THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for Transmission through the Post as a Newspaper, THURSDAY DECEMBER 1, 1949. National Party's Triumph

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1949, Page 4

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for Transmission through the Post as a Newspaper, THURSDAY DECEMBER 1, 1949. National Party's Triumph

The elctors of New Zealand declared emphatically yesterday that in their opinion the time had come for a change of Government.

i They took advantage oi the op- { portunity provided by a general * election to elect a National Govern- * ment to replace the Labour Govjj eminent wnich had had the reins oi' 9 office for 14 years.

Though the change o£ Government is not yet effective, there can be no question that it exists in fact, for the National Party was not only given a majority of 12 members in the House of Representatives, but, in the majority of constituencies, it largely improved on the number of votes its candidates obtained at the 1946 general election. In these circumstances, the mind of a large majority of New Zea-

landers was demonstrated decisively. It is therefore the more necessary that the new Government should take over as soon as possible, which will no doubt be done. The verdict of the electors may be correctly interpreted as a declaration that liberty loving people do not approve the irksome controls and restraints which the Labour Government believed were conducive to the well-being of the Dominion. The Labour Government, which admittedly has done much which may be approved, went too far and too fast with a policy of socialisation, and it was fear that another term of office would still further shackle private enterprise and the general freedom of the individual that produced during the life of the last Parliament a public conviction that a halt should be called.

The National Party provided ample evidence that the people were chafing under the rule of Labour, but the Labour leaders persisted in their advocacy of further socialistic policy and refused to heed signals they should have realised signified danger to their party. The Labour Party entered the election campaign with no policy other than that it had already carried out, and it asked the electors to return it to power merely on the strength of its past performances. On the contrary, the National

Party, which had been gathering strength at successive elections, presented a policy which, while preserving legislation that has been

widely approved, opened a long vista of hopefulness, freedom and enterprise in the interests of the British Commonwealth, the Dominion and New Zealanders as individuals-

Mr Holland, the National Party

Leader, has long since demonstrated the possession of energy, honesty and farsightedness, and there is general agreement that he greatly increased in stature during tire life of the last Parliament. He has an outstanding team from which to select a Cabinet and, as Prime Minister oi New Zealand, he may be expected to preserve the existing integrity of the Dominion and its high place among the units of the Commonwealth.

In this great task Mr Holland will need the cooperation of all sections of the community; there is little doubt, that this will be forthcoming because it is recognised that sectional differences constitute the best way by which injury to a community may be done. The National Party may well be proud of its great achievement, which, if developed wisely, would go a long way towards restoring the faith in democratic institutions which are being seriously threatened throughout the world today. Mr Fraser, who proved himself a big man in the hour of defeat, emphasised this point when, in a speech after the declaration of the poll, he wished Mr Holland well and urged everybody to support the new Government in all efforts designed to

help the Empire and the Dominion. While Mr Holland is to be heartily congratulated upon the great success to which he has led his party, the leaders of the Labour Party, Mr Fraser and Mr Nash, have rendered service which deserves the appreciation of the people, for, apart from the onerous domestic duties of Prime Minister and Minister of Finance respectively, they have undergone heavy physical and mental pressure in the discharge overseas of international tasks in which momentous issues were involved.