NATIONAL PARTY CONFERENCE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24907, 21 June 1946, Page 8

NATIONAL PARTY CONFERENCE

PRESIDENT’S OPENING ADDRESS ' FAITH IN PRIVATE OWNERSHIP * The Press ” Special Service WELLINGTON, June 20. <r We meet at a moment of turmoil, doubt, and confusion in human affairs,” said Mr W. J. Sim, K.C., president of the New Zealand National Party, in his presidential address at the opening of the annual conference of the party today. “All of us are conscious of the world’s uneasy mood. The ideal of democratic freedom for which so many thousands of brave men laid down their lives, and for which the people of many lands, including our own Motherland, suffered the most savage ordeal in the history of mankind, has emerged in some countries as a hollow pretence. The military overlords haVe been driven out, but in their pl?ce there appears to reign a political tyranny. Where this power asserts itself, countries are denied the right of making a free choice of the form of Government they desire.

“Significant political happenings in Europe have been the gains of the Christian Democrat Party in the Italian elections and the M.R.P. in France. These results indicate a revulsion against the Communist movement. While flot questioning the sincerity or idealism of many socialists, we cannot but wonder what are the essential points of difference between Communism, with its obscurity and silences, and the variety of State socialism to which we are rapidly progressing in New Zealand. “In the field of imperial affairs there is much to give cause for .uneasiness. Britain to-day has a Socialist Government, composed no doubt of men of fine and even noble intentions, but we may, at this distance, wonder whether, after another decade has passed, the Empire will look back with gratitude on their readiness to dissipate many of the great inheritances which have been entrusted to them. We. know that wherever the British flag has flown, the advancement of native peoples, and the development of the resources of those countries, has been carried forward steadily. These past achievements are a source of pride to us. It is disturbing, therefore, to find that in the very hour of victory that process to which Mr Churchill bluntly refused to be a party, the ‘liquidation of the British Empire,’ seems to be, actually in progress. '

A Momentous Election .. R ? fe . J : rin ? to the New Zealand polltical situation, Mr Sim said they were confronted at an early date by a General Election which would probably be the most momentous in the history of the country. The endeavour to reshape the lives of New Zealand pedple, to mould them into being obedient servants of the State in all things, had failed and was doomed to further failure. It was not the people who required reshaping or moulding; it was the Government of the day and its conception of its true functions. The instincts of the people were as .sound as they ever were. The National Party reaffirmed the principle that the Government of the day should not be the master of the people but its servant. Its function was to act for the people as a whole, interpreting the wishes and aspirations of the people, functioning freely without pressure and propaganda. In accordance with the principles affirmed by the party, the country had before it an opportunity, probably of a kind offered to no other country in the wodd at the present moment, to build a political party in ir.s own likeness and responsive to truly democratic ideas and hopes. , “Nothing to my mind exhibits how bankrupt of ideas, how unimaginative and exhausted, the Labour Party has become, when they seek to rally their fading supporters by inciting fear of what the National Party would do in the event of another major depression. The last one was world wide, and due/ to world causes: it was handled m New Zealand along lines similar to those fallowed by Labour Governments in Australia and elsewhere and with less severe cutting of wages 'lf it was mishandled in New Zealand, as some state, that was not of this party’s doing. Social Legislation

The National Party will seek to serve the people by maintaining and improving present standards in every way that is possible, and when its full policy is disclosed it will be found to be lending its energies to prepare in advance to meet any economic adversity that may injure the country. The personnel of the party ensures that, and it may be trusted to show understanding, in any crisis, of the lot of those who may be hit the hardest.” It was desirable to state with unmistakable clearness that the Natidnal Party had no intention of repealing the social legislation of the present Government, said Mr Sim. In many respects this had been merely the extension of previous liberal ideas, carried into practice in keeping with the country’s presumed advance in wealth iThe’ pensions schemes comprehended under the new title of “social security” and the high wages and salaries had now been made part of the New Zealand economy, and the' National Party did not intend to destroy those benefits wholly or partially. In this respect it would refrain from inflicting a blow on any section of the community such as occurred in 1938. when the Labour Government ruthlessly cut imports and in a night almost destroyed the livelihood of many who had laboriously built businesses which were sustained by imports. The National Party would concentrate its endeavours on a constructive policy of increasing production, so that the present high expectations might be realised. It had no illusions, however, that work and production were the only means whereby this could be brought to pass and the present standards continued.

“Stagnation and Frustration” “The peace has now run for more than 12 months, and, as we see it. the rosy dreams of State Socialism nave become a general stagnation and the frustration of the individual. Many Soldiers have been rehabilitated with State aid, and everything that has been done for them and will be done has the fullest endorsement of the National Party. “But the question that every soldier has to answer for himself is: is going to happen to my new business, my farm, whatever I own. if ultimate Socialism comes to pass?’ The answer in plain torms is that he will lose everything into a general State effort. He is being confidingly encouraged to become an individual capitalist, only to hand over everything and the fruits of his exertions to the State in the not distant future His course, we suggest, is to fortify the title to his farm or his business by recognising that the -'lational Partv is the only party that will enable him to continue in the course he has courageously set for himself. • The National Party accepts inviolably the principle of private ownership r ’ The transition process from the pre sent Socialist State to what they envisaged must take time. It must be done with understanding and with patience. What the National Party hoped to bring about and sustain was such a general release of the energies of the community that prosperity and abundant employment for all must follow. Hara work, incentives to work and to produce were the essence of their philosophy and genera] policy, and he suggested that it was a cause for new inspiration and hope to New Zealand that it lay within the country’s power to end now the 10year repression and again be freeproducing by a stroke of the pencil’ or many thousands of individual pencils, a Government which would be a responsive extension in power of the people themselves, in place of an aloof autocrat standing over them controlling directly an<T indirectly their daily liven.