Election Propaganda- Press And Radio

Grey River Argus, 5 November 1949, Page 5

Election PropagandaPress And Radio

Mr Fraser’s Comment On Nationalist Squeals WELLINGTON, November 4. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, said; “The most interesting point about the statement by Mr W. Appleton, National candidate for Wellington Central, that he is applying to the Supreme Court for an injunction to prevent me from delivering a- final election broadcast on the eve -' the general election, is that it is another instance of how the Nationalists are always complaining and whining about being badly treated”. The Prime Minister said the Labour Party did not complain or whine about the fact that practically all the newspapers and publications in New Zealand were opposed to Labour. Mr Fraser remarked: “The question whether my meeting on the night before election day is broadcast or not is a matter of indifference to me personally, so I will watch Mr Appleton’s attempt and antics with some detached interest. I will even go so far as to wish him luck in his efforts, ’f ther e is any legal merit in the case he and his advisers may try to work up with great mental strain and pain. As for any other merit than a doubtful legal one, there is none whatever in Mr Appleton’s prejudice and plaintive pleas. That myself as Prime Minister, who opened the election contest, should have the right to reply is just customary practice and is ordinary commonsense.

“In a most considerate, helpful, and sympathetic spirit”, continued Mr Fraser, “I hasten to suggest another application for an injunction which would be kind, an assistance, and a service to Mr Appleton, who has stood for Parliament so often, so badly, so futilely, and so hopelessly —that it would be an act of great beneficent charity if his friends took the necessary steps to restrain him from facing another defeat. “In the meantime, if this humanitarian action is not possible, Mr Appleton, rather than waste his sweetness or sourness of complaint on the desert air, might devote his time and his commercial ability to expanding the ‘funny money’ policy of the National Party for controlling the country’s credit system, with its exaggerations and perversions of the quantity theory of money”, concluded the Prime Minister.