VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE.

Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20635, 22 October 1938, Page 9

VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE.

(To the Editor) , Sir.—ln submitting a few though on the election I fully appreciate th fact that the reactions of people wl differ according to their points i view on economic and social pro! Jems. At the same time, the result 4 the election must surely indicate t all thoughtful people that there mui have been some important and worth while facts influencing a big majorit of Hie voters to account for til result. Never previously have the rt actionary forces of the whole De minion spent money so lavishly, orgm ised so efficiently, or fought so vail antly in their efforts to slem the tk : of progressive social reforms, i There is no need now, however, t particularise or to criticise thoa efforts; everyone knows all aboil them, and the social reform Govern ment gained a great victory. And th reasons seem to be that the who! world is changing in its attitude to i ward economic and social reforms. For one thing, more and mofi leaders of all sections of the variou churches are realising that a world i which there is so much unemploy ment, with its resultant misery an want, cannot be squared with th ethical teachings of Christ. Thl applies particularly to Britain. Fur ther, many men of note, including me of all shades of political opinion, rea lise fully and have spoken boldly I support of the need for an enUr 1 change in our economic aud soda system, so that the wealth of til world may be distributed with justic and righteousness. They are con vinced that Hie individualist philo sophy, with its “rugged individualism' and scrapping to see who can grab th biggest share of wealth, is a hopelem philosophy, and will have to be replaced, slowly but surely, with | system of co-operation and mutua I helpfulness, and it would seein tha the big majority of the voters realises \ that this sane policy of mutua j helpfulness is Hie policy of the lio« vemment, as it Is. j From many political platforms the voters were told that a vote for any : Labour candidate meant a vote fof j straight-out Socialism and that before j the cows came home or words t«i i that effect) New Zealand would be a j Communist country. Well, obviously, | the vast majority of the voters simply ; did not believe that. What they obvi- | ously did believe was the iterated and i reiterated honest and plain statement | of the Prime Minister, Mr Savage, that if returned to power he. as leader of i the party, gave a solemn assurance that there would be no violent changes, but that the Government ; would go on implemenllng more ad- * vanced measures of social reform in the’true interests of all the people. And the lessons of the election wduld seem to be that an Increasing number of people icalise and sympathise with the great changes In our economic and social system which must take place, and they have absolute faith in the Prime Minister that so far as the newly-elected Government is concerned such change as may be made In New Zealand will be gradual and in the interest of the : whole community. And that seems to be all there is in it.—l am. etc., JOHN SYKBfI. Wellington. October 20.