The Timaru Herald MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1935 TO THE POLLS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20250, 28 October 1935, Page 6

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1935 TO THE POLLS.

Now that the fifth session of the twenty-fourth Parliament lias been brought to a close by the exchange of felicitous greetings tossed from member to member, the general election campaign will begin in real earnest. From the point of view of the Nationalist group which embraces the political elements that have made up the Coalition Administration, the campaign will furnish Mr Forbes and Mr Coates and the Ministers and Members associated with them, with an opportunity to render an account of their stewardship, covering the most difficult times in the political history of New Zealand. Leaders of the rank and file of other Parties, who have had to carry no share of the tremendous responsibilities that difficult world conditions have thrown upon the Governments of. all countries, will not find it difficult to march up and down the country and campaign in the electorates and declare in the most pontifical fashion that they could have handled the affairs of the country much more efficiently. The Labour Party will find no difficulty in undertaking to give the people of the Dominion a new heaven and a new earth; although the Parliamentary Labour Party, which has held the Opposition benches during the life of the Coalition Administration, has ; never conceived it to be part of its duty to the nation —as distinct from the interests, of Party—to co-operate with the Government in tackling the financial and economic difficulties that have affected New Zealand, alike with other parts of the world. During the next few weeks, Labour candidates will offer their remedies for the ills from which the country has suffered, but they will not be able to show that they have contributed anything to the course that has been followed in helping the return of stable conditions in New Zealand. The Democrat Party in its efforts to out bid the Labour Party in an attempt to secure the votes of the people, has presented a programme to the people that has been conceived by the sponsors of the famous seventy-million borrowing scheme that once fooled the people into preferring promises to performances. It is not necessary to recapitulate the dire effects that resulted from that pretty bubble; suffice it to say, however, that the sponsors of the Democrat Party are gambling on the susceptibilities of the average voter, by offering everybody something for which nobody will pay. But it can be said quite frankly that if the Democrat promises are no less genuine than the definite promise given the people of the Capital City by the Leader of the Party in his desperate campaign to hold the Wellington Mayoralty against the assault of the nominee of the Labour Party, the fulsome election programme of the Democrat Party can hardly be taken seriously. It is not a difficult matter, of course, for those who have not borne the heat and burden of the days of economic and financial difficulties, to criticise those who have had to make decisions of far-reaching importance, without any precedent from which to take their bearings. But it can nevertheless he said without reservation that the campaign now opening will offer everyone who has anything to say, some weeks of opportunity to express their views, but electors will then, of course, have the final say. The National Political Federation which has been charged with the organisation of the campaign on behalf of the Coalition Administration will find no difficulty in making effective answers to the floods of criticism already flowing across many electorates. The obvious danger reposing in the appearance of the Democrat Party, is not that it will be returned to office —the sponsors do not anticipate that —but that it might detach sufficient votes from the Parties it detests to give the champions of Socialism, with the aid of some minor groups, control of next Parliament. It will doubtless be said of the session of Parliament that was brought to a conclusion on Saturday, that the Government did too much, also that it did too little. On the one hand, the Government is already being accused of making frantic efforts to catch votes, while on the other hand, it is being said that the Government should have gone “the whole hog” in redeeming its promises to restore certain economy cuts, once the financial outlook became sufficiently bright to make these restorations. Against this, the Democrat leader, who is literally bubbling over with promises to grant concessions to all sections of voters, has made the statement that the balancing of the Budget has been prejudiced by the concession already made by the Government. Moreover, the Democrats are prepared to promise—despite Mr Hislop’s distate of promises and his insistence on performance as the acid test—that they will reduce taxation to the tune of something like four millions! The Government on its part, with a full sense of its responsibilities and with a deeper knowledge of the economic and financial prospects ahead of the country, can hardly be expected to “foot it” with the other Parties without responsibility, who are seeking to win the votes of the people by

promising them a new heaven and a new earth for which no one will have to pay. The difficulties confronting the Government have been demonstrated most emphatically in the reception of the various measures presented to the House of Representatives during the session just concluded. Every move was misinterpreted and every effort made to redeeih promises was belittled. On the one hand there is a large and influential section of the community which is strongly of the opinion that the Government should have provided for substantial relief being given the general taxpayer, before any further restoration of economy cuts was provided for. On the other hand, there is strong support for the view that the Government did not go far enough, while the campaign managers of both the Labour and the Democrat Parties are loud in their condemnation of the Government doing anything, because they regard the restoration of economy cuts of any description as so much vote-catching propaganda. The Government, on its part, with characteristic courage, and with a full sense of its responsibflity to pursue a safe policy, which will assist rather than hamper the economic recovery now being enjoyed by the Dominion, has discharged its stewardship in a manner which will contribute substantially towards a restoration of economic and financial stability that will benefit all classes of the community.