NATIONAL PARTY'S AIMS DETAILED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 42, 5 March 1937, Page 9

NATIONAL PARTY'S AIMS DETAILED

-Own Correspondent.)

Mr S. G. HoIIand Speaks in Palmerston North

SUCCESSFUL TOUR

(By Telegrraph-

PALMERSTON N. Tttis uay. ' Accommodation at the Mnnicipal Hall jlast evening was taxed. when electors, at the invitation of the Palmerston North branch of the National Party, jgathered to hear Mr. S. G. HOlland,; M.P, of Christchurch North, apeak onj rthe aims of the new party and criticise; ithe policy of Lahour. Mr- W, F, Durward, chairmaa of the Palmerston North branch of the National Party, presided. Mr. Holland said he was just «onclnding a tour of the North Island and he was pleased to say his mission had |lbeen successful. New Zeaiand was a wonderful country and well worth saving from "the wolves of socialism." He was quite sure that ere long the Labour Party would be sliding down the poli'tical ladder with the National Party iclimbing rapidly upwards and onwards into power again. There never was a rtime in the history of the country when Tthe people wero more politically minded land with a thirst for political knowledge. It was the duty of the National Party to satisfy that thirst and remove from the minds of thousands of people ■a fear of government, New Zeaiand "was not socialistically minded and was not going to stand for socialism. He would admit his party had made mis- j takes in the past but they were going ; ■ to banefit from those mistakes. In the | National Party there was the nucleu? j Df a younger team whieh could give the j country a new policy. He named Col. Hargest, Mr. Broadfoot, Mr. Holyoake and Mr. Bodkin as being qualified to eit on the Treasury henches. Mr. Holland said he was not in a poeition to give the policy of the Nation, al Party. The new constitution wouid be written by the supporters from one -end of New Zeaiand to the other. This would mean a little delay but he would aooner sea that than have a wrong (policy hastily thrown together. .There pvould he no more selection of candidates hy a little coterie in Wellington. The selection would he entirely in the hands of the National Party members in each electorate. No more would there he a hole and corner business. . , In broad terms, -the party stood ior the preservation of the xights of private enterprise with ownership control and government assistance and dires* tion where necessary. The Dominion had been built up on private enterprisa and thrift and if these two things wero thrown to the winds, the fabric of New Zeaiand wonld co'me tumbling down about their ears. And yet Mr. Savage had said private enterprise and thrift had to stop. Mr. Langstone set out the Government 's policy when he had said they wchild take a little more ofi those who had and give it to those who had inot. Labour were splashing the money , about and this money belonged to the. people, it had to be Temembered. Sociai-; ,ism was the very antithesis of private] enterprise. It meant equality of in-j jcome, but even in this the Labouri Government was not consistent. They| ■had pooled their own honorariums yet; jin the next breath had appointed ai jdirector of broadcasting at £1500 a; year xising to £2000. Then there was.. jthe appointment of a director of com-; .mercial radio advertising at £500 a year jplus a coinmission of 7J per cent. It was a public scandal. What wonld hap•pen if postmasters and stationmasters were paid a salary plus commission? He [ventured to say the country would be np in arms immediately. | The speaker said the dairy farmers jof New Zeaiand " were already up in ,arms and ready to put the Government !out of office at the next eleetion. Already the farmers of New Zeaiand were 'State employees and it was the object of socialistic legislation to'make everyone a State employee. Socialism also meant State trading and the Government had already started by buying out Picot Bros. and appointing a Mr. Picot director of internal marketing for dairy produce. What was paid for the business nobody knew but there would be a question on the order paper at the next sesion. Mr. Holland. declared that heforo long the people would see more city electorates and fewer country ones. This was a move to lower the country quota in Parliament but the National Party was going to get into power and prevent such a thing from happeuing. Mr. Holland drew attention to Labour '3 promise to reduce costs, especially for the housewife, and asked if the people! had experienced it yet. Speaking of taxation, Mr. Holland said the Government would not admitthere was a capital levy but he knew of definite instances where taxation hnd been in excess of income, and if that was not a capital levy, he did not know ' what was. Any government which levied taxation without regard to the earning capacity of a man's assets, was def eating the fundamental principles of taxation. The taxation of companies which domanded the flrst 7s 6d a company earned, meant that small siiaroholders with only a couple of hundred pounds in a concern, were paying the equivalent of persons with incomes of several thousands. For the farmer there was no sueh thing as a guaranteed price — it was a commandeer. All over New Zeaiand the dairy farmera were up in arms. They would not be regimented. Labour had promised to take the women and e&ildren out of the cowsheds but •nstead there were more than ever in the 1 sheds. The speaker advised the woolgrower to be wary. The Government might not make a commandeer of wool but there were a thousand and one things they could do. Labour had many fantastic schem.es. They had made the Eeserve B'ank a State aii'air; had soclal- ' ised the dairy industry; and were starting State factories in competition with

private enterprfse. Three pieces of legislation alone had cost the freezing industry £460,000 a year. Mr. Holland. thought it. had been scandalous the wav the Minister of Labour had handled the stay-in strike in the Auckland freezing works. The Minister had ordered the , employers to pay added wages, thus interfering with the decisions of the Arbitration Court. It was a had state of affairs when the Government would not administer the laws of the land impartially. There had been more bother with labour troubles during the three years the Lahour Party had been in power, than before and yet the Government had declared their legislation had been to prevent labour discontent. The whole trend of labour legislation was' jfor worker-control of industry. One of the worst pieces of legislation had been the basic wage as it denied thousands bf boys the right to accept jobs. The result was an army of nnemployed boys pf promise. It prevented boys from learning professions and so damned their futures. "This business of politics is a serious 'one," declared Mr. Holland, "and everyone must lend a hand hy taking an active part in the xunr.ing of the coun-' try. You can't all he Members of Par-' liament but you can get in behind. the National Party enthusiastically and work hard to get it on to the 'Treasury benches," Mr. M. A, Eliott moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Holland.