAL PARTY'S TASK

LEADER'S BELIEF

A straightforward indication that the National Party is expecting a General Election to take place this year, and that it will have a stiff fight ahead of it, was dven by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Holland) when speaking at the National Club's reception to the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates last night.

"This is not the time to talk of an election," said Mr. Holland, "but every good soldier will agree that every good soldier should be well prepared. We have a very difficult set of opponents to face. Many people say that this is not the time for party bickering, for divisions among the people. It is a time for unity. I agree. No one could have done more than I have done, in my humble way, to bring about an amalgamation of political forces. We have done our best to bring about unity, and it is no fault of ours that it has not been brought about.

"I believe there will be an election," continued Mr. Holland. "I do not think that members of the Government are prepared to give up their portfolios. It will be an uneven fight. The Government has taken away the radio from us, it has imposed censorship on the newspapers, and now it has taken the petrol away from us. The Government's organising, however, is done by trade union secretaries, and they continue to have their petrol supplied. It will be a -stiff fight and an unequal one, but 1 believe we will win'through; and we will try and give the country the Government it deserves, and, I believe, the Government it wants."