NATIONALIST AIMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23042, 20 May 1938, Page 12

NATIONALIST AIMS

COUNTRY PARTY HELP FIGHT AGAINST SOCIALISM SUPPORT FOR MR. DOIDGE [IJY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] TAURANGA, Thursday Two prominent members of the Country Party at the last general election woro on the platform with Mr. 1. W. Doidge, Nationalist candidate for the Tauranga seat, when the latter addressed a well-attended meeting at Papamoa last night. Mr. H. J. Gill, a former president of the Country Party, and a leading farmer in the Te Ptike district, said he had been associated with the Country Party at the last two general elections. "At the last election we were vastly dissatisfied with the administration in power. We felt that the farmer was being neglected, and that the big moneyed interests, of the cities were dominating politics. The consequence was that a Socialist Government was elected. "But the policy pursued by that Government is not a policy of which we can approve," he continued. Ihe pioneers of the past made New Zealand what it is to-day. What those pioneers established, the present Government seeks to destroy. "In these circumstances it is clear that we must now present a common front against socialism. Our first consideration at the general election must be the defeat of the Socialist Government. It is for that reason that I stand beside Mr. Doidge on this* platform to-night." . Mr. C. O. HiddeH, who at the last election was a prominent member of the Country Party, also addressed the meeting. The problem; -he said, had occasioned him a great deal of anxious thought, but he h,id" arrived atthe definite conclusion that the defeat of socialism must be the first objective, and for that reason he would support the candidature of Mr. Doidge. The financial , membership of the Nationalist Party in Tauranga, it was reported, now approached 2500 Many who had joined were former Country Party members.