TOUR IN NORTH

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24877, 26 April 1944, Page 6

TOUR IN NORTH

OPPOSITION LEADER NEED FOR PRODUCTION (0.c.) WHANGAREI, Tuesday The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. S. G. Holland, accompanied by Mrs. Holland, Mi\ T. C. Webb, M.P. for Kaipai'a, and .Mrs. Webb, juid the general secretary for the National Party, Mr. T. G. Wilkes, arrived in Whangarei on Sunday in the course oi his tour of the four Northland electorates. He made an inspection of the harbour district yesterday and addressed a meeting of friends and supporters in the Whangarei Town Hall. Mr. Holland said he was making the tour to acquaint himself with conditions prevailing in various parts of New Zealand so that when the National Party was elected to power he would be better informed concerning the needs of the people. The main feature of his tour was the effort he was making to see if he could not convey to primary producers some indication of the peril facing Britain unless production was increased substantially. Everywhere he had travelled he had found an eagerness to be informed as to the actual position in Britain regarding supplies of foodstuffs, and producers were only too eager to make a maximum contribution. Mr. Holland said he knew there Were local problems concerning price, cr " tiliser. manpower and other causes which were important in their own way, but it was overwhelmingly important that no local consideration of the likes or dislikes of political parties should be permitted to obscure the real problem, which was the food crisis in Britain. At all meetings on his tour Mr. Holland has spoken to large audiences. In some of the smaller country centres a record attendance for a political meeting has been established. Since leaving Auckland, Mr. Holland has spoken at Kumcu, Helensville, Albany, Mairangi Bay, Brown's Bay, Birkenhead, Puhoi, Warkworth, Matakana, Parakao, and Whangarei. Mr. Holland and his party will leave Whangarei to-morrow for the Kaipara and Bay of Islands electorates, returning to Auckland on May 4. This is Mr. Holland's first visit to North Auckland since the election, when all three i electorates returned members of his party.