IN FIGHTING MOOD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 85, 1 December 1931, Page 5

IN FIGHTING MOOD

"Post.")

REFORM CANDIDATE DIR E. E. VAILE AT MATAMATA . CRITICISES LABOUR POLICY OTHER OPPONENTS NOT SPARED .

(Special to

MATAMATA, last night. t" At the Matamata Town Hall last night Mr. E. Earle Vaile, Independent Reform candidate for Rotorua, delivered an address giving his rea- _ . sons why he was offering his services; why he supported the Reform Party, and why he could not support the United, Country or Labour Parties. Mr Vaile said that'he was chosen by the Reform Party as its candidate after having declined nominatioii by fiie Country Party. After the formation of the Coalition, the Reform party in the Rotorua electorate had requested him to continue and he therefore claimed their support, otherwise they would let him down. No one in authority in the Reform - Party had asked any eleetor to vote for any candidate other than himself. The United Party organisers, he said, were at the bottom of the opposition to him and had threatened him with the party machine, but he was not afraid of their politieal machine guns. He was not a politieal dummy. Unlike an opponent, who was apparently prepared to adopt any policy vhich he might be order ed to support, i e did not wait for his policy to come .own from his superiors. The Reform Party, he said. had he3un to sense the danger of excessive uorrowing and expenditure and had • one to the country with a policy of oeonomy, with the result that it had been defeated. The United Party bad won the election by a policy of 'Borrow, boom and bust." In office Piey had completely failed to put their policy into force and should have resigned, instead of which they had appropriated the platform of the Reform Party and had then offered them a partnership in it. United Party Criticised Mr. Vaile produced a manifesto of ;h© United Party at the 1928 elec- ; ,ions and Sir Joseph Ward's pledge in iupport of if and severely criticised both. He drew attention to changes in ;he attitude of Mr. Forbes and quoted - iis words, used during the Hauraki - by-election : "I don't care what I said ast year or last week." The United Party had greatly increased horrow-

ng and taxatxon. ihey haa lmposea i!l,000,000 of new taxation through ,he Post Office without a vote of Par- • lament. He considered them "the ,reatest collection of incompetents ffiat had ever fluked the chance to nisgovern this unfortunate country." As for the Country Party, he was iimself that party's first choice and .hey were apparently most anxious o secure him as a candidate. It v. most inconsistent for *them now to ".■xei't themselves to keep him out of Parliament. In the most improbable went of their securing the return of the whole of their six candidateSj, they would only be a nuisance in Par- ■ ament. • In Rotorua they had no ,:hance whatever. All they could achievo was to prevent the election of heir original choice. He suggested that the electors should not waste ..heir votes and let Labour in. , He had great respect for many of „he Labour leaders, but considered their policy impossible of aceomplishnont and essentially undesirable. They were Socialists — Socialism and eersonal liberty would not exist side by side. Socialism bad always been a failure in actual practice. He objected to a Labour Government as it was eonfessedly a class interest. Labour Governments in Australia and England had been frightful failures and we did not want the same state of affairs in New Zealand. "Basic Economic Errors." Mr. Vaile severely criticised the recent speeches of Mr. H. E. Holland, economic errors, among others, that saymg that they contained many basic purehasing power was dependent on wages. It really deperided on the money realised from the sale of our products abroad. He satirised Mr. Holland's claim to give high wages to workers. Nobody gave wages, he said. They were earned, and if the workers did not produce the goods, they could not be paid. Neither the Arbitration Court nor anyone else could fix wages. If the workers f ailed to earn their wages, the industry in which they were engaged neeessarily | ceased and the workers became unemployed.

Mr. Holland proposed to guarantee a fixed price for primary products. This was impossible of performance. The attempts of the British and Dutch Government in rubber, and of the American Government in wheat proved this. To borrow £25,000,000 another Labour proposal, was worse than no remedy for our ills. It would only exaggerate the position. The speaker claimed that Mr. Holland'sv ideas regarding the issue of currency to improve trade may he quite useless. The remedy, he said, was -in the hands of the people themselves. The powers of Governments were limited. They could not fix the price of money nor of any commodity. The argument that because we raised money during the war we could do it now was speeiously false. Because a private concern had borrowed £1000 and lost it, was a very good reason why he . could not borrow again. So it was with Governments. Mr. Vaile closed with an appeal to the electors to vote only in the interests of the country as a whole. They should ehoose the candidate who is best qualified by character, experience, and ability to help the country out of its difficulties and vote for him. Mr. Vaile answered numerous questions with considerable vigour apparently to the satisfaction of his audience. Mr, A: M. "Wright moved a hearty vote of thanks, stressing the candidate's experience in business and farming, and the advantages of his wide reading combined with travel. This was carried with applause.* A vote of thanks was also accorded the ] chairman.