GENERAL ELECTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 202, 27 August 1943, Page 3

GENERAL ELECTION

POLITICAL REFORM URGED MR. R. O. C. MARKS AT KEITH STREET Political and financial reform was urged by Mr. R. O. C. Marks, M.A, D.C.M., Real Democracy Movement candidate, in an address at Keith Street on Wednesday night. He claimed that parties were primarily concerned with' their own political interests and that the only way to ensure true representation of the people was to insist on the personal responsibility of the member of Parliament to obey the will of his electors. “I would sign a pledge to carry out your will,” said Marks, “and I shall also place In the hands of your selected trustees a signed form of resignation from Parliament to take effect if or when the majority of my electors decide that I have broken my pledge.” He quoted a number of authorities to show that every bank loan was a creation of credit, and pointed out that the control of credit vested in private individuals meant financial tyranny, a state of affairs condemned by people like Abraham Lincoln and Pope Pius XI. Mr. Marks advocated the abolition of the sales tax and a further price reduction of 2s in the £ by the use of national credit through the Reserve Bank, together with a limit of percentage profit on the sale of goods. Necessary State finance should then come from the remaining taxation, voluntary loans of real money savings by those who had a surplus, and by creation of credit debt-free and interest free by the Reserve Bank. By means of a large card system Ihe candidate demonstrated the difficult position of a family of parents and three children with a wage of £6 a week, emphasising the urgent necessity of reducing prices. He dealt with the anomalies of State superannuation and then paid special attention to the rehabilitation of the soldiers, whose needs would be best served by local committees with ful authority, and he urged that loans to soldiers should be interestfree. The chairman was Mr. E. A. Watkin, M..A.

PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

SUGGESTED BY MR. E. J. KIRK AT WANGANUI EAST That the gratifying increase in support indicated public confidence in the National Party was claimed by Mr. E. J. Kirk, National candidate for the Wanganui seat, when addressing a meeting of more than 50 friends and National Party supporters at All Saints’ Hall. Wanganui East, on Wednesday night. He said that the National Party, if successful at the elections, would form a National Government. eomposed of the best men drawn from all political parties and from wherever there was to be found the ability required for solving the problems of the day. A strong committee was formed to further Mr. Kirk’s candidature. Mr. Will Appleton, who is the National Party's candidate In Wellington Central, has accepted an invitation to be the guest speaker at the opening meeting of Mr. E. J. Kirk’s campaign in Wanganui on September