The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY. NOVEMBER 12, 1928. A NOTABLE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10741, 12 November 1928, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY. NOVEMBER 12, 1928. A NOTABLE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

The general opinion will he that the campaign now coming to a conclusion will go down to history as one of the most notnhle that has ever been waged in this .Dominion. In 1925, Mr Coates was returned on a popular wave of 'faith in the belief that he' was the/man to get tilings done. Wednesday will witness his return to i’power on the strength of the proof of his ability to show a wonderful catalogue of performances under the disability of unfavorable conditions brought about by causes over which ho and his Government had no control. Mr Coates has, in every way, ■ provided a very effective- answer ■ tothe parties - in opposition to his Government ; in fact, he has shown, beyond the shadow of any doubt that the road to greater national stability and prosperity lies in the direction which is marked by the Reform sign-posts. Every right-thinking elector will agree with him that it would be a. most ill-advised step if any departure should he made from the sound principles which the present Government is following with the object of securing further much-desired improvement in the financial, industrial and social conditions. The main aims of the Government of this Dominion to-day must, assuredly, • be to con- 1 ' tinue to reduce the burden of deadweight war debt; to complete the current public works programme with a minimum of waste of time and of money, so as to make works profitable that, at present, are nonreproductivo or only partly-reproduc-tive; to widen the scope for employment by enabling primary production to bo increased both by further settlement and by tho use of the newer facilities in connection with advances as well as the older facilities; to extend humanitarian legislation by the granting of pensions in connection with other classes of incapacity; and, withal, to ensure ; that taxation under all headings can be reduced without undue delay. , None of the parties in opposition to I the Reform Party . can claim that, if its scheme were adopted, the Dominion would make progress as substantial and as permanent as is pro- : mised under the Government's proposals. Mr Coates, in the course of , his campaign, has shown conclusively that, if the United Party, for example, were to be allowed to try and cany out its fantastic proposals false prosperity with resultant heavy depression, would inevitably follow. The United Party could not use" all the money that it proposes should be borrowed for advances (in addition to the' other moneys that Would he available) even if it could borrow it: it could not finish ttye railway, works as speedily as it suggests without making them unduly costly andi leaving a heavier legacy of unemployment than the Dominion has ever known,; it could not bring out’ another 800,OC'O to 400,000 migrants to this country within the next ten years without entirely .dislocatingthe industrial system and. incidentally., . robbing young New Zealanders of a chance to :'gain " a' means .of- earning their livelihood; and it could not widen the social services, in the way it suggests, without greatly increasing taxation,.on...The land and iifcrcasiiig |

vices, seeing that it proposes to reduce Customs and income taxation. The*, inore the United Party’s programme is studied the less attractive, indeed, does it become. As regards what would, happen if Labor were to be given the reins of power. Mix' Coates is, plain-, ly, under no mistaken belief and he warns the electors that the result would be not greater stability but a period of great unrest, financial ; nd social, as. well as‘ political. " What will, assuredly, stand to the Coates Government is the fact that it lias brought the Dominion during the past three years through a most trying period in which there has been ,a steady return to normalcy, a complete absence of internal industrial strife and the maintenance of the Dominion’s financial credit to a degree that makes this country* enviable in the eyes of the sister Dominions.