LABOUR’S POLICY CRITICIZED

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 42, 13 November 1940, Page 10

LABOUR’S POLICY CRITICIZED

Questions Of Finance And War MR. S. G. HOLLAND IN HASTINGS Dominion Special Service. HASTINGS. November 12. Criticism of the financial and war policy of the Labour Government was levelled by Mr. S. G. Holland, when he spoke in Hastings tonight in support of the candidature of the National Party nominee for the Waipawa seat, Mr. C. G. E. Harker. The speaker suggested that the period of prosperity which New Zealand had enjoyed was due to world conditions and not to the Labour Government, which, on the other hand, had been responsible for a succession of financial crises. He said the National Party was not going to allow party polities to prevent there being anything but a whole-hearted all-in war policy. He complained that though a promise bad been made that the Opposition would be consulted about the war effort, it bad been frequently ignored, and he cited the compulsory war loan as an instance. He expressed disapproval of the 40hour week -being continued in time of war, when the Empire was fighting for existence, and be did not think it right that carpenters should be paid £lO to £l3 a week when building hutments for soldiers who were getting only 7/- a day. Most of the men engaged on the hutments he did not think wanted overtime. but the Labour bosses had ruled that, overtime should be paid or the work not done. He asked what justification there was for the tremendous growth of the Civil Service. Civil servants, their dependants and pensioners had grown vastly in numbers, until now it meant that one half of the country was riding on the back of the other half.

In reference to the dairy industry, Mr. Holland said that after three years of socialized control the dairy industry conference, representing all shades of political thought, had condemned the man who had introduced and run the scheme. A sum of £2,000,000 had "gone down the drain’’ and there was not a satisfied dairy-farmer in the country.

Another instance of Government control was the loss of £37,000 on a recent shipment of potatoes abroad. while today in the South Island thousands of tons of potatoes under Government control were lying on the ground. The speaker said that if it had not been for the war there would not be a country in the world that would lend New Zealand a halfpenny, because we were not creditworthy. The fact that we were so uncreditworthy was shown in the allowance to New Zealand soldiers, who were allowed only 1/- a day, whereas Australian soldiers could have sent to them £5 a week.

Mr. Holland was given an attentive hearing throughout, with an almost total absence of interjections.