DEMOCRAT PARTY

Southland Times, Issue 22730, 5 November 1935, Page 8

DEMOCRAT PARTY

LEADER AT AUCKLAND REPLY TO MINISTER OF FINANCE BUDGET PROPOSALS (Per United Press Association.) Auckland, November 4. The Leader of the Democrat Party, Mr T. C. A. Hislop, who arrived this morning from Wellington, addressed meetings at Warkworth, Northcote and Devonport. He received a good hearing and votes of thanks and confidence were passed, there being most dissentients at Devonport. In his speech at Devonport, Mr Hislop replied to the criticism of the Minister of Finance, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, on the Democrat Party s policy. He said: “It is my intention to issue in due course my Budget, giving full details. In the meantime it is amusing to get the opinions of befogged and prejudiced critics. The more they declare themselves in the meantime, the more ridiculous they ultimately will appear to be. From the facts and figures that I have given it may be seen that Mr Coates’s estimate is as absurd and ridiculously wrong as his 1934 Budget estimate, where he was £2OO out for each £1 surplus that he estimated to get, a margin of error of a mere 20,000 per cent. I have said throughout this campaign, and say again, that the outstanding characteristic of the present Government has been its rapid and obvious surrender to the principles of National State Socialism. The whole of its legislation is characterized by an ever-increasing growth of bureaucratic State Control over all the activities of all the people in this country. The liberty of the people has been drastically curtailed, and unless this Nationalist Socialist Government is turned out of office, our liberties will disappear altogether. lam confident that the people offlNew Zealand will reject the Government which has progressively destroyed its liberties,” concluded Mr Hislop. “Under the ever increasing system of government by Order-in-Council, of government by board upon board, of which to-day there are no less than 144, of the ever increasing interference with individual effort and the crushing of initiative, the Government responsible for all these things will be rejected as surely and certainly by the people of New Zealand as did the people of Canada reject the Government of Mr Bennett,” he said.