ELECTION, CAMPAIGN NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1943, Page 8

ELECTION, CAMPAIGN NOTES

House-building Record. ; "lii the first six years of the Labour ■Government more houses ■; were constructed in New Zealand, by private enterprise, plus the State Advances, Ip'lus State rental houses, than in any 'Other six years of the Dominion's hisvtory. Thirty-eight thousand houses Were built in that time."—The Minister of Finance (Mr. W. Nash) at Waiiwhetu last night. Denial and Declaration. ;;;. "A member of the R.S.A. told me 'to give that the lie direct," said Mr. S. •McDdugall (Democratic.Labour) when calling attention at a meeting in Karori to a- reported statement that !Mr.'McLagan had been recommended to the post of Minister of Man-power by the U.S.A. "He was never recom'jnended by the R.5.A.," the candidate said.: A question had been asked of the candidate-as to whether he favoured appointments to the Legislative Council "of some of those old gentlemen from the L.R.C. and such places. He was strongly opposed to that, and, he said, the party stood for the abolition of the Upper House. As for the Ministerial positions occupied-by Mr. McLagan and others, the candidate declared that they, not being elected representatives of the people, had not the-right to be there. . . Holidays for Mothers. ■•■■ "Why should not mother have a holiday?" asked Mr. C. M. Bowden, National candidate/in the course/ of an •address in the Wellington West electorate. "In every industrial award you will see provision made for paid holidays. Well, I would like to see a system of paid holidays for mothers, he said, and proceeded to indicate his favour for the institution of a system by which" mothers would be given the benefit of trained aids to assist an the home. A Totalitarian Danger. , Some remarks of Archdeacon Houghton were quoted by Mr. w. Appleton (National) in an address at 'the Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church '■Hall last-evening. "History shows that -there is a tendency after wars for the ■victors to worship the gods of the .vanquished," were the words used by this divine. He was dealing, said Mr. Appleton, not only in respect to education, but in respect to forms of government . and the everyday -lives of ■.-the people. In order to ; meet and counter the cold efficiency of totalitarian States and their ruthless leaders, it had been necessary for the democracies to adopt autocratic 'measures not in keeping with their own beliefs and aims. Our people, rsaid Mr. Appleton, had accepted these in the emergencies of war, but the danger that had to be guarded against was that the lessons which had. been forced upon us under the strain oi ; war were not followed in: the days of peace. The National Party was fighting dictatorship in its various phases, and we should not forget the virtues of democracy on which our freedom had been built and on which it must rest in the future. Take the Risk. "If I vote for you, will Mrs. Dreaver give me the sack?" asked a questioner, describing himself as a civil servant, at Mr. C. G. Scrimgeour's meeting at Hataitai last evening. , A voice: If she finds out she wilL-. Mr Scrimgeour said Mr. Fraser had found it necesary to call Mrs. Dreaver s remark about the civil servants an unfortunate I utterance." . Therer had been leases pf intimidation of civil servants' in; the past, but on this occasion he;■advised; jb.i.%/questioner' to take the ■'■.rislc^/.':V^!-;?;'■■'■• ■ ■ ■ % ; jCre^ij; ior^o'fiaiuct of War. '. :'-:4'he'vQoyernnient. could take credit ior^''New:;.Zealand's splendid war efiofi'r because^ although the effort was :marie; by thef -people, it was controlled and directed'by.'the; Government, said Mr ■ >H: ?E; ';Gprribs;; Labour candidate for-.'-WelilhgtonSuburbs, at .Waiwetu last night. :Heinstanqed the equipment ■pf^the \trpops: In the last war there had been-prosecutions against iriianufacturers;'for delivering shoddy goods for the troops, but there weye no such prbsecutibris in this Swar. If .the troops had .been/ill equipped the storm would ;haye burst on -the head, of the Government,- and-oh., no-one else's. "That didn't 'happenr#n,d the, Government was, entitled T-to ra ■ full" measure :of credit for -it," said Mr. Combs. "If you, look at' the war effort in other directions you will' see that .the Government's supervision; control,iand direction have ■/.been-^obd.'^'x:.:;1,; 1-;-- ' ■ /'.-. ■\-ipnVate;'Eiit?ipprise.v;■•,.■■'' '. •..' ' '■■• "Dohit.you believe in private enterprise?? I'asked an ; inter jector of the Minister of,: Finance ; (Mr. Nash) at Wiawhetu last night. "I believe in private enterprise when it does, the job better - than Government enterprise," replied-Mr. Nash.' "I think there are a lot of things that private enterprise does better than the State." He would let it 'continue to do those things at a reasonable profit and a reasonable cost, but1 when private enterprise did not do things well the State had to come in. "Mr. Nash instanced the Internal Marketing Division as an example of the State doing a job better than private enterprise .had done it. - " ■ ■ ■■■" '■ ' ■■■-■■"■ ■■■• The Tide of Prosperity. It had been said "-■ that the" Labour Government was very lucky to have taken control of the Treasury benches in 1935 when the tide of prosperity had started to sweep. towards New Zealand, said Mr. H. E. Combs, Labour . candidate for Wellington Suburbs, at Waiwhetu last night. Perhaps that 1 -was so, but the Labour Government, he said, had used the tide of prosperity to'such good effect that when the war began in 1939 there was no unemployment in New Zealand, whereas Britain, the United States, and Australia, which received the benefit of the same tide of prosperity, had atMhe outbreak of war unemployed numbering 2,500,000, 7,500,000 and 200,000 respectively.: The reason for the difference was the administration of the internal economy of New Zealand by the Labour Gov- , e-rnment. Mr. Hamilton's Opponent. After paying tribute at his meeting in the Oddfellows' Hall last night, to the work of the late Right Hon. J. G. Coates and the Hon. A. Hamilton in the War Cabinet, the Prime. Minister (Mr. Fraser) referred to the fact that a Labour candidate is standing against Mr. Hamilton for the Wallace seat in, the. present election. Although a -Labour candidate was contesting the "seat, said Mr. Fraser, there was complete understanding that the contest was on domestic matters and not in 1 regard to the war effort. It was just as Mr. Hamilton wanted it to be. Work After the War. "The Labour Government intends to! institute progressive public works when the war is over," declared Mr. 1 H. E. Combs, Labour candidate for Wellington Suburbs,. at Waiwetu last night, speaking of rehabilitation.- He believed that *s the early returned men got back' to work they would create work for. others. Giving examples.of work that could be done, Mr Combs said that the work that was required to be done by the Railway Department would necessitate an .expenditure pf £10,000,000, mainly on wages. The Post and Telegraph Department would require £3,000,000 for 'telephone exchanges alone. . An ex■pendlture. of. £10,000,000 would be re- ■■ quired for hydro-electric works. Housing was," in-.his opinion, the most urgent public work. The Dominion 'needed 50,000 to 60,000 new houses. Re- ' afforestation and river control were other public wotks mentioned by Mr. Combs. Interference with Mail. Further reference to interference with his correspondence was made by the leader of the National Party (Mr. S. G. Holland) when speaking in the ■ Opera House last night. He said that he could now reveal what was in the letter which he had sent to his private secretary in Wellington some months ago and which had been opened. It was a draft of the policy of the National Party. Then only on Tuesday last the Chief Postmaster in one of the centres had delivered to his secretary a letter addressed to him (Mr. Holland) from Palmerston North. That letter had been opened, too. A Poor Prophet. "A well-known Cabinet Minister in November, 1939, gave me the assurance that the war would be over by Christmas, 1939, and he meant it." said Mr. H. E. Herring, Democratic :' -Labour, when speaking in St. Peter's 'Schoolroom last night. Was it any ■ -wonder" that our. commitments were '■ so ridiculously large when responsible yuppie?-showed so little appreciation ;:of?:iacts?r;.:•. / ■■■-■;■■■■-■