Splinters From The Platform Planks

Northern Advocate, 5 October 1938, Page 3

Splinters From The Platform Planks

| Emancipation. j “The Labour Government is going j the right way about the emancipation lof our people and is giving them an j outlook they never had before,” said Mrs C. S. Stewart, Labour candidate for j Wellington West, when speaking at ! Northland. “The Government has 'started at the bottom and is lifting the | people up gradually; and as they grow iin stature they grow bigger in mind land bigger in spiritual force.”

Precedent.

“If you are elected to Parliament, how will you bring your policy into effect, since you will be the only Liberal?” was a question put to Mrs Knox Gilmer, Liberal candidate for Wellington North. “The Liberals have done more than any other people in this country,” replied Mrs Gilmer, “and I think a Liberal such as I am can do as much as anybody else under another name.” An obvious supporter of Mrs

Gilmer reminded the questioner that Sir Joseph Ward “was on his own once and then became the Government,” and

Mrs Gilmer capped the remark by saying: “Well, I might be the Government of this country.” (Laughter).

State as Employer. “When the State becomes the sole employer there will be no justice for the working man,” declared Mr W. L. Barker, National candidate for Wellington East. He claimed that the Labour Government’s purpose was to burden private enterprise and embarrass industries until they were bankrupt, and then the State could come in and confiscate the lot. When the State was the employer there was no choice of occupation, and when there was no choice of occupation there was no freedom.

The Insulation Vote. Asked in what way the Government would insulate New Zealand in the event of a fall in export prices, Mr C. H. Chapman, M.P., Labour candidate for Wellington North, said, at Thorndon: “If the sun still shines in New Zealand, if the rain still falls, sheep will be raised and butter made. We will be in a position to maintain a wonderfully good standard of comfort, even though prices do fall.”

Devil's Own, Mess.

'i Successive Ministers of Agriculture had made “the devil’s own mess” of the country. “They hkve not helped us a bit.” Mr H, C. Barker said in the Bay of Plenty, recently. All that .Massey College had produced was agricultcral rubbish. Massey College should be turned into an orphanage and the money spent on agricultural research should be devoted to medical research.

“The Golden Key.” “You have all seen a golden key displayed on hoardings and on the tramcars,” said Mr T. K. S. Sidey, the National candidate for Dunedin West during an address at Dunedin. “Labour is very proud of that key, but do you know what it represents? It is the key to the money-boxes of the 16-year-olds, the key to the wages of domestic servants, and to your savings bank deposits. It does not belong to Mir Savage, and we are going to take it from' him.”

Attitude to “Uncle Scrim.”

“Will Uncle Scrim go if the National Party gets into powdr?” was a question asked of Mr S. G. Holland, M.P., National candidate for Christchurch North, after his address at the corner of Gardner Road and Wairarapa Ter-

race. “No man. can pass the comments which were passed about us in a recent broadcast and expect to continue doing so,” replied Mr Holland, to applause. “Not for five seconds,” he added. Earlier in his address, Mr Holland said that the National Party .proposed to put the Nation, al Commercial Broadcasting Service on a sound business footing. “It’s only a baby yet,” said an interjector.

“Yes, it’s only a baby,” was the reply, “but it has lost a mighty lot of money.”

“Whitebait Manifesto.”

As for Mr Hamilton’s manifesto, I have little to say about it. One description I heard I would like to pass on, however. It is a little vulgar, but listen to it. It is a whitebait manifesto. It has neither head, nor gut, nor spine.—Mr C. R. Petrie, Labour candidate for Hauraki.

No Truth in It,

“There is no truth in that whatever,” said the Postmaster-General (Mr F. Jones) when replying at Brighton to- a questioner who said he had been told by a medical man that under the social security scheme the ingredients that would be put in medicines were limited to four elements. “That is the type of propaganda that is being used to try to discredit the social security scheme,” Mr Jones said, “but it is absolutely ridiculous.”