STATE SOCIALISM

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 226, 23 August 1945, Page 4

STATE SOCIALISM

REPRESSIVE EFFECT.

SPIRIT OF NEW ZEALAND. WELLINGTON, Aug. 23. ‘ 'Whether wo can view with a sense of satisfaction the internal state of New Zealand, and what our servicemen will return to, must make the most unbiassed critic pause,” said Mr W. J. Sim, Iv.C., president of the New Zealand National Party, in his address at the Dominion Conference of the National Party, which opened at Wellington today. The conference is the first held by the party since 1943, and Mr Sim, after referring to the happier circumstances under which it was held, paid a tribute to the great part New Zealanders had played in the victory. “Throughout the Fighting Services,” he said, “the spirit of New Zealand, as we like to think of it, has manifested itself without flagging through six anxious years, 1 and our Fighting Services have brought a distinction to New Zealand, which must give to all a sense of pride in their feats of arms.”

Turning to the internal position, lie said the general picture was one of frustration; delay in promoting domestic order where the beginning of postwar progress was possible, procrastination, indecision, and general confusion. There appeared to be an entire absence of that prompt action and decisiveness which New Zealanders demanded in the conduct of their affairs.' The causes were not far to seek. Making all allowances for the dislocations of war, the present internal state of New Zealand was the inevitable result of political theories which the governing authorities of recent years had chosen to pursue. “'I intend to appeal in this address,” he said, “that the free New Zealand spirit, which springs from the soil of New Zealand itself, and was manifested so abundantly in the Fighting Forces, both in this war and the last, shall find its way into the government of the country—and be not merely impatient but intolerant of delays and procrastination. I give emphasis to the term New Zealand, and remind you, for what it is worth, that we are the New Zealand National Party —a party composed of New Zealanders, and national in outlook in the sense that we intend, if elected to the place of Government, to govern with no sectional outlook, but to promote, as fairly as human beings may endeavour to do, the welfare of the people as a whole, with no emphasis upon any particular section of it. If the present personnel of our party in Parliament is examined it will be found to consist of representatives drawn from all' sections of the community—farmers, civil service, journalism, lawyers, accountants, schoolmasters, contractors —having by nature the outlook of New Zealanders and who have for the most pan succeeded in' New Zealand by their own efforts and strength of character.” NOT OF NEW ZEALAND. “The other side of the picture is that for some 10 years past we have been, witli frequent repetitions ot tne word “Democracy - ', under tne government of a dominant group who have come to New Zealand from abroad, these remarks, i siiould add, are made in no personal sense, and wo, witii I all other New Zealanders, will always I be found ottering a welcome to arrivals from abroad, especially when they come from other parts or die itinpire. tne governing group are, however, not of i\e\v Zealand, and this in my view incapacitates them from understanding and interpreting aright the national spirit of i\ew Zealand, and the mind joi the individual New Zealander witii his passion for independence and individual freedom, the group, ill addition, have suffered from another disqualification in that they brought to i\ew Zealand witn them a set ot political theories amounting to an obsession, winch are not only unsuited to tne needs of this country, but it may be doubted whether these theories, m | their fundamental essence, can be credited to boot liritish origin. 1 reler to the obsession for State Socialism and the State ownership or control of all the means of production, distribution, and exchange which it is sought to impose upon isew Zealand. ‘‘ln our immediate post-war years we are truly laced with a time of testing trom wnich there is no escape, and the issue is unmasked for all to understand. We have travelled a long way i li-oin the election night of 1U years ! ago, when the first Labour Prime Minister, also not a New Zealander, announced in the hour of victory, ‘We don’t intend to hurt anybody’, to the present moment when spokesmen of tiie extreme .Lett advocate in unmeasured terms the taking of the Bank of New Zealand as a means ot promoting total State ownership or control of ail property, and the control of all individual effort.

“The National Party holds the view, and will maintain it to the end, that State Socialism means the extinction of the free New Zealand spirit, which lias been progressively repressed, until now it has almost lost the heart to stand up and light for its existence.” CALL TO NEW ZEALANDERS.

The New Zealand National Party, he said, was the answer, .and was a call to all New Zealanders, young and old and of every occupation and class, to unite in the next election and throw off the oppression and repression of State interference and control which were al'l but paralysing the country. In the post-war years prompt decision and action were imperative; and with the experience of the last 10 years before them they knew that there was just no place for further experimenting with State Socialism and its increasing confusions.

The fanning of class distinction was also to be deplored, and they maintained strongly that it was possible to reduce practical Christianity into some form of organised political thought and action, without breeding and agitating a narrow sectionalism. Along that road lay no social peace, and no united endeavour of the whole country; nor would it 'lie in sowing further seeds of bitterness in trifling with the electoral system, as was now suggested in connection with the abolition of the country quota. However much any States of tho Old World sought solace or hope in State Socialism, it was not the gospel for a young and vigorous State such as New Zealand, which had now a dawning sense of independent nationhood and which had jet wholly to discover itself. “In our repudiation of State Socialism and the fettering of individual initiative,” he said, “we may look with some affinity to our American cousins, whose abundant unfettered energy proclaims that their country has not yet outlived its pioneering stage.”