SOAPING THE POLITICAL GEYSER

Hokitika Guardian, 29 August 1929, Page 7

SOAPING THE POLITICAL GEYSER

(Christchurch Star). An / outcry has been raised in Australia, one can well believe, at the proposals of .the Federal Budget, which will providb' an additional £2,750,000 in Customs duties, apart from substantial increases in the income tax, and even in the amusement tax. And yet, comparatively speaking, New Zealand is making a greater outcry at Budget proposals which will raise no more than £325,000 in Sxtra taxation, and that from tiie wealthiest class of landowners, who have had complete exemption from the payment of income tax since the war. The opposition to Sir Joseph Ward’s proposals has been artificially but very skilfully engineered, and Sir Joseph is entitled to object, as he did recently, to organised meetings being held and wholesale resolutions being passed, as if the whole of New Zealand were convulsed. The most regrettable feature of such propaganda is the use that has been made of local bodies and semi-public bodies for the purpose of carrying motions of protest. The misrepresentation of public opinion is due to what the Australians call the ‘‘white-anting” of local bodies by political propagandists. The Reform Party in New Zealand, and the Labour Party too, have set out to wield an influence in local politics that can he reflected in general politics, and the public should be on their guard- against propaganda emanating from Leal bodies whose leaders cherish political ambitions.