Packed Hall Hears Speaker

Chronicle (Levin), 11 April 1946, Page 8

Packed Hall Hears Speaker

"The days of gRttering elec- I tion promises are over and those who at one time told us I the sky was the limit are now | telling us that if we want prosperfty in New Zealand we wiU 1 have to get it from production | and not from spending power," said Mr. R. iyc. Algie, member for ; Remuera, speaking in Levin last .evening. "No longer do lchey .say the sky is the limit, but they tell us we must keep our feet Rrmly on the ground. No longer do they say that we can spend our way to prosperity, but they tell us we must work for it." Mr. Algie was addressing a public meejting in the Century Hall, which was filled to capacity both upstairs and down. In an address of two hours' duration he spoke with nothing but fyequent applause for interruption, his huent speaking and ready humour finding instant appeal with the large audience. * Intraducing the speaker, the Mayor (Mr. H. B. Burdekin) , who occupied the chair, said that Mr. Algie, who was known prior to enterhig politics as Professor of Law at Auckland University, was prob- ! ably one of New Zealand's most brilliant sons, for he had been born at Arrowtown, C.entral Otago. In the course of his political career ; Mr. Algie had brought to bear all his I wide knowledge in law and ecQiiomics.

f Two Kinds of Government | After acknowledging the Mayor's ! introduction and expressing gratiI fication at the large attendance, Mr. ' i Algie referred to the need for two, j shades of political opmion, stating i that only by a clash or interchange ; j of opinions would politics retain ; that liveliness from which progress ; : came. j The speaker went .on to say that ; fhere were two kinds of government, ; land the difference between themj j seemed to depend on whether or i ! not the people and their opinion i i counted. Had the weather been j ! favourable enough Mr. Fraser andi j Mr. Nash would have left that day ! i for Australia, and if asked why they j ! were going the speaker said he j I would have to confess that he did : ! not know. Then Mr. Fraser had j gone to the United Nations confer- ' ! ence at' San Francisco, returning i i with a flourish to say that he had 1 I the key to peace, but the speaker : j f elt that he had come back this last I 1 time sadly disilLusioned. What he I I had brought back was only a ray of j hope, and the people should have ; | been told that. All the fuss that had i been made was liable to make ; | people think that the problem of I peace had been solved when actu- ; j ally it had not. : "Let them tell the people the j truth," -said Mr. Algie. "What was : Mr. Churchill's strength? Was it | not that he never told the British | people anything but the real truth j | about the -war? What did he get i out of them? Could there be anyI thing mor.e magnificent than the British defence of the world for i twelve months?" I The Opposi-cion's complaint in i the House was that it was told | nothing. When the Prime Minisr. ter had gone to Canberra twelye. I months ago the Opposition fli^d j known nothing about what had l oeen done there until a pact was i placed b.efore the House to sign. That was the way the Opposition | and the people were treated. Pres- , ently Mr. Nash would be on his- ; way to negctiate the peace which would serve the world, -but nothing was known of the propasals he would put up. Another thing which was "in the bag" was the BrettonWoods Agreement. Mr. Algie said his notes on the subject covered 92 sheets of typewrjtten foolscap, yet he had not been asked anything about it. Two other members, Messrs M. ,H. Oram and Clifton Webo, who were well qualified to venture an opinion on the Agreement, had not even been asked to give that opinion. " "Last year for once we did count and that. was because the people got behind us. That was over the electoral boundaries when the Government wanted to have a commission consisting of one Government oftlcial and four others appointed by them. They were going to alter the rules .and make it easier for them to .stay in ofhce. We bucked at that and so did you, with the result that the Government listened and the composition of the commission was changed to three Government ofiicials and four nominated by themselves." He added that he believed there was only one system ■of governmept, and that was the British system in which the individual counted.

State Socialism Continuing, Mr. Algie said he believed that the battle against: State socialism in New .Zealand was ! more than two-thirds won already. J For a Government which stood j pledged to introduce socialism intoj the Dominion, Labour, with an | •absolute ma-jority in the House, had I beeu -y:ery slow to move had it intended to. iEven Mr. Nash could

I be made to change his mind. He I had gone Out in the morning lopposed to the taking over of the ;Bank of New Zealand, but in the afternoon was in favour of it. The Labour Party had pledged itself to socialism, yet at the last confer ence ! this had been altered to ultimate socialism. "You have a State bank of New Zealand in Levin and you should get Mr. Langstone to tell you the six advantages of it," added the speaker amidst laughter. "It has cost you £10,000,000, but the bank is the same as it aiways has been, weii managed and giving a ' good service." Mr. Algie said that State socialism was not the real issue to-day, because if Labour had intended to introduce it they would have done so before now. No Labour member said he was a socialist, but instead they spent their time heaping abuse on capitalism and criticising it. If they had a good philosophy in ' socialism they would be talking about it.

People to Decide Mr. Holland had promised that the National Party would not ; decrease salaries, wages and pen- ! sions, proceeded the speaker. He sincerely hoped that this would not be necessary, but if conditions in New Zealand became in such a state that it was necessary, having given a promise, he would go back to the people, say that he could not fulflll it, present them v/ith the altetnative and ask them what they wanted to do. That was party government.

ThQ Lebour Party throughout thel world had aiways held itself opposed j to conscription and in 1940, follow- j ing the outbreak of war, it had a conference after which the Prime { Minister had stated that there : would not be a single conscript j while Labour was in power. Oniyi four weeks had elapsed wnen tne j Conscription Order in Councii had j come out. He did not wish to say j anything about the change of view- j point except that Labour should ! have gone to the people, told th&m; the position and asked them to ! decide. State Controls | Mr. Algie said the National Party believed in the judicial settlement, of all disputes, not settlement by ! ad hoc tribunals. There were some I thlngs which the State could carry j out better than the individual, but there were many things the individual could do better than the .State. If the interests of the community could be best served by the State undertaking a job, then he believed the State should do it. If it could best be done by the individual, then it was up to the State to qreate the circumstances in which the business could flourish and to leave the individual alone. I Labour policy in regard to some controls during the war had been first class. The people ha4 not ; liked many of them, but they had been essential. Now that the war : was over these controls could not be j swept away overnight. The first I interest had to be the community i as a whole, and if the controls were faboltshed in one- §lveep -huhdreds ■fv^u'M. be thrq^ai'.- out o^jgwiployi nient.- " The thing was to g'etf rid of ! them as quickly as it was economiI cally sound to. It was preferable to be ruled by those who did not like : controls themselves rather than as i was the case to-day by those who preferred to sit in Wellington and be able to say "No." The Real Issue j The real issue to worry New Zea- | landers was what our soldiers had jfought for, continued the speaker. | Our servicemen had lelt that there ( was a threat to something they held j dear, and if th'ey did not go 1 and destroy Nazism it would come I and- destroy them. They had now ! oassed the torch to the people.

What was wanted firstly was security, and the speaker said he felt that a true international state would have to be produced soon if that was to be brought about, not ;a UNO, where delegates could walk out if they were in disagreement. if the law in New Zealand was no more than an agreement between the people there .would be anarchy, and similarly, more • than agreements were needed to maintain peace. He believed it would have to be an international state, and what made it more urgent was the .atomic bomb. To get justice one had to give justice. After the last war Japan had gone into Manchukuo and had that been stopped there would have been no Mussolini in Abyssinia and no March of Hitler into Prague, Vienna, France and nearly into Britain. With an international state the evil doer would be stopped at the start. Security from depression was the second need, said the speaker, but nobody could stop the causes tof depression because they were climatical. For instance nobody could stop drought, but he thought it was p.ossible to isqlate depressions. For instance in the serious Hawke's Bay .drought a far-mer there had told him that the qccur-

rences had been found to run in cycles, and by having two seasons' hay on hand he could provide food for his stock when the drought came. Applying that to the wider [sphere, supposing Canada's wheat | crop failed in one season then if there were two seasons of money in an international bank then a depression could be stopped. Thirdly there Was the question of homes for the people and the National Party left it -to the people's choice. They could have Stato houses or own their own homes. Fourthly the people wanted jobs | and not charity. Ther-e " would aiways be some who would not work, but they were not the majority. Every democratic country v/as saying that the State must guarantee employment. He believed that tne presejit standard could be main•tained if the people made a bargain that they would produce goods and services to the limit of their capacity. The .State could guarantee employment, but nbf by the passing of acts, or by printing money or listeniug to the promises. .of politicians. It could only be done if the people resolyed to giye an honest day's woi'k fpr an honest wage. At the co.nclusion ,a hearty vote of thanks, moved by Mr. E. R. Winkler. was carried y/ith acclamatiou> A vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding conclud'ed the meeting.