The Daily News SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1928. MR. POLSON’S ADDRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1928, Page 12

The Daily News SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1928. MR. POLSON’S ADDRESS.

In view of the fact that he has steadfastly refused to ally himself with any of the political parties now in existence considerable interest attached to the address of Mi'. YV. J. Polson in the main centre of the Stratford electorate. The position of an independent candidate is not easy. It is true that he is untrammelled by party allegiance. On the other hand he lacks the support of organised political effort, and by virtue of his isolation is obliged to go further in the direction of a constructive programme than a party candidate. He has not only to explain why he cannot ally himself with existing organisations but must also show that out of his political beliefs can come a better programme of government than any recognised party can offer'. However apt, however justified his criticism of existing authority may be, he must, if he would be thought logical, show how he, untrammelled by party ties or limitations, would remedy the ills from which the country suffers. For the electorate to demand this is not, of course, to ask for details of proposed legislation. It is, however, an insistence that an independent candidate must be prepared to make very clear' the principles upon which is to be based the improvement in administration that he seeks to bring about. In this regard Mr. Poison’s speech at Stratford was disappointing. Healthy public criticism of political affairs is the salt of democratic life, but a political diet, if it is to nourish sturdy minds, must contain many other ingredients. Having delivered himself, admittedly with some force, of pungent criticism of things as they are it is to be hoped that in future addresses Mr. Polson will outline more clearly the remedies .he would have applied. It may then be possible for electors to determine whether his views and. the force of his unallied personality, are likely to produce a more lasting benefit to New Zealand than the programme of the party he is attacking. Consideration of his speech on Wednesday last forces the conclusion that even in criticism it lacks definiteness. Take, for example, his remarks in regard to industrial troubles and insurance against unemployment. Apart from the assertion that the Government has blocked such insurance at the behest of vested interests, of which he gave no proof whatever, Mr. Polson was delightfully indefinite. It is no good appealing for belter relations between capital and labour unless it ean be .shown how they are to be brought about, and the candidate was fain to admit that he approved of a ‘’‘council of industries” to see what can be done in this regard. The Government calls the board of inquiry it has set up a “committee,” and Mr. Polson demands a council to do the same work, presumably in the same way, for the only way in which the problem can be solved is by regarding it as one that is economic and not political. If it be assumed that the present Government has done less than it ought in regard to industrial matters, what electors must know before they support a candidate is what he would do. To take a concrete ease, would Mr. Polson, if he had the power, scrap the existing compulsory arbitration system? If so, what does he propose to put in its place? If not, wherein does he show more political vision than those whom he criticises? Everyone knows that, ail the existing political parties have burked this issue. The result, as Mr. Polson admits, is. unsatisfactory, but some alternative must be found. The high cost of living, and the existing unemployment, which everybody deplores, owes much of its seriousness to the artificial wages system that has grown up and of which compulsory arbitration is the fulcrum. Still, before so important an alteration in the social fabric as the abolition of the system ean be undertaken it is necessary to be sure of what 18 . its place- In his criticism of the duties upon wheat and its products Mr. Polson was on firmer ground. But even here there is the same indefiniteness regarding the future. No one could say from his remai'Ks whether he would remove those duties if he could. If, as he said, the duties do not benefit the wneat-grower the only justification lor them has disappeared, but j+ needs more than the mere assertion that such is the case to carry conviction. Mr. Polson was particularly severe in his criticism of railway management. But New Zealand’s experience of lessened returns irorn railway transport is only in keeping with that of other countries, and, again, what is the alternative he would suggest ? In

regard to land settlement it might have been expected that Mr. Polson would have enunciated a policy, but in a matter in which he claims to have special knowledge he has so far contented himself with criticism only. The Government has. now made lawful a system of group settlement whereby landowners and land seekers may co-operate and which’ should remove the speculative elements of State-aided settlement. Does Mr. Polson approve of this, or what would he substitute in its stead'? So with rural finance. The existing legislation does at least represent an attempt to solve an admittedly difficult problem. If Mr- Polson knows a better way t) achieve this he. Has now. the opportunity of giving electors the benefit of his knowledge. It was pleasing to ncte that Mr. Polson was definite in his repudiation of the compulsory marketing clauses of the Dairy Control Act. It is a different attitude to the one he adopted when the Act was on the stocks, but even tardy conversion is better than persistence in error. There was a time when he advocated not merely controlled marketing of produce but also its conveyance in publiclyowned steamers. Does his conversion in regard to marketing carry with it the abandonment of faith in the State as a shipowner? When his policy is more clearly defined, and his attitude to certain important questions more clearly expressed, the electors’ judgment of the merits of his candidature will be less difficult than it is at present.