"A REAL PLAN"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 66, 15 September 1943, Page 6

"A REAL PLAN"

INDEPENDENT GROUP

CLAIMS TO SUPPORT

. The claim that the Independent Group represented a really new principle in political life was made by Mr. Clive Drummond, Independent Group candidate for Wellington West, in a broadcast from Wellington last night on behalf of the group. He presented the group's programme in detail, emphasising that it was based primarily on government by co-operation, and dealt at. length with the movement's national reconstruction plan involving the provision of £100,000,000 in the first year after the war. The speaker also made a vigorous attack on the party system. Giving the four- main reasons for the formation of the group, Mr. Drummond said they believed that the people had no real political representation, and that no matter how sound their ideas or how strongly they felt about them, they had no opportunity of enforcing their will, because the parties were ruled by organisations which were concerned only with their own selfish interests. Secondly, those comprising the group were convinced that while that state of affairs existed, the parties spent more time and effort on fighting and manoeuvring for party advantage than they did in attempting to serve the country and the people. Broadcasts of Parliamentary debates had clearly demonstrated that fact.- A third reason was that the' idea of breaking away from the dictatorial rule of party organisations had become widespread among the people, who desired to get on with the job on a com-mon-sense basis. Independent candidates who had determined to act accordingly had met and had found that there were common-sense answers to the.problems of the Dominion.

"ONLY BASIC PLANK.'!

"Our candidates' are pledged to no organisation and, in fact, can pledge themselves only to the electors." said the speaker. "Because they are free of the shackles of party discipline and party creeds and prejudices, they have found that there is an infinitely higher common bond between them. They have found the most important and, indeed, the only basic plank of a political platform, honest common sense backed by. a desire to get on with the job." The Independent Group candidates met on the common ground of honesty, sincerity, and realistic thinking. On that basis they had agreed on the measures which they believed should be taken to serve the country and the electors. "We could form a Government tomorrow, .if elected in sufficient numbers, to put these measures into effect," declared Mr. Drummond. "And let me say it would be a more sound and stable Government than this country has ever known, because we are together, not by force of party pledges or the dictation of a party machine, but by reason of the soundness of our ideas." The group believed that the principle it put forward, a Parliament independent of the control of outside organisations, was in itself a vital election issue for the "people. If they believed that1 members of Parliament should be free to vote on all measures irrespective of party, they could not possibly support the- political parties. .The party system was to blame for most of the country's troubles, because it meant government with an eye to the demands of a money-hungry or power-hungry few who wielded all the influence. It meant extravagant promises and that the people were constantly being tricked and deceived. The Independent Group did not hold out glittering promises, but it did say that its objective was to open up the way for higher standards of living, which meant.more effort, better planning and organisation, and the wholehearted co-operation of the people.

A TOTAL WAR EFFORT.j

Mr. Drummond emphasised that the group stood for a total war effort, in the true sense of the term, and he contended that after four years of war the country's man-power policy was still a chaotic mess. Half the time the Government was occupied with 'rectifying its own mistakes, while the National Party had scarcely attempted to do anything constructive. He outlined the group's proposals for the establishment of a War Ministry to co-ordinate all war planning and for the chiefs of the .fighting services arid the directors of war production .to produce, without fear from political victimisation or restraint, comprehensive plans for the employment of our forces and resources, in keeping with a total war effort. With the people's co-operation assured, greater efficiency and a vastly better understanding would be achieved between all sections of the community. "We want results. We want them quickly, and we will not tolerate official obstructions," the speaker declared, in - a reference to present "encumbering regulations and red tape."

Speaking of the organisation of civil life in time of war, Mr. Drummond dwelt on the necessity for the same principle of national planning, with those who had the responsibilities or who did the work sharing in the framing of that plan. That was more than just a plan for a maximum war effort. It was the type of co-operation and mutual help that the Independent Group wanted to see in all the country's activities.

NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.

The Independent Group had studied most carefully the whole question of national reconstruction after the war and had drawn up what it called a national reconstruction plan as a basis for the requirements of all sections of the community. So that real action could be undertaken immediately the war, ended, perhaps sooner, the group believed that £100,000,000 must be provided in the first year, the money being raised by maintaining the rates of war taxation for twelve months after the war, tapering off after that as the benefits of national reconstruction began.to be felt. If it were necessary to bridge a gap,- the group would not hesitate to use interest-free and debt-free State money. There was no inflation if productive assets were created by the use of credit. There was no debt, and there should be no State interest. What was proposed was thoroughly sound and, indeed, the only way to achieve.post-war recovery.The effect finally would be to reduce taxation and provide the highest possible standards of living, accompanied by a truly social security scheme. Speaking of the Labour Party in office, Mr. Drummond described it as intolerant, dictatorial, and blindly obstinate, with its head swollen in power. The Democratic Labour Party's sole I excuse for existence was the grudge !upon which it had been founded and nursed, while the National Party had Ino idea of how it was going to carry I out its promises. • "They are simply trying to capitalise on your difficulties." the speaker asserted. "It is a cruel and heartless deception."

NATIONAL PARTY PLEDGE

The National Party had been loudly proclaiming that its candidates were free to speak and vote according to the dictates of their consciences. "What consciences!" said Mr. Drummond. "Listen to this. It is an extract from a written pledge signed by Nationalist candidates, a written pledge, of which I have an actual copy: 'I hereby declare that I will abide by the rules and constitution of the National Party and that I will be loyal to its organisation.' To what does that pledge the candidate? Listen to this extract from the constitution of the National Party: 'The Dominion Council of the National Party shall d-> such things and issue such directions as it may think necessary or expedient for the well-being of the party, and its decisions on all questions shall be binding.'" Thus the National Party was tied to outside interests. There was no mistake about the written pledge, said the speaker, because the National Party had wanted him to stand in its inerests and had offered him the piece of paper from which he had just quoted. He had turned the offer down because he believed in genuine political independence and would not be a party to a trick of that sort. Any attempt to portray the National Party as a group of Independents was wicked and cruel deception.

Mr. Drummond claimed that the solemn duty of electors was to free Parliament of party domination., "We place before the electors the greatest issue which has ever been put to the country," he said. "We ask you to