HON. J. O’BRIEN

Grey River Argus, 18 November 1946, Page 3

HON. J. O’BRIEN

ADDRESS AT BLAKETOWN Governments Future Plans “You have the right to ask me what is the future policy of the Labour Party and I can tell you in one or two words. Our policy for New Zealand is to carry on and do as we have been doing; to consolidate the legislation measures in such a way that the Tories, if they ever did get in, would not be able to take our humane legislation away from you,” said Hon. J. O’Brien in a oolitical address to an audience of forty persons at Blaketown on Saturday evening. Mr. O’Brien gave details of the proposed F’actories Bill, which, he said, aimed at improved air space, better working conditions, etc. PIO went on: “It is. no use telling us that, if prices fall overseas, we have to sit down and starve. We can produce the necessities of life—we are doing it now! We can produce comforts and certain luxuries. We can aim at a higher standard of living. We have a job of building 12,000 homes for the next five years, and will get as close to that as we can Defence buildings erected during the war equalled 30,000 homes, and we were still able to build a few thousand houses. We claim to haye done a good job and will continue jn that way. We are not going to legislate merely for a few wealthy people, but for the 'good of the whole ol New Zealand and all of its people. New Zealand is going to be built lor New Zealand, and all the men and women in it. So far as wealthy men are concerned, they can go and howl their heads off. We haven’t done them much harm anyway, even if they did have to pay 18s in the £. Labour’s policy, in a nutshell, is to keep on working for the betterment of the people of New Zealand.” Air. O’Brien favoured the introduction of. more secondary industries, such as the manufacturing of tyres, and said it was a great pity that they did not have such industries prior to the war, instead of having to rely on Australia and on Great Britain. It had been stated that the Labour Government did not help private enterprise. He quoted the granting of £15,000,000 to farmers by way of subsidies as an.example of what the Government had done, Mr. O’Brien said he would like to give a brief description of capitalism. “It is money power,” he said, and hence the issue of the election was Money versus The People—the orphan, the sick, the aged, the infirm and the schools. That was /he issue they were facing to-day. “You are fip-hting money power, and it is just camouflaged,” he concluded. Mr. O’Brien detailed the enactments of the Labour Govarnment since its rise to the Treasury Benches in 1935. He recalled the position m the country at that time, and Labour’s successful efforts to bring it to the high standard of living enjoyed by everyone through the Dominion to-day. There now was security for everyone, with no slave camps, no Mayor’s funds and no iations. , He answered criticisms of severaOpposition candidates, namely Messrs Holvoake, Roy, Morton, Doidge, Holland and Mrs. Ross. He referred to the bankrupt state of the. majority of farmers in the, Dominion until the advent of Labour, since which time they had been given a guaranteed price for their products, whereas formerly they were merely pawns in a game between the bond-holders in the old country and their supposedly own farmers’ Government, which had let them down to the state of insolvency. The more that farmers then produced the less they got for it with their “own” Government. Il was more like a fairy story 0! swindling, but it actually happened .in the farmers. He recalled the visit of the financier, Otto liemeyer, who told the then Government that, if it wanted to keep up payments, il would have to cut down social services, public works, and wages. That was done —and they had poverty abroad in a land of plenty. It was called a “slump,”—an act of God! He could never thus see it, because God was good enough to double the amount of goods. They (the Tories) would not reegonise that bounty—perhtps they did not know any better. But in actual fact there had been a lot of advancement since the Labour Party had been in office over the years, and there was only about 124 unemployed to-day, with jobs waiting for 24,000 people to fill- them. “Some people call it Socialism,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what ■ you call it. We have done the job, and claim to have done it well, even in face of a six years war, in which every fit man was either in uniform or tied Up in production to prosecute that war. We did a great job of worK, and set records in production, and we are proud of it,” he said. He added that, even though NewZealand did a magnificent job through the war period, its Government did not get much assistance from the Opposition. He referred to Mr. Doidge’s statement that New Zealand soldiers could not shoot, recalling how General Freyberg, when asked about their ability, replied that New Zealand soldiers were the greatest in the world. Mr. Doidge hung his head and had nothing more to say. He recalled Mr. Doidge as once being a Democrat candidate and saying that New Zealand was in the hands of the Soviet and that that late J. C. Goates was the head of the Soviet in New Zealand! Such were the tactics of the Opposition. He did not mind the National Party putting up a policy against that of the Labour Government, but when they waited and produced it at the last minute, taking the most popular planks from Labour, then he did not like it. He objected to shady tactics, and to personal and public attacks by a party to gain sympathy and votes. He referred to as lying tactics ’’ - story of the Opposition about bales being burned, when they knew it was not true.

It was a pretty poor showing on the part of the National Party in mud throwing with the idea some mud would stick, when to-day they repeated falsehoods which were twenty-eight years old, such as members of the Government had spat

and tramped on the Union Jack. He had never yet known of such a thing, but he had seen other men trying to use the flag to cover up and satisfy their own scoundrelism.

The claim of the National Party, that it was ’going to continue the Social Security benefits and other Government enactments looked, he said, like a deathbed repentance, as for just on seven years the National Party had tried to smash Social Security and all its attendant benefits. “D :n’t tell me thac Mr. Holland is in earnest now—that he is going to improve such benefits. Even if he were sincere in what he has said, he wouldn’t be Prime Minister for twelve months if he attempted to carry out what he says he will,” said Mr. O’Brien. “No, the benefits are far more hateful to them than ever. Their' promises are just tomfoolery, and they don’t intend to honour them. You know the National Party hates Socialism —yet they are going to give support to the greatest piece of socialism the world has seen—Social Security!” A vote of thanks and confidence in the candidate and the Labour Party was carried unanimously amid applause, on the motion of Messrs F. McGirr and S. Moreland. Mr. F. McEnaney presided and introduced the candidate.

Mr. O’Brien’s Other

Meetings

Mr O’Brien addressed a well atended meeting at Camerons on Friday evening. Mr H. McGrath presided, The speaker was listened to attentively, and at the conclusion of his address, a motion of thanks and confidence was moved by Mr Holmes, senr., and seconded by Mr Holmes, junr., and carried unanimously. At Paroa, where the chair was taken by Mr H. Ferguson, Mr O’Brien spoke for nearly two hours to a large attendance. He outlined what had been done by the Labour Government during its term of office,, and recalled the opposition which the Nationalists had shown to all of that social legislation. A motion of thanks and confidence in Mr O’Brien, and the Labour Government was moved by Mr' C. Elley, seconded by Mr H. Robinson, and carried unanimously. At Kaiata, Mr H. Campbell presided over a good meeting, and Mr O’Brien was accorded a most attentive hearing and a vote of thanks and confidence.

Last evening Mr. Q'Brien spoke at Cobden in the Scouts’ Hall, and was accorded a very attentive hearing by a meeting of upwards of forty electors. The chair was taken by Mr. J. Stokes. The candidate referred to Labour’s unsurpassed record of developmental effort and social reform, and to the works in prospect for the West Coast (which are detailed in another column). Mr. O’Brien was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence on the motion of Messrs J. J. Crooks and S. Fowick.