MANUKAU SEAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22532, 24 September 1936, Page 12

MANUKAU SEAT

LABOUR CAMPAIGN ISSUE OF CONTEST GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION! DEFENCE BY CANDIDATE "This' by-election will determine the 'extent of the popularity of the Labour Government and its legislation," said Mr. A. G. Osborne, Labour candidate for Manukau, at the Panama Estate last night. Mr. R. M. McCulloch presided over an audience of about 40. The candidate received an uninterrupted hearing. The National candidate was not at all concerned with facts when attacking the Labour movement, said Mr. Osborne, who «deled: "He has got a Soviet complex." At the general election Mr. Doidge alleged that Mr. Coates was the 'lead of a Soviet that was miß-goVernin? the Dominion. "Mr. Doidgo is using ;the same matter today in this by-olection, only he now accuses tho Auckland Labour Representation Committee of being the Soviet., dictating its policy to the Labour Government,", continued the speaker. Instead of thero being only 20 delegates on that Auckland committee, as Mr. Doidge stated, there were approximately 200. "Tho newest recruit .to tho Labour Party has as great a voice as any Cabinet Minister ■when the-policj is being determined at the annual conferences," added Mr. Osborne. - Sanctlors and League Sanctions as part of a policy for collective'security to .eliminate war had been characterised by Mr. Doidge as "a policy of nndness," which would inevitably lead to New Zeialand and the Empire 'beinf; involved in war, continued Mr. Osborne. Thero would have "been no Abyssinian War .had certain nations supported sanctions. "It was because these nations followed tho policy now enunciated by Mr. Doidgo that we had witnessed a weak nation trampled upon bv a strong aggressor," be said. The Lf.bour Government and all Labour movements tho rvorld over, said Mr. Osborne, preferred to rely on the League of Nations and an international tribunal to avert war than to have faith in the jingoism preached by the National Party candidate. Mr.. Osborne si,id there had been attempts to obscure the fundamental S, issues in the campaign. The) real issue was a comparisoc; of the records of the labour Government and it» predecessors. . ."-Your choice is a .continuance of the Labour -legislation, as; evidenced in recent months, or a reversion to that which characterised \tlbe CoatesjForbea administration," said Mr. Osborne. There was no half-way house and no alternative, although Mr. Doidge repeatedly made claims to rep-resent-ijew' ideals. Leader ot JTationaUiita The candidate said Mr. .S. G. Holland, M.P. for Christchurch North, had ■upset those claims when.' he spoke in the electorate recently. Ho had said be was still loyil to Mr. Forbes. If the majority of "the National! members decided for Mr. Forbes or Mr. Coates as leader, then Mr. Doidge would be in the same position that he filled last November; ~ ir Mr,' Osborne raid it was rank distortion for Sir. Doidgo to say the Labour Govemttient had failed to honour its pledges. "No Government in the" Tiistory of New Zealand has honoured its pro-election promises to the extent that the Labour Gpvernment Has done in the shorft period of 10 months," declared the candidate. A vote of confidence in Mr. Osborne and the Government was carried without dissent on a show of hands. TO-NIGHT'S ADDRESSES The Labour'candidate, Mr. A. G. Osborne, will speak to women electors this afternoon ~at .16 Selwyn Street, K Onehunga. To-night he will speak at the Green Lane Fixe Brigade Hall. The National candidate, Mr. F. \V. Doidge, will deliver an address at the Ellerslie'Parish Hall to-night. Mr- W. 'A. Bodkin, M.P. for Central Otago, also will speak* - >