Party Policies Placed Before Servicemen

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 224, 21 September 1943, Page 6

Party Policies Placed Before Servicemen

(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) Received Monday, 7 p.m. CAIRO, Sept. 17. Interest in the General Election is considerably heightened by the publication in the N.Z.E.F. Times of policy statements of the contestant parties, and the general topic of conversation among the New Zealand troops is discussion of the merits and demerits of the respective candidates, and the aims and objects of various political organisations. Most revealing are the many and varied forms in which democracy can be applied, but the furnishing of policy statements as well as tho full identification of every candidate has at least prevented the soldiers from voting in the dark. Four pages of the Times are devoted to the election, of which the organisation extends from Cairo to Tripoli in the west and to the Turkish border in the east. Every effort has been made to facilitate voting which, it is hope I, will be completed within the next few days in order that the results may be forwarded to New Zealand in time for inclusion in the Dominion returns Polling is being carried out in the field during mobile training, as well as in base and non-divisional units. Two N.Z.E.F. farmers' associations have been formed in the Middle East under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A. to enable soldier farmers to exchange ideas and hear qualified lecturers on farming conditions and difficulties. The discussions have been well attended.