LABOUR’S POLICY CRITICIZED

Southland Times, Issue 23443, 25 February 1938, Page 8

LABOUR’S POLICY CRITICIZED

MR S. G. HOLLAND AT

GORE “INDUSTRIAL POSITION VERY BAD” Public addresses on the political situation were given in Gore by Mr S. G Holland, M.P. for Christchurch North, and Mr T. L. Macdonald, the National Party’s candidate for the Mataura seat. The deputy-Mayor (Mr J. A. Baldey) was chairman. There was a big attendance, and at the end of the addresses a vote of thanks was carried. Mr Macdonald said that the political position today was, to his mind, more serious than the bulk of the people realized. “We have a Government elected largely as an expression of dissatisfaction with our depression period administrators,” he said. “A Government which is committed to a policy oi Socialism. Some Government followers will deny that Socialism is the aim of the Labour Party, but the evidence is too great for their denial to hold. Mr Holland will give you some proofs of that later on.” Socialism could only lead to disappointment, disillusionment and despair. It meant a levelling down, not a levelling up, and had inevitably to bring the people nearer to national stagnation. In the past it had not mattered very much which party gained the Treasury Benches at election time, because there had been no real underlying feeling that the country might be wrecked in the process. “Today, however, there is a real feeling of insecurity in industrial and business circles,” Mr Macdonald continued. “The policy of the Labour Party has resulted in the restriction of production. Labour for the farms is difficult to obtain; production is dropping there. You had news a day or two ago of a hosiery factory closing at Dunedin, and believe me, there are other factories in other lines contemplating the same thing, which indicates that production is dropping in the secondary industries also. Production is wealth, and if you reduce one you reduce the other. ELECTORS’ CHOICE “The electors of New Zealand today are facing a far more serious choice than any they have been called upon to make in the past,” he continued. “The path of Socialis’m is easy to tread, deceptively so, but the harder road of individual enterprise and self-reliance will result in greater development of national character. Today traditions are being tom up by the roots, and the question is, can we, as residents of a young country, afford to do that? Can we dispense with the well-known landmarks and head our vessel out into unknown waters with only the flickering star of Socialism to guide us? What happens when the clouds come up and the storm develops, the star is obscured and the old lancb-marks are gone? What then? I leave you to answer the question for yourselves.”

Mr Macdonald asked those present, to consider carefully the dangers of Socialism, and urged them to play their part in bringing about the strengthening of democracy by joining the National Party. (Applause). The objectives of the Labour and National Parties were as far apart as the Poles, said Mr Holland in his opening remarks. He could not subscribe to the view that the Labour Party could do no good. On the contrary, he could agree with much that it had accomplished, and would concede that some of its measures had proved beneficial to the country. It was the objective of the Labour Party to which he objected. Its philosophy was based on the principles of Socialism, State regulation and worker-contrcl of industry. “There are members of the present Labour Party who have expressed admiration for the communistic system,” said Mr Holland. In support of this statement he quoted from public utterances recorded in the newspapers. The members of the National Party could stand by anything they had said. The Hon. Walter Nash had observed in the Press on his return from Russia that the Soviet system of planning was better than that of any other form of government he knew, said Mr Holland. It might be said that the present Government was out to destroy the present system under' which the country functioned and to replace it with something that could never succeed under the British flag. “The New Zealand people are not socialistically minded and would not stand for the trade unions dictating the policy of the present Government,” continued Mr Holland. The National Party preached the gospel of encouragement for private enterprise, and he was satisfied that the people of New Zealand would not see the country flung to the wolves of Socialism. They would see that its traditions were preserved and that there would be no sacrifice of freedom and liberty as was inevitable under a socialist Government. PURCHASE OF PICOT BROS. Mr Holland referred to the acquisition of the firm of Picot Brothers, which he described as a scandal. The Government had taken over this business for £66,000, had thrown in another £15,000 for goodwill and £5OOO for book debts, with the additional right for the firm to collect those book debts without any reduction of the £5OOO which had been paid to them. The appointment of Mr Picot to the position of Director of Internal Marketing at £2OOO a year gave the official £lO a week more than was paid the Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department, and a much higher amount than was received by the Director-General of the Post and Telegraph Department, the Commissioner of Taxes, the Director of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Pensions, all of whom shouldered responsibilities immeasurably heavier in the handling of money and men. Socialism was built up on a fallacious basis, and private enterprise was discouraged. This should never be allowed to occur in New Zealand, which had been built up to its present high state of productivity and prosperity through the initiative of private enterprise. No party had come into power at a more propitious time than the Labour Party, said Mr Holland, and many things had been made possible by the prices on the world markets advancing at the time it had taken office. There had been a heavy increase in the value of New Zealand’s e'xports which indicated that recovery in the world market had greatly assisted the Dominion, and that the Labour Government had nothing whatever to do with it.

“The industrial position of the country today is in a very bad state, and there is no need to labour this point,” said Mr Holland. “Reports of labour disputes appear daily in the newspapers. New Zealand is a producing country, and it is not receiving the recognition it should. The Labour Government is interfering with labour and because of waterfront trouble and go-slow tactics of the workers it now takes 20 per cent, longer time to load beef than it took two years ago. It is the same type of beef, the same type of men and the same type of ships, yet more time is required to do the work. Two years ago. 800 boxes of butter could be loaded in an hour. In the same time only 500 to 600 are being

loaded today. There is only one explanation to this position. The Labour Government is out to smash its way to Socialism, but I say that the country is not going to allow itself to • be smashed this way. In the first year of the Labour Government there were 42 disputes and in its second year 52. The number of workers affected by disputes under the Coalition Government was 2323, but under Labour the number mounted to 7354, and last year to 11,411. Wages lost during the last year of the Coalition Government totalled £7lOO, but in the first year of Labour the amount was £15,000 and the last year £32,000.” Mr Holland concluded by thanking those present for the patient hearing he had received. There were no questions and a vote of thanks was moved by Mr G. Gordon and carried by acclamation.

MUCH INTERRUPTION AT DUNEDIN

(United Press Association) DUNEDIN, February 24. Similar tactics' to those employed at meetings recently addressed in Dunedin on behalf of the National Party by Mr J. Hargest, member for Awarua, were repeated at the concert chamber of the Town Hall tonight when Mr S. G. Holland, member for Christchurch North, addressed an audience which packed the building. The speaker was subjected almost throughout to a chorus of interruption, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he could make himself heard. In fact, much of his address was entirely lost because of the great and continuous volume of sound from the body of the hall.

Mr Holland remained quite unperturbed and handled the audience with great tact, but his appeals for a fair hearing fell op deaf ears.