The Grey River Argus FRIDAY, September 24, 1943. PROMISES VERSUS PERFORMANCES.

Grey River Argus, 24 September 1943, Page 4

The Grey River Argus FRIDAY, September 24, 1943. PROMISES VERSUS PERFORMANCES.

Tlip Prime Minister while he asks a renewed mandate to carry on. the war effort, which Allied leaders have so highly commended, is abundantly warranted in asking a mandate even apart from the war effort. The Government’s record in every held is the most progressive and constructive ever achieved by any administrations in the country’s history. But a third reason for demanding a renewed mandate is that there is no other policy than that of his party before the country. The various other political elements have made a show at the hustings solely by taking severally separate pieces of the garment of the Labour Party, whereas it should remain all of ione piece and not thus be divided. The Nationalist, candidates are all proponents of piecemeal policies, not one of them having a platform which is other than sectional. A tangible example is the local one. His final appeal here reveals a sad lapse into puerile personalities and innunencloes. We do not resent being made his target, having served over the years in that capacity for marksmen whose tire was straighter than his, and remained to see them all missing and retreating. He professed himself to resent bringing up what he called the “sticky” past of eight or twelve years ago, and then wallowed in what he imagined—we say imagined, because he has been here since only seven years ago—to be the even “stickier” past of from 23 to 27 years ago. His fantastic vision of the attitude in those clays of the present Prime Minister and Cabinet colleagues was obviously meant to be “sticky,” but was simply silly. His mentors have evidently supplied myths to do duty for a policy. Mr. Nash is quoted as putting the Soviet economy ahead of the economy he himself has done so much in this country to establish, but the candidate must have been aware Mr. Nash in all his campaign speeches has rated our living standards three times superior to those of the Russians, though he has paid them the highest tribute for their Avar effort. When the candidate attempts to represent the Prime Minister as a provoker of class Avar, he asks people deliberately to ignore how Dlr. Fraser has striven, above all, for national unity to wage a Avar for liberty. Liberty is not the candidate’s long-suit. If workers are not gaoled on a purely industrial issue, he professes to fear for abstract law! The right to strike is for him no right at all. Ministers in war-time rightly have decried the exercise of that right, but. would have been foolish if they instead had damaged more than any temporary strike the war. effort the workers serve by gaoling them and creating a

justifiable grievance even greater than that for which they temporarily withhold their labour power, just as vendors of commodities —unless their prices are fixed — withhold theirs till paid what they demand. To ignore all the sacrifices and services by which, legislators have won and detained public confidence for over a quarter of a century simply to decry them personally on account of some earlier activity is no more proof of political wisdom, than to quote activity of as long ago as a qualification now. Complaint is made of fixed prices under State marketing, but the Opposition have illustrated the fallacy of their attitude. They have quoted foodstuffs as priced altogether too highly, and it turns out that the instances on which they mainly relied were foodstuffs not handled under State marketing and not fixed in price. The candidate disliked our quoting Labour’s I balanced budgets, reduction oil overseas debt, and rigid limitation and reduction of oversea war debt. He countered by quoting '-lie increase of taxation, withou' on this occasion giving one iota of credit for social security, or the enormously increased income of the people from which to meet taxation, on the great prewar preparation for war from taxation, oi- the rescue of anything up to a quarter of a million people from ablject poverty, or the vastly greater; means of improving the people’s health that all have been provided out of the extra taxation. The candidate mentioned district development, but studiously ignored the great help in that particular direction given during the past generation by our Parliamentary representative. He

gives no reason for standing except the generalities of the Nationalist election propaganda, and these amount to a 95 per cent, endorsement of the Government’s performances. His attempt to associate the Government with class Avar were last night refuted by the Prime Minister, who declared that, democracy is the essence of Labour policy, and that no party otherwise inclined could hope to ally itself with Labour, even, though the Government accepts and seeks the aid of every party in the Avar effort. The Labour Party to-day is composed of the most experienced. most progressive, and most intelligent men in the Parliamentary field. The Nationalists know this. At the expense of all their promises, they proclaim it their highest ambition to run in double harness with Labour Ministers. It is amusing that, their local nominee so utterly misses this point. The electors will open his eyes to it to-morrow.