The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1935. ONLY ONE ALTERNATIVE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 278, 26 November 1935, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1935. ONLY ONE ALTERNATIVE

y(7ITH a multiplicity of candidates and issues, electors will go to the polls to-morrow under conditions suggestive of a general melee. Political aspirants of varying schools of belief have- stressed the gravity of the occasion, but there have been so many points of moment raised, and statements made which, are in themselves directly contradictory, that the elector may be forgiven who finds himself bewildered and unable to make a final choice of a candidate. For 76 European seats there are 246 candidates, comprising: National Government 71, Labour 71, llemocrat 50, other smaller parties 24. and Independents 30. There are three main parties in the field, but one of them, the Democrat Party, is pledged to vote with Labour to turn the Government out, in which event Labour would either remain in power or there would be another election. No reasonable elector would wish his vote to be cast in favour of another election, with its further expense and a continuation of the uncertainty, so that the issue narrows down simply to one of choice bptween the present Government and a Labour Government, and every \ote recorded against the Government will be a vote for Labour. With only two issues to choose from, it is the duty of every • lector to examine the political situation in the light of past experience and with due regard to future prospects. The National Government makes its appeal on definite achievements in softening the hammer blows of the slump and in laying the founda:;ons for recovery. The measure of that achievement may be gauged by the fact that New Zealand, as a primary producing country, was one of the hardest hit by the slump. The. money coming into the country, as represented by the total value of exports, fell away alarmingly as prices overseas tumbled, leaving a huge gap to be bridged between income and costs. A National Government, sinking party differences, was formed, and through the crisis years and right up to the present time, has met each new difficulty as it arose. To-day, restored budgetary stability and actual recovery in business and industry is the Government’s unanswerable reply to its critics. In the van of world recovery. New Zealand has every reason to be proud of its record. But more important still is the future, and here the Government makes its undeniable appeal on. the grounds of sound, sane and stable administration, completing in flic next four years the permanent structure of the framework And what is the alternative which Labour, supported by ihe Demoerats, has to offer.' The party has promised a number of boons, chief among which is guaranteed prices for the farmer, ■ osting in all over 630,000,000 a year, but even if it were possible to fulfil these promises it must be remembered that the political Labour Party is completely under the domination of the annual trade Union Conference, which rather blackens the outlook, particularly so tar as the farmer is concerned. The trouble is that this new I topi; all depends on a new money service, which upon analysis is found to be even more radical than that which Mr. Lang tried to operate in New South Wales. And it is Labour s monetary proposals which contain the elements most dangerous to every class of the community. The note issue is to be made the plaything of politicians by expansion of the cureiicy, in spite oi. the fact, to use Mr. Downic Stewart’s expressive words, that "history is strewn with the wrecks of just this type of political control of money.” The few moderates would be carried along by the extremists, of which Air. Munro, M.P., is an example. Mr. Munro, to use his own words, would not stop at £5,000,000 or £10,000,000 inflation, but would say £1(XJ,000,000, and it is Air. Munro also who thinks that the German depreciation (which destroyed all savings) was a “most astute move.” I here are some who think that Labour would not go to the lengths that Germany went with the mark, but it must be remembered that such infiation, once started, is almost impossible io stop. But supposing Labour could go half way with its currency programme, at the first step money would “flow out of the tide of business into the eave of security.” Furthermore, the ‘•onfidenee which is the safeguard of the small depositor in the .'aving.s banks would be destroyed. Mr. Savage says that if there were a run on the Post Office Savings Bank to-day, it would be able to pay only 2s 6d in the pound. The bank, however. is thoroughly solvent as things are, says Mr. Savage. That j's so, but it is desirable to consider what keeps it in such a condition. lhere is no run on it because, with the present stable, ell-tried and trustworthy system of banking, free from political control, depositors have every confidence that when they want their deposits back in eash, they can have them. Savings Bank deposits are invested to earn interest for the. depositors, and to-day the trading banks will stand behind the Savings Bank, rnd in their present condition could do so effectively enough to nuieten the alarm which is at the root of every rush to withdraw. This is a situation it would be disastrous to disturb by any ill-eonsidered. politically-inspired scheme of monetary rcorm. however well-meant it might be. The elector’s choice to-morrow, therefore, is one between security anil chaos, and every vote against the Government is, in actual fact, a vote for chaos. To hand over the keys of office on a few undefined general assurances backed by a policy which has been proved disastrous in every country in which .it has been tried, would be worse than an act of blind confidence.