POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18707, 13 May 1924, Page 10

POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.

OPENED BY LIBERAL LEADER. GOVERNMENT ' EXTRAVAGANCE. j [Br TELEGBAFH.— ASSOCIATION. J ' ' • -- S '- ■ : NAPIER. Monday. Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P., opening the Liberal-Labour political campaign in Waipukurau to-night, said the party had i decided to visit all ; the electorates repre- ' santed by Reform members. -He declared his party did . not stand for any class. He characterised the - Reform Party as docile 1 servants of - the wealthy.' - The Liberals agreed with the remark, of Mr. Massey in 1912 that it was a good thing for' a Government to feel another coming along. The.- time had arrived for a clearing of the stables. When the Liberals' left the National Government in 1919, complained! Mr. Wilford, the expenditure from - the Consolidated Fund was £18,673,599, but three years later it had jumped to £28,466,835. The economies the Prime Minister claimed to have , effected were forced on him by the extravagance of the Government. : The advances to the settlers'sys- • tern was put on the Statute . Book to the Liberals, but to-day > the - Reform Party walked it about : as if -it were its own child. ;. From the funds of that department the Government * had ' collared £2,000,000 for investment in war . loans. This money had been , taken from those who wanted it and should have r; been replaced. He .had charged the Prims Minister in the House with ; taking money from 4 ' the department. He would like to know whether portion .of the recent £5,000,000 loan for State advances was to repay this • money .or was fresh I money. - Continuing, Mr. Wilford said ; Mr. Massey's love of the State Advances Department was due to the fact ' that ho saw the Liberals' proposal for an agricultural bank, • the chief - point about which was long-term mortgage: and tha repayment of principal with interest. There would be no short-term mortgages. They (the Liberals) advocated a State bank to work :in conjunction with the; agricultural bank. ••'' • . ' -<• ' < v - Reference had been' made by him to a market in the East , for our produce, but the Government was cold to his proposal. The soldier settlers . scheme had ; been carried out in - a wasteful way, ' and now it was necessary to write off millions of pounds and bring the value down to a reasonable figure. In reference to " the I Imperial . Conference, the . speaker said Mr. Massey von previous occasionshad represented $he country "with dignity, but on the ; last occasion had lost :, both ! his dignity and .temper. Mr. Wilford, who. had been', given a sympathetic - Hearing, : was ' accorded a vote 'of thanks^