GOVERNMENT'S POLICY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 35, 10 February 1934, Page 10

GOVERNMENT'S POLICY

DOING THE BEST POSSIBLE PRIME MINISTER’S DEFENCE. [ Per Press Association. ] AUCKLAND, Feb. 9. The Government is responsible for carrying out a policy for the welfare of the people as a whole, said the I’rime Minister, when declaring the Royal Show open. If the Government were guided in its policy according to the discontent it encountered, the country would soon be in a ditch. He would not guarantee that even the malcontents could not pass legislation to please everybody. In the country districts the complaint was common that they could not get men to do the work offering. He heard that dozens of times. In the cities he was told there was no work for men to do in the country. The Government was blamed for making conditions so easy in the cities that men would not go into the country to work. In the cities he was told they were making conditions so hard that the men could not live. It was hard to draw a line between these statements. “However, we are endeavouring, with the funds at our disposal, to do our best for those with whom we have so much sympathy,” said Mr. Forbes. “Every penny of the £4,000,000 we are raising is being expended. No country is doing its task more thoroughly and no people are putting their hands in their pockets ‘to the same extent. The Government cannot l»o charged, therefore, with not doing its best. The schemes to provide work are all designed to give the best value for the money spent and to aid the men as much as posible.” It had often ’ been said that the Government had [had to do many unpleasant things owing to the financial s/tringency, but he thought that it could be claimed ■hat it did not sit down and do nothing.