MENACE OF SOCIALISM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 243, 14 October 1938, Page 8

MENACE OF SOCIALISM

LABOUR POLICY NOT WANTED STRONG CONDEMNATION MR. H. C. VEITCH CONCLUDES HIS CAMPAIGN Condemnation of the policy of the Labour Party during the past three years was made by Mr. H. C. Veitch. National candidate for Wanganui, when he concluded his campaign at the Opera House last night. Mr. Veitch asserted that the policy of the Labour Party was framed by the annual Easter conference and that any assurances or promises given by Labour candidates during the election campaign should go unheeded for this reason.

The Opera House was almost filled to capacity, Mr. Veitch being accorded prolonged cheering and applause when he came on the stage. He was given an attentive hearing, there being only one interjection. At the conclusion of his address he answered several questions and was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence on the motion of Mr. D. W. Earle. There were a few dissentient voices. Mr. E. O’Meara presided..

Mr. Veitch said that the broadcasting service of New Zeland had been much abused by the Labour Party, especially during the election campaign when the air had been polluted with political propaganda for the Labour Party seven days a week. The allocation of the radio for the broadcast of campaign addresses for the various parties had been most unfair.

“When the Prime Minister allows thp air to be polluted with propaganda of the lowest type on Sundays it is unfair tactics,” said Mr. Veitch. (Applause). “It is nart the National Party which is being attacked. It is the constitution of the British Empire which we should be endeavouring to uphold,” said Mr. Veitch. The National Party if elected to office would give freedom over the air and would even permit the broadcasting of controversial subjects but it would not permit the air to be polluted with low propaganda. The people of New Zealand should be united in protest against the type of material broadcast from the commercial radio stations. If the Labour Party were consistent in its d'/ire to bring about a better standard of education and better culture it would not permit such material to be broadcast from the commercial stations. Control of Broadcasting. The Labour Party, said Mr. Veitch, had a man receiving a salary of £l5OO a year in charge of the twelve national radio stations and another man receiving a similar salary in charge cf the four commercial stations. The loss on the commercial stations had been borne by the people of New Zealand. The sensible thing to do would be to merge the two services and thus abolish the present overlapping and inefficiency. The National Party intended to reduce the fee for radio licences from 25s a year to 15s a year, eventually without any charge on the consolidated fund. The Labour Party, despite all its boasts, was not a democratic party, said Mr. Veitch, who added that it was directed in its policy by an outside influence. The policy of the party was drawn by the annual Easter conference and every Labour Party candidate was pledged to support that policy and pledged to loyalty to his party. It was quite likely that the policy being placed before the electors during the present campaign would not be the policy which would be made law if Labour were returned for it could be altered during the first session. Every member of the Labour Party had to do what he was told by the Easter conference, and if the electors of New Zealand supported them they were handing themselves over to the Easter conference. The policy of the National Party on the other hand was framed every three years and every member of the parly had the right to bring forward remits and had a say in his party’s policy. There was no external organisation to alter the policy once it was framed. The National Party had men of calibre, and the candidates offering themselves during the present campaign were of a higher educational standard than ever before in New Zealand’s history. Housing Scheme Condemned. “Whatever your feelings toward the Labour Party, on the failure of its housing policy alone you would be justified in throwing its members out of office and keeping them there,” said Mr. Veitch. The housing policy had been an abject, complete and wretched failure and although the party knew it had been a failure it had stated in its manifesto that it would continue with the scheme if returned. The reason why the scheme was being continued was simply because it agreed with the text books of socialism. “They are going to sacrifice the householder because of a doctrine which could never, and would never, work,” he added. The Labour Party, said Mr. Veitch, had said that it was necessary to erect 5000 houses a year to meet New Zealand’s needs. The housing position was becoming rapidly worse and worse. Had the scheme been a successful venture the Labour Party, with its flare for propaganda and publicity, would have let everyone know of its« success. When information was sought regarding the number of houses which had been erected the Hon. J. A. Lee would say how many tenders he had advertised and how many houses were being built or under construction, but failed to say how much they cost to build. Accepting Mr. Lee’s statement that 4000 houses had been built or were in the course of erection it was perfectly obvious that New Zealand was not getting the 5000 houses a year which the Labour Party said was necessary for the country’s welfare. Instead of alleviating the housing problem, the Labour Party

had accentuated it and had killed private building by their socialistic programme. State Advances Loans. Mr. Veitch said that the policy of the National Party was to reorganise the State Advances Department to provide houses for the workers with low incomes. The party would be guided by the past. The provision of adequate housing shelter for the people was a social service and the Government would be justified in spending a certain amount of money on housing in the same way as the public money was utilised for education, health and justice. The National Party \ ould be prepared to subsidise building societies in order to assist them in providing the houses which were wanted. The party favoured building societies because they stood for true co-operation. The history of socialism was failure, the history of co-operation was success. Public Works a Waste. “The Labour Party tells you that the only way in which the unemployment problem can be cured during a period of prosperity is to put more and more men on public works,” said Mr. Veitch. “The National Party does not believe that.” The only evidence of the success of the public works schemes came from the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple) and he was a very poor witness. Mr. Semple was showing a film of the public works undertakings which had been taken at the expense of the country but the modern machinery which was shown in his film was not being used. The money being expended on public works was being taken from private enterprise and in ordinary circumstances would be invested in industry. The National Party would continue all the present public works undertakings, good or bad. and would not adopt a policy of slashing and sacking. However, members of the party believed that under a sound system of Government the public works error would cure itself and that the millions of pounds of capital which had gone overseas to establish industry would return. The Labour Party had said that there was no hope of new industry in New Zealand, but the National Party did not believe that. There had never been so little development of industry in New Zealand as during the past three years, for people had been afraid to invest in their own Dominion because they did not know when the Government would step in and take control as it had dene with the road transport services. The National Party, said Mr. Veitch, would return confidence to industry by removing the fear which had strangled it. The National Party would not start any new industries, for it was not a function of the Government to do so. However, the party believed that it was a function of the Government to encourage industry, and would do everything in its power to further this end. Political Sort* Head. “During the past three years we in New Zealand have been on a political and economic bust and the time is not far distant when we will get a political and economic sore head,” declared Mr. Veitch. The sales tax figures were a sound indication of the value of goods which were being bought. Sales returns had increased during the first two years of the Labour Party’s office, not because of the Labour Government but because of greater prosperity throughout the world. To-day the sales tax figures were going down and every man knew that business

was becoming worse. Mr. Veitch asserted that the Reserve Bank was rapidly approaching the state when it would be in a position of insolvency. Both the assets and liabilities sides were getting into a difficult position. The position was that the Reserve Bank would soon have to run for assistance to the very banks which it was supposed to control if it were to survive. A financial breakdown worse than anything ever experienced in New Zealand was imminent. National Health Scheme. The national health scheme, said Mr Veitch, was a wicked thing. The Labour Party apparently believed-that it was going out of office at the election and was making a last gambel to get the people's votes. However, he did not think the people would fall for it: this time. After criticising the Labour Party’s proposals, Mr . Veitch said that there was little possibility of the medical side of the scheme being in operation on April 1 of next year. Concluding his address, Mr. Vietch said that compulsory unionism would go if the National Party was elected. Industry could not progress with the present policy of taxation, inflation and interference. The removal of these barriers would bring a return to prosperity. wages and hours of work could be maintained and the spending power of the people would go farther. At the conclusion of his address, Mr. Veitch was accorded musical honours.

Manners at a Meeting. How Mr. F. W. Schramm, Labour candidate for Auckland East, handled a Stanley Bay interjector: “If you can’t be a gentleman inside the hall, you can be a hoodlum 6utside.”