NATIONAL PARTY'S PLATFORM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 5, 10 September 1943, Page 5

NATIONAL PARTY'S PLATFORM

MR W. SULLIVAN'S ADDRESS

LABOUR STRONGLY CRITICISED

ATTENTIVE WHAKATA NE AUDKENCE

Mr W. Sullivan, Bay of Plenty's sitting member and N'a-. tional candidate in the forthcoming elections, once again proved himself a fluent and forceful speaker to some 300 "electors in the Caledonian Hall last Wednesday evening. His criticism of the Labour Government's socialistic trend and obvious introduction of State''conrtrol in industry war listened to : attentively and at its conclu;•sion, the speaker was accorded ;a vote of thanks and confidence without dissent. His Worship the Mayor, Mr B. S. Barry, chaired the meeting. "This campaign,'' said Mr Sullivan in opening, "is 1 definitely between National and Labour and as far as the Independents' go J I'eel that they will get a very sad tUSne indeed at the. election; The issue is definitely between State control and • <lemocratic principles as we know - them.'-' The principles for which the National Party stood were known throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion and the wave of enthusiasm by whi.'h they had been .greeted by the people- generally made it fairly obvious that the (iov- - eminent was go'lng to he turned out -of office or at least have its wings so severely clipped that i(ts subsequent legislation would be more rational and, sober. Answer to Prime Minister Speaking of the Cabinet rift, when Messrs Coates and Hamilton had left the party, the speaker said lie would answer the Prime Minister's story as reported 'in the BEACON. To give Mr Frasc.r his due, he said, he had had been in favour of forming a ■complete National Government but "sjhad been prevented from so doing by Messrs Parry and company who

■were not prepared to concede a 5050 voting basis. However the War Administration Committee liad been formed with certain members of the Opposition being given Cabinet rank. The- relations of this group had however never been happy.

'Whatever proposals were brought forward by the NaLional Party members were side tracked by the Prime .Minister and one of the. main things that brought about its downfall, was that it did not matter what efforts were made. by the National group there were always torpedoed by the -domestic! factions of the. Labour Party. The Withdrawal The climax came, following on the Waikato coal strike when the ■Government decided to take the mines over. The Prime Minister had said, for the duration of the war ■ only, but lie. (the speaker) could assure his audience that, if the Government was returned they -would be under State' control for ever and .anon. There was 110 question about that, and -what was more—if there was any loss, it would, be made up ■ out of the war expenses fund. He with all other members of the National Party took personal responsibility for the withdrawal from ths War Administration which was .brought about by a scries of events for which the Prime Mini'ster and the gang which controlled him were .directly to blame. When the time came, that a Prime Minister who desired to fuse liill sections, 'Could not control his own party it was lime that party was put out of office. The National Party desired to do the utmost in the interests of the country's development, so that

every man, woman and child could have the best it could produce, and the right to live and enjoy them— not by State monopoly or control but by orderly private enterprise and personal initiative. At the election, the electors had the right !o elect a Government which represented this democratic principle or else one that based its entire policy on state .socialisation. Import Restrictions 'J.he .speaker strongly criticised the action of the Hon. Walter Nash in placing restrictions on imports, a measure deemed necessary, he declared, because of Labour's inflation any methods and the subsequent j pull on overseas- funds -which were | not- enough to meet our obligations. lie declared, further that at all Labour Party caucus meetings the heads of the Federation of Labour were present and practically dictated the Government, decisions. Unauthorised Legislation Labour had. so felt the strength | of its own power that the important issue of conscription was decided on by regulation without any reference to Parliamentary discussion. Parliament had not been told, of this vital matter until it had been done. What right had any Government to *do such a thing. The. same thing applied to the control of the country's manpower. The position to-day was in such a mess that there were no reserves left apart from the 40U>0 youths who were annually coming of age for military service. With the 30,000 men and women serving in the Air Force,, the Government, was maintaining no less than the equivalent of three divis-

ions on active service making the task of keeping up reinforcements for each an impossible one for the Dominion. Yet on top of all'this the people of this country Avere asked to produce more and still more to meet the. Government's pledges to our own and to the armies of our Allies. The whole thing was an'absurd and impossible position. Labour's Bogey Labour asserted tluit if National got into olfice it would cut salaries, cut wages, cut social security and "if you don't look out,—they'll cut your throat!" Such a sugge.sli'o 11 was only another Labour bogey to scare, the electors. The National Parly wanted to see a higher standard of living—but that could only be attained by hard work. They wanted to see this great little country become still greater., but that also could, only be achieved by hard work! It was. no use thiu'king of short cuts.

His . party believed one hundred per cent in the Arbitration Court system. Here was something which stood for the rights of the. workers, but he warned liiis hearers that >t too was in danger of being filched from tlieni in the same manner as were the rights of the land owners under the Land Sales Act recently passed. Speaking of Social Security he said that National did not wish to wreck anything tli.it could be termed constructive. Old-age, sickness, benefit, disablement pensions and. the like had however been introduced in this country as far back as in 1890. Labour to give them their dues had built, on to the existing structure and what was constructive would be preserved. He was fully, in accord with a man or a woman in their

declining years receiving some assistance from the State should they need it. But there were far too many leaking taps. Far too many people drawing assistance when tliey were quite capable of doing an honest day's work. The National Party if it attained to power would only make it its duty to turn off some of those leaky taps. P. and T. and Railway Workers Mr Sullivan criticised the. paucity of pay to< civil servants in the Post and Telegraph Department as compared with other workers, and also the fact that there were no increased rates of pay for overtime. Here was a department, he declared, which was well worthy of recognition, for -'it was carrying on with 2000 less of a staff than in pre-war days. They were the least paid J)ecause they had not the right to voice their own claims through th<* Federation of Labour. lie instanced the low rates by citing a case of one man who on ;t salary of £280 liad only £113 left to meet rent and home incidentals after meeting the demands of hi'S family's food and clothing bills. The railway employees were also another underpaid group. A National Government would go

well into that sort of thing and ii.v it up. National would also endeavour to get more assistance into the homes and. would abolish the wage tax in that connection altogether. It would also assist the children of back block districts who were desirous of continuing with their education by increasing the boarding allowances.

Referring to the 'Scrim' incident, Mr Sullivan sifter a breezy outline said be did not wish to indulge in the Prime Ministers dirty washing which could now be heard in the shape of a record which was played by request to groups of 15 or 20 who cared to malic, the trip into Parliament. buildings and. request an interlude.

Rehabilitation and! Homes

He favoured the best scheme that could be evolved by way of rehabilitating the men returning from overseas. Mr Holland, he said, had agitated long ago for a Ministry of Rehabilitation, but only till a few months ago had one been formed, apart from Mr -Semple's title about which he did nothing.

With regard to home building be declared that the Government had talked of building homes for the men returning from overseas, but had not grappled with the problem in a business-like way. What was needed was a 10) or 15 year programme. He held the opinion that the Government should insist on a return from Canada and the United States an equivalent in timber and equal prices to that which was expended from this country in pursuance of the war effort.

Referring to the State housing scheme, lie declared that private enterprise could build the same houses 10 per cent cheaper. A National Government would see to it that those tenants who desired to purchase the houses outright would be enabled to do so by paying off principle and interest without any increase in the resent rent.

This country was .(>O,OOO to 70,000 homes short at the present time. The building industry could be assisted by lifting the Sales Tax from all building material and getting rid of the oetupus of import restriction. Licensing System The licensing system. he said, whereby a person had to apply for a license before he was permitted to commence a business or opera I e a service .should be blotted out. ll' a person desired to commence a business and made a mistake, it was the finest education lie could have. Lessons in life were learnt from mistakes. To-day however we had different industries licensed in New Zealand.

Mr Sullivan Ava's ])articularly critical. of tlie Government expenditure on building the vault or dugout under Parliament buildings and the new suite of offices on the roof. He also attacked the fabulous, cost

of maintaining commissioners in the U.S.A., Canada and. Great Britain, aggregating in all £11 1,800 annually.

He condemned also the habit of

the present Government of t.ranslerring funds from any account which showed a surplus.-to- another which registered a loss and claimed that Labour's objective- Avas to obliterate. all small businesses and. control them from the State. He challenged the Prime Minister to disprove that statement because he would not deny the philosophy of his party. He concluded l)A r .saying that he realised that no amount of. talking he could do would influence certain people of fixed ideas in his electorate. He. would not think any the less of them and trusted that if he was returned to Parliament, that they avouM not. hesitate to use him in their interests. He thanked the electors for their past support and also for his many years of local body service in Whakatane.