SITUATION TO-DAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19758, 12 October 1938, Page 4

SITUATION TO-DAY

"REACTION OF FARMERS" MR. JONES AT MAKARAKA VIEWS NOT OPPOSED "THINK BEFORE VOTING" No opposition to his views was met by the National Party's candidate for the Gisborne electorate, Mr. K. F. Jones, last evening when he spoke to an audience of oyer 60 electors in the Makaraka-Matawhero Hall.

Introducing the candidate, the chair. man, Mr. H. G. Smith, said that they could feel satisfied that they had the good fortune to have a man of the calibre of Mr. Jones to assist in combatting the evils of socialism and dictatorships.

The candidate's account of the that would accrue from the electors' support of the National Party was endorsed with applause and a large part of the introductory portion of the address was on problems that, he said, would have to be confronted under a dictatorship or socialism.

•Mr. Jones, likened New Zealand to Newfoundland and told , how the people of that country had had to give up their democratic rights and their right to vote, the land being run by a commission. Mr. Jones appealed to the electors to think sanely before they voted cm Saturday, and said he would not fear their verdict.

"Under a socialistic doctrine the disgruntled people of New Zealand will •be infinitely worse off than they are to-day," Mr. Jones said after a furthe* attack on the evils of socialism. "Alive to Situation" "There is a reaction taking place among the farming community; they are fully alive to the situation to-day." the candidate declared amid applause in concluding his remarks on the dictatorial attitude of Ministers in regard to the men on the land. He described unionism as "little ,more than a political machine." Dealing with Mr. Hultquist's wager regarding the classification list and his statement that "concrete posts are exempt from sales tax," Mr. Jones said that both the cement and reinforcing used in the manufacture of the posts were subject to sales tax. Mr Hultquist claimed that the posts were not taxed. The candidal s< : id that the Government could hardly tax the sales tax. He fullv appreciated the fact that it was to the farming community that the country owed its standard of living, and said that their stake in the country might go if it was left to the Labour Government. Country Quota Warning The candidate paid a compliment to the writer of the leading article on the country quota in the Herald that evening and said that it explained the position perfectly. If it was altered as it probably would be under a further Labour Government, contmueu Mr Jones, the electors could say goodbye to the farming community of New Zealand and the country would be dominated by trade unions and industrialism.

1 Exolaining the rating system oper- , ating* in the Cook County and the proposed £ for £ subsidy, Mr Jones said that had the council not been influenced by the dictatorial attitude of the Minister the position might have been the same to-day as it was in the past. If the £ for £ subsidy had operated this year it would have meant that the country would have received a subsidy of £17,000, instead of £2500. "The farmers helped to put them in last election and they will put them out this time" (applause), he said in referring to the Labour Government. "I appreciate the backing that I am getting from the solid people in the country, but I must have that in the future, too." In closing, the candidate paid a tribute to Mr. W. Sullivan, the National Party's candidate for the Bay of Plenty electorate, and said he was pleased to be associated with men of his character. A vote of thanks, and confidence in the speaker was moved by Mr. B. Parker* and carried by acclamation, and a vote of thanks was passed ti Mr. Smith for presiding at the meeting.