POLITICAL MAILBAG

Evening Star, Issue 25950, 15 November 1946, Page 3

POLITICAL MAILBAG

LABOUR RAN AWAY. Thus “ Verdict on November 27 ” : The four Dunedin Labour candidates are once again resurrecting the bogy of the depression years, and according to their statements, the depression would never have occurred had the Labour Party been occupying the Government benches during that period. 1 submit to readers that if'the Labour Party really had any ideas about dealing with the slump, the fact remains that, when the testing dime came, Labour ran away, preferring to capitalise the distress of the people. Labour was invited to join in a coalition Government, so that a united effort could he made to weather the storm.. But Labour, with the prospect of reaping political rewards from taking up the attitude of critic rather than that of participant, crawled away from under. Mr Coates, referring to this incident, said in the House on August 3, 1938 (Hansard, Vol. 251, _ page 938): “ When the economic blizzard hit the Dominion, and hit it hard, a committee was called together, representing the United Party, the Reform Party, and the Labour Party. And the result of its inquiries clearly indicated that conditions at that time were absolutely unprecedented, and that what was immediately called for Was an association of members of all parties to see the country through the great difficulties which confronted it. One. party failed to stand up to its obligations and ran away. Surely at such a time every party should have had, not party politics, but the interest of the country as a whole as its only consideration. The Labour Party failed to associate itself with the other parties. 1 leave the public to judge whether or not the Labour Party played the game.” LABOUR AND COMMUNISM. “National” writes: According to a Press Association message from Napier, the Prime Minister is reported as having stated that Labour and Communism are as far apart as the poles—as far apart as Capitalism ' and Communism. In the ‘ Manawatu Times’ of October 12, 1921, he was reported as follows:—“After speaking sympathetically of the Russian Communist State, lie declared that 1 tile Labour movement in New Zealand is part and parcel of the same movement Throughout the world.” This is surely a typical example of political somersaulting. FREEDOM OF THE AIR. “Voting Labour” is heard: .Your correspondent, “ Democracy Begins at Home,” surprised me by his assertion that minority parties, including the Communist Party, had been denied the right to voice their election policies per medium of the radio. Surely this is contrary to all conceptions of democracy. and especially to our mue'.ivaunted “western democracy,” and to the often-expressed concern of Government spokesmen and other champions of freedom on behalf of minorities. Let the Government give some practical proof of this concern by granting to all parties participatiifg in the i lections the same facilities as are being granted to the Labour and National Parties. Are the present parliamentary parties to- retain a monop ily of this means of presenting their policies to the people of the Dominion? Why should not other parties have sunilm rights?. At the last election limited radio time was given to minority candidates, so wliy the withdrawal of the privilege at the present time? .Surely it is not designed to stifle minority opinion or discriminate against the Communist Party, as it appears to be the only party outside the Labour and National Parties; which is standing candidates. Having heard so much lately about the absence of free elections in certain countries; let us see that we in this country really do have : a, free election. | DEFERRED AGE BENEFITS. f “Marigold” writes:—The Labour iParty attempts to ridicule Mr Holland’s ‘offer of 2s 6d to 12s 6d weekly increases on age benefits to. men who elect ;to work on (and help production) over I the qualifying age. The Hon. Mr ! Jones, who has no such reward to offer, makes the misleading statement that; such men would be “losing” £2 per week. Would lie himself weep sto lose ” £2 per week social security if he could continue to .earn £8 or £lO per week? • LET THERE BE LIGHTS “ J.T.” professes himself in a quandary, like others, as to the Labour ; Party’s genuine attitude towards complete Socialism. From the party’s inception till its coming into’ power, Marxian Socialism was its key note. The philosophy was advocated from street corners, parks, soap boxes, and halls from one end of the country to the other by the heads and lesser lights alike, and if one did not subscribe to that doctrine one could scarcely be a member of the party. Even now during the party’s regime a person wishing to become a member has to sign a card to the effect that he will work to bring about tho socialisation of production, distribution, and exchange. Notwithstanding these facts, we have had of late the anomalous position of numerous emphatic denials by Ministers and others that complete Socialism will ever be in their scheme. We learn from one Minister that only coal mines and airways and such concerns will be socialised, and from another that Socialism is only a propaganda “ bogy ” put up by the Opposition. In substance ive have the Socialists —the Labour Party—repudiating Socialism. Some of the reports of their speeches seem to suggest that they want to apologise for having been connected with Socialism. We are also told by a Minister that the Labour Party—the Socialists —and the Communists are poles apart and have nothing in common. ' I have always understood, but I am open to he corrected, that they both aim at somewhat similar ends, but the means of attaining those ends are not necessarily the same. LITTLE REAL INTEREST. “ E.C.S.” opines that tile quietness of these elections is easily explained by the fact that the extremely heavy impact of war conditions on this country lias pushed the slump vftirs far into the background for most electors, and this trend has been increased h.v the disappearance from the political scene of the last of the prominent figures of the slump-time Government and the liberal character of the pre-sent-day National Party’s platform, '•'his election, as a consequence, is revolving itself for most electors mainly into a vote of confidence or no-con-fidence in the Labour Party for the conditions existing during the war years und since. As these are within the personal experience of all electors, they have had no difficulty in deciding how tliev are going to vote, and have mostly already done so, with the result that election meetings this time have little more than an entertainment interest.

SHIRTS. " Almost Shirtless ’’ thus harangues us:—Your comments in the editorial columns of the 1 Star ’ of Wednesday's issue on the argument between Mr Connolly and Mr Sidey on the above subject reads more like propaganda on behalf of Mr Sidey than. fair criticism on the merits of the question. Otherwise, why should you rush in at this earlv phase of the argument to bolster up Mr Sidey’s weak arguments? is it because you realise this obvious point ? Is it not a fact that the majority of your readers are fast reaching the almosti shiftless stage? Yet you object to Mr Connolly’s reasonable and logical complaint against the shirt manufacturers for letting ns down by not making the popular middle sizes in demand by the majority of the wearers of this necessary article. The statement made by Mr Connolly that the shirt manufacturers were to blame in this matter was even admitted by the New Zealand president ol the Shirt and Pyjama Manufacturers’ Association, but he indulged in some specious arguments in the course of his tirade ngainst the Labour Government. In tile course of those arguments, none of which was very convincing, it seemed like an organised effort on the part of the manufacturers to create the shirt shortage at this period on the eve of a General Election. No doubt after the election sibrts will be procurable on the market in greater abundance Is it not passing strange that the manufacturers were able to produce all the shirts required for the use of our troops during the war, and also for

other Empire countries during that period? So why this sudden decision to hare the market of shirts during this election period? Rather significant, is it not, when examined from all angles ? Mr Connolly deserves the thanks of all decent-minded citizens for publicising his reasonable complaint in the manner lie did. No doubt, after mature consideration of that fact, they will grant him that appreciation irrespective of their political affiliations.

Having thus stated my protest at your obvious bias as shown in your leading article, 1-trust you will allow the two opponents to fight out the issue alone. [“ Almost Shirt less ” will be saved final ignominy since service stock is to be released. Of course, the manufacturers could supply in full during the war—labour was directed to them. Not now! The girls prefer more congenial jobs. (Mr Connolly certainly " pulled a boner ” in bis remarks.]