PROBLEMS OF LEISURE

Chronicle (Levin), 22 July 1949, Page 4

PROBLEMS OF LEISURE

Mrs. Polson Puts National Party's Viewpoint ; More leisure for men had brought more probiems for women, said Mrs. W. J. Polson when opening the National Party's pre-election campaign in Levin last night. She was , empha^ismg the . effe.ct of the 'Satur.day.,off f'qr all §ystem, stating thaf it ffieant a'( Black /Friday for " the fiousewif e.' ' ' ' 'Slie . said ! k "System '• Df • staggpredi hours ."would be preIferable. * ; u'- V- h « ~ xiiLer 14 years of Labour rule the - young people were beginning to Lorget -what it was ; like to be -4r6a fco rpurch'ase the things tbiey ■want-' ed: - In Britain.- tbe isocialistsiihad. been looking, ,f or a slogan for their v propaganda aifd .-had started an "Ask1 Dad" campaign .■in ,thb hopetnat Lthe young people..' would' r get their fathers to tell them of the' awful things . endured under past Governments. "Dad, however, re- : called far too many of the good « J*

t'hings of the past and the Labour Party prqmptly dropp.ed the slogan," said Mrs. Polson. - ' "I think the New Zealand Government should have a slogan a.ong the same lines pniy make it an 'ask mum' slogan. They would drop it just as qxiickly," she added. Under a system of " welf are for all" they like to speak as. if nothing was ever done for the people before Ihe advient pf , the , Labour . Party, she cohtihueti."^ t Criticising .-the Intei'nal Marketing Divisid^l. des'cribed it as the pe'rfecP example of socialism. She weri Y'bh to refer to the - coalj ' cement' and bDher^- shor't'ages. "D.o you think you g'et better service?" she- asked. Commehfing' oh-tiie'miedical'.ser-vice, Mrs. PolsOn said - that- the conseie'htious • doctors were being worked bff their feeb while others were just making a-good thing out of it.- She instanced court _ proceedihgs in Dunedin • in which: • a dbctdr was stat©d-' ::t'o have- given eVidence that he had^ attendedufib i'380 ' patie'nts 'a-'- w-eek -'and- that^he had Tfearrfed- £86O0* ih-u'18 i- mopths. •"HoW -could -any.r doctor.1 give. good servibe'- when . useeing. ? that.. anaw patidhts ?"- 'Shec askedc- ;.The: ■medical service,' ' she iadvocatedy,v should:'' be ••overhauled. b'diaU' ?*•»• •

Assessing lncome Tax..; u * The high cosg of iiving had hit the housewife severely, continued t'he speaker, and the Government's statistics were not really refiable on this subject. The basis for assessing them was not the same as when previous "governments were in power. Cost of living figures had been brought out and a wartime prices index, and this did not give a fair indication at all. Mr. Nash had been dsked in the House if he was still working on this index and he had replied that he had been directed to assess it now on a postwar consumers' price index. -He had not been game, said Mrs. Pqlson, to bring it back on to the original basis so. that the peop.e would get a fair rd'ea of 'the rise which had taken place. But '.'the 11 housewife knew this at least. If she went down town with a £1 note she camo bac'k with'. only a few pence. The high cost of living was due to the high cost of Government and one rax in particular, which no one ever saw, but which affected all saies tax. On every item of a woman's household requirements 20 perttcent. went on for saies tax — a tax quadrupled by a Government which had once described it as a "cruel tax" and one which they would remove. The total amount of money gathered in saies tax for 1948 was £15,955,813. Referring to price controls, Mrs. Polson said that it did not encour- . age an efficient man to be efficient and the standard deteriorated as a result. In a ref erence to the growth of Government departpients, Mrs. . Polson described the "little army" which surrounded the Prime Ministe.r, . known as the Prime .Minister's Department. In the day of the first Labour Prime Minister tbe .p.ersonnej of the department was" three, run at a cost pf £2823. Now it numbered 221 at a" cost of £234,000 — 70 tim.es the cost. y^hen,. other . Prime Ministers had hplped goyern the, country and goyerned fj: better. Ali the Gqveniment wanted. now was a; • iVIinistry'of Interf erence. There were too few wealthy people to provide Walter Nash with what he was demanding, and so he was dipping into the pockets of all. He was taking from a population of under two million a total in taxation of £130,000,000. Domination By None. . The businesses were taxed so heavily that- they were not given (Continued on Page 5) /

(Continued from Page 4) enough for even normal progress and stagnation resulted. Referring to the wharf labourers, she said ! that no section of the people should be allowed to dominace or dictate to the Government. In the House the National Party had made it a rule among its members that all coul'd vote aeeording to their conscience and- not to the dictates of their party if they thought a ong opposite lines. This was not allowed in the Labour ranks. In the words of Mr. - Eden, the Nation© JL Party offered co-operation to all and accepted diclation from none. Reviewing portions of the party's policy, Mrs. Polson said it intended to completely overhaul Government expenditure, give a clear er picture of the sublic accouiits, present a White Paper on . any planned legislation so that there would be a comp'ete understanding of the results and no last' minute rushing through of legislation, make housing a high priorily, regarding it as a national emergency, maintain and impr'ove social ser^yices and relax controls, give wider opportunities for ownership, guarantee steady employment and not cut wages and pensions ks- pthers had suggested they would." j The meeting was large.y- aLtended and the speaker received a good hearing from all present. The Mayor, Mr. H. B. Burdekin, was in Ithe chair.