ELECTION INEVITABLE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 120, 23 June 1941, Page 5

ELECTION INEVITABLE

MR F. W. DOIDGE'S OPINION A : OT OF NATIONAL PARTY'S SEEKING ! Though the National Party ; had used its best endeavours to form a Coalition, Government, and thus avoid the necessity for - a General Election, it was obvious that the. Government intended to carry on with the • election and go to the people in the latter part of the present year. This was the opinion by Mr F. W. Doidge, M.P. for Tauranga, as a prelude to an ad'r dress given, in the Edgecumb« Hall last Thursday. The Party, he . said along with -many deep-thinking people in the Dominion felt that it was not desir - Able to have an election, thus bringing about a state of political war fare* lat the present time. Up till 4ast week the Government had kept them \&jaessu>g, but now judging tr 0 m the"""leading article in the '"Standard, it was obvious that the -election would be held. If that was so, the National Party was prepared to fight and make a good one of it. He only hoped however that the country would realise; that it was not of their seeking. Local Election Portent. The results of the Local Election polls, were not a happy portent for Labour, continued Mr Doidge. Bui he liked the position to a trite expression by a friend of his, who had ventured: "The Government wil 1 go 'to the polls, scared stiff it would "lose, and National Party would go to the polls scared stiff it would •win !" By this.he meant that the legacy of the past Labour Government to its successor in office, represented a burden of unlimited spending arid mis-manageihent. The outlook in "that event was a grim one, for not • only had Labour emptied the treasury, and exploited all the means of taxation, but it had mortgaged the future to finance its extravagances. It would be} left for the new Government to salvage the wreckage. The National Party, would not however 'funk' the situation. It would standi up to the job, and he felt certain that the people would realise that the control of their -country was better in their hands than in those of the party which brought about the chaos. Fought on War Issue. The election would be fought on : the issue of the war and its conduct. Were the people of New Zealand giving their , full assistance ■to the Motherland ? Were we satisfied with cur war effort ? We, who continue with a forty-hour week; we, ■who continue to observe every holiday. We had been thrilled with the •deeds of our 'boys' overseas, but were •we standing shoulder to shoulder with them in the fight ? In N*evj Zealand, we continued to. get strikes, hold-ups, stoppages, and defiance of the Government's own policy by ■watersiders, miners and freezing ■workers. The people were waiting for a lead. There were thousands 'keen and willing to set to, but nothing was forthcoming. How could •we possibly expect to give the maximum assistance without a lead from tthe Government in power ? Inevitable Inflation. "If by any stroke! of ill-luck, the 'Government went back to office, said Mr Doidge, inflation of the monetary system wasi inevitable. It would be impossible for it to carry on without inflation, for the. resources of the Reserve Bank had been stretched far beyond their means alreiady. He felt certain that the thinking}, people of this country would realtsfe v that they would have more confidence in the prosecution of their Avar effort under a National Government than und<;r the present <cne. '