NATIONAL PARTY AIMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 205, 31 August 1943, Page 3

NATIONAL PARTY AIMS

MR. R. 0. MONTGOMERIE AT RAETIHI LABOUR REGIME CRITICISED “First and foremost let me say that the National Party stands for the maximum effort toward a successful conclusion of the war, and that justice be done in honouring the pledges given to our gallant fighting men overseas,” declared Mr. R. O. Montgomerie (Kakatahi), National Party candidate for the VVaimarino electorate, addressing a meeting in the Theatre Royal, Raetihi, last night. “That we have had to have an election,” Mr. Montgomerie added, “is the sole responsibility of the present Government. By not vacating seats on their ‘domestic Cabinet’ and placing party politics into cold storage for the duration of the war, they have put the interests of their party before the interests of the country.” After eight years in which to weigh up the record of the Labour Government, New Zealanders found that throughout the land there was a growing lack of confidence in the present regime, even in the ranks of former Labour supporters. “This issue to-day,” said Mr. Montgomerie, “is crystal clear. We have seen Socialism with its petty bureaucratic officials busily putting us further and further into the straitjacket of bureaucracy. . The issue before the electors is whether we are for or against Socialism. We have found in all their inroads into the fields of private enterprise, into fields where they have claimed that private enterprise has failed, that they themselves have only achieved greater chaos. “The weight of taxation that we have got to bear to-day is the i measurement that we have got to pay to date for the inefficiency and waste of these first eight years of Labour in office. If we are going to cut down this ‘taxation to pay for waste’ we must vote the Government out of office on September 25. “The policy of the National Party is before you now, and it will become clearer with a closer examination of that policy that the electorate has a very promising alternative as a way out -of this Socialistic mess and muddle. The National Party has nailed the return of our British rights and British freedom to their mast. At the same time it has provided a policy that is pledged to protect not onlj New Zealand, but the workers of New (Zealand, from anything that will ' amount to the slightest sacrifice of | their future welfare and prosperity. “Typical of the deterioration- of the 1 standards of public life under this I administration is the incident of Mr j Scrimgeour. This incident will mock ■ any Government claims that the election results in Australia indicate the return of New Zealand Labour or I polling day. Actually, it indicates the reverse. In New Zealand it is the Government that is lacking in unity, but in Australia it was disunity in the ranks of the opposition that permitted Mr. Curtin to win the day.. It is our turn to-day to thank Mr. Scrimgeour for turning Government out ol office, as it was Mr. Savage’s turn m 1935 to thank that same gentleman foi putting them in. “As opposed to the Government muddle, the National Party is offering to New Zealand the best policy that has ever been offered to this country. In its pledge to take the burden oft the shoulders of the family man i 1 has founded a policy on the basic problem that has mocked the white race—the gradual movement along the road of racial suicide. In offering that freedom of conscience tha' is enjoyed by everv National candidate, Mr. Holland has been personally responsible for offering New Zealanc the greatest possible guarantee of the ability of party politics, under the National Party, to march toward the better world order that must follov this war. “Whether it is the land question housing, national health, or freedorr from interference, the National Party has a policy which is a positive anc constructive approach to every problem. And the issues are so clear thal we must not allow the crop of inde pendents to confuse them. A vote foi an independent is a vote for Social ism. The fall of France is indisputable evidence of what the independent hai got to offer you, but the strength thai sustained Great Britain in the hour ol her greatest trial in 1940 was th( political stability that resulted fron* the party system. In France no fewei than 56 parties contested for the favour of the electorate, with the result that there was chaos and uttei indecision when the testing time came in 1940,” Mr. Montgomerie added. The meeting was attended by approximately 170 persons and was one of the largest held for a long period in Raetihi. In the absence of the Mayor, Dr. W. J. Feltham, Mr. D. J. Berry, chairman of the Waimarinc County Council, presided. At the end of his address 'the speaker was given a vote of thanks.