POLITICAL FORECAST

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 73, Issue 6282, 16 September 1946, Page 7

POLITICAL FORECAST

ELECTION WILL BE CLOSELY FOUGHT SAYS MR J. A. LEE “There’s no doubt about it. It’s going to be a tight election,” declared Mr J. A. Lee, leader of the Democratic Labour Party, and candidate for Grey Lynn, opening an address at the concert chamber of the Wellington Town Hall last Monday night. The last election was determined by about 1000 votes in each of six electorates, said Mr Lee, and this time the contest would be determined by seven or eight very small majorities in various parts of the Dominion. He appealed to his audience to take an intelligent interest in issues of vital importance to their country—such as Bretton Woods, industrial development, and compulsory military training—and denounced those of the Labour politicians who, he declared, “shuffle, betray and destroy the things they have stood for.” Although he was a Labour man and held that his party was the true Labour Party, he believed that to-day the National Party had more honesty than a lot of Labour members. Mr Lee spoke to a friendly audience which practically filled the concert chamber. He was accorded a vote of thanks for his address, confidence iin his principles, and wished every success in contesting Grey Lynn. • He said he was astonished that with the election so close the parties were taking so much time to get on to the hustings. “There’s a breathless hush in the close to-night—isn’t that how it goes he said. “Surely it’s time things got going. You can hear a certain amount of microphone campaigning, but that’s all. It’s been left to us to break the ice.” He then outlined his policy on the following points:— 1. He advocated motherhood endowment of at least £1 a week. t He said he had fought for this on’the hustings in 1943, and thereby played no small part in getting the family allowances established. 2. H,e strongly opposed any suggestion that New Zealand should be a signatory to the Bretton Woods agreement. He demanded to know where the Government stood on this issue, and declared that Mr Fraser and Mr Nash apparently could not make up their minds. “Where is Walter, where is Peter?” he asked. “Where are the babes in Bretton Woods? Have they given us the slip? How can the average Labour member know what to think about Bretton Woods if Peter doesn’t know? How can Peter tell the average Labour member what to think if he doesn’t know himself?” Mr Nash had said that if New Zealand did sign the Bretton Wood agreement it would not interfere with exchange control or import selection, but there was no guarantee of that kind, and no part of the agreement which would in fact give New Zealand any help. Bretton Woods was a menace to New Zealand’s economy. It would permit America to export unemployment again. 3. He advocated maximum industrial development and immigration. He said that hydro-electric power would provide abundant energy to drive the new industries, for which there was tremendous scope.

4. He paid tribute to Labour’s achievements in housing, but demanded a reduction in interest rates at least Ito IS per cent, to promote housing development. 5. He believed that compulsory parade ground drill would hardly turn back atomic bombs. If there was going to be more war then the best way to prepare was to build up industries and population. 7. He stood for religious freedom. He would have no one ram Franco down his throat. 8. He believed that people were entitled to an expression of opinion as to whether the licensed trade should be co-operatively run. If the breweries were to be taken over it was only fair that this should be done at the ruling marked/ value of the Mr Lee declared that the Labour Party was tired. It had come in with a great policy and used to rally the country with a vision splendid of the State it would build for to-morrow, but to-day it was not so much designing to-morrow, but had one eye on the political graveyard and was engaging in a policy of denunciation. ° “I have always been a Labour man, but it does annoy me when they shuffle, betray and destroy things they have stood for,” he said. “Today the National Party has got a lot more honesty than a lot of Labour members.” Mr Lee declared that his party was the true Labour Party. If he was defeated again he would still be fighting for the things he had always stood for. He would not shuffle or betray his principles. In answer to three typewritten questions about military preparedness, asked of him by Sir William Perry, M.L.C., president of the N.Z. Defence League, Mr Lee repeated his conviction that the best defence for New Zealand was expansion of industries and population.