“VALOUR OF IGNORANCE ”

Evening Star, Issue 22366, 16 June 1936, Page 13

“VALOUR OF IGNORANCE ”

NO REGARD FOR GOST OR CONSEQUENCE MR FORBES ARRAIGNS LABOUR [Per United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, June 15. More than 300 Canterbury supporters of the New Zealand National Party, including representatives of all the electorates in Canterbury and on the West Coast, this evening endorsed the action of the recent conference, in Wellington which formed the party and undertook “enthusiastically to work for its success at the next General Election.” The meeting was addressed by the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. (3. W. Forbes, and by Mr S. G. Holland and Mr H. S. S. Kyle, members of Parliament. Mr Forbes said the utmost unanimity prevailed among the members of the conference in Wellington, which set up a permanent National Party. Under the Coalition it had not been possible to obtain the same organisation. He spoke of the economy measures that the Coalition had to introduce, and all the members of tbe Government were aware that this would not make the Government popular. They believed, however, that no right-thinking citizens would have wished the Government to sidestep what was done as a national duty. The electors declared that they did not like the economy, and did not like the people who put the economy into effect. “ Now we have a party in power which is prepared to go to the other extreme,” said Mr' Forbes. “It is prepared to spend—the sky’s the limit. It is not concerned with the question who is to provide the money. Its first consideration is whether there is a demand for the expenditure; the cost comes after.” With its control of the Reserve Bank, the Government had the power of inflation and tile control of currency, Mr Forbes continued. It had undertaken a programme of extensive public works and it had bought all the dairy produce of the Dominion. “ We have come up against a state of affairs which we could never have dreamed of,” said Mr Forbes. “We cannot have the things which cost money without having to pay for them, and the bill for all this will have to be met. Without setting myself up as a prophet, I can safely say that the income tax is going to get a pretty good whack. These men claim that they at least have courage. There is such a thing as the valour of ignorance, and it is easy to conceive their rushing in end doing things that must be disastrous to the country.” Tbe Government, he said, had no regard for cost and no regard for consequences.