POLITICAL.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1922, Page 2

POLITICAL.

MR PARR'S) ADDRESS. LBV IKLKGItACn —CEB BUKSS ASSOCIATION] AUCKLAND, November 6. The Hon. Mr Parr addressed the electors at Henderson to-night. A considerable portion of his speech was devoted to his education policy, which he claimed, was one of progress along sound lines. No Government in the Empire had done as much as New Zealand in the last three years. Regarding the contention that the Government’s cuts in the civil servants’ salaries should have spared the man who is getting less than from £3OO to £350 a year, he said that out of 51,000 officers, only 1,010 received over £SOO and only 5,500 got over £320. A cut on the higher salaries would only have saved £205,000, while the Government had to save one and a. quarter millions or else increase taxation. As regards the Government’s opponents and their policy, Mr Purr said that three hard and anxious years lay ahead. Was it wise to change the Government in the middle of the difficult work of post-war reconstruction ? There was only one sound policy. It was strict economy, more production, land settlement, reproductive public works, and the reduction of crushing taxation which was crippling industry, and so was producing unemployment. The country must have .strong leaders. Mr Massey was the only possible leader. What did Mr Wilford’s party offer the country in this hour of need? Their panacea' for our ills was proportional representation and a State hank. The late Mr Seddon and Sir Joseph Ward had condemned both these planks, which had been lifted from the Labour programme to catch the Labour vote. Mr Parr warned electors that if Mr Massey were not returned with a majority, they would have turmoil and the expense of another election next March, or a combination of the Wilfordites and Hollandites. The Labour Party policy was simply half-baked Socialism, as crude and grotesque as it was impracticable. The Labour policy meant death to the freehold. The Government’s policy was freehold for everyone. Extreme Labour was out to abolish Parliament. Mr Parr quoted figures to show that the increase in expenditure since 1914 was directly due to war, and also to circumstances which no Government could control. A vote of thanks and confidence was passed.