N.Z. AT CROSS-ROADS OF POLITICAL HISTORY. SAYS SIR. E. B. GORDON

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 November 1949, Page 6

N.Z. AT CROSS-ROADS OF POLITICAL HISTORY. SAYS SIR. E. B. GORDON

Appealing; to electors to give the National Party a trial during the next three years, Mr. E. B. Gordon, M.P., National candidate for Rangitikei, said at Fordell last night that the party had men of proven ability who were better able to administer the affairs of the country than members of the Labour Party, who had only their political careers and no business experience.

After dealing with various points of the National Party’s policy, Mr. Gordon said that Socialism had not succeeded in any country of the world in which it had been tried. New Zealand should preserve its democraticway of life and make a change now that it was at the crossroads of its political history. If the electors did not like a National Government they could always make a change in the next three years. Mr. D. Henderson, chairman of the Fordell Branch of the National Party, presided, and Mr. E. V. O’Keeffe, National candidate for Wanganui, also addressed the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting a vote of thanks was carried. IMPORTANCE OF ELECTION Mr. Gordon said at the outset that he felt honoured, in again being asked to contest the Rangitikei seat on behalf of the National Party. During his 11 years of office he had endeavoured to do his best for the electorate and the country as a whole, and would continue to do so. New Zealand had reached the crossroads in its political history and the coming election would De the most important ever held in the Dominion. The National Party believed that the future prosperity of the Dominion depended on freedom and private enterprise. Labour, on the other hand, believed in Socialism, which must inevitably mean controls and rationing. It was for the people of the Dominion to decide whether these conditions were to continue. In Mr. Holland, the National Party had a great leader, a successful businessman, and a statesman of the highest integrity. With him was a team fully competent to conduct the affairs of the country. All prominent members of the party were men of experience who had succeeded in their own business undertakings or other ventures. “This country” said the speaker, “should be run on business lines, and we haye the men to do it.” There was no comparison between Mr. Holland and Mr. Fraser when speaking at tha opening of their respective election campaigns. Mr. Fraser dipped deeply into the past and brought out the old grey mare—the depression. Mr. Holland looked to the future, but made no promises which the National Party, if elected as the Government of the country, would not be able to carry out. “I believe that Mr. Holland's speech was a winner—it will win this election,” said Mr. Gordon. “WAVE OF PROSPERITY” Mr. Fraser made much of prosperity during Labour’s regime, overlooking that the Government was the most fortunate ever to be elected in the country because it came in on a wave of prosperity at the end of the depression. Prices had been rising ever since, but Labour speakers would have the people of New Zealand believe that the Government fas responsible for the only boom period in the country’s history. They forgot about the other 95 years, the work of the early pioneers, and' prosperous periods in the past. Some of the inflation of recent years may have been due to the war, but the Labour Government had done nothing to prevent inflation or ease the situation. The Government gave the Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash) power to dictate the policy of the Reserve Bank, and whenever he w. nted money that was where he went. He had to call on 14i millions from the Reserve Bank to repay an internal loan. Yet, Labour supporters called him the "Wizard of Finance.” “WATERING THE CURRENCY.” “This is simply watering the currency, and if the penalty for that was the same as watering milk, there would be many prominent, people before the court,” said Mr. Gordon. Government speakers were treading very lightly on the question of the huge cost to the country of Cabinet Ministers and others travelling overseas. In this respect, Mr. Nash, with Mr. Fraser second, must hold the record. Once upon a time Prime Ministers and other leaders of the country were quite happy to travel by steamers, but today chartered special aircraft, costing £4OOO each way between New Zealand and America. The speaker quoted other instances of extravagance on the part of the Government and criticised tne establishment of the Moscow Lega; tion. The primary producer and manufacturer in New Zealand had been neglected and had been fleeced in order to provide funds for the Government to carry on with. The cost of living had soared in New Zealand and was still soaring. New Zealanders were handicapped and restricted by controls, while in Australia, consumer goods, unobtainable in the Dominion because Mr. Nash dictated the import policy, were in plentiful supply. The Opposition had never been against farmers’ pool accounts, but surely the country as a whole should pay the subsidies instead of only one section—the primary producer.