NATIONAL PARTY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 May 1938, Page 7

NATIONAL PARTY

HON. A. HAMILTON’S SPEECH LAST EVENING EXAMINATION OF LABOUR'S RECORD. EXPORT PRICES TRUE BASIS OF PROSPERITY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. At one time and another, in the course of his speech last night, the Hen A. Hamilton, Leader of the National Party, had a good deal to say about the claims made by the Labour Government.,

Mr Hamilton was given a friendly hearing and applause at times became an ovation. A noisy hostile section at the back of the hall was not particularly troublesome. “The main theme running right through the Prime Minister’s speech,” Mr Hamilton said, “was that he and his colleagues had completely revolutionised the trade of New Zealand. They had increased production. They had brought new money into being. They had raised prices to unheard-of levels. They had made the people happier. Unemployment was a thing of the past. The sheep grew more wool. Tho birds sang again. The cows had their tails up. And it wasn’t going to rain no more. Practically his whole appeal for the continued support of the electors, was that he and his colleagues caused all this prosperity. And that the past Government had been the cause of the depression. Never before has such a boastful attitude been adopted by any Prime Minister —especially when we consider the argument upon which it was based. We have only to prove the falseness of the base of his argument, to show the falseness of his conclusions. This can readily be done. “It would be much more correct to say that past Governments, with their sound, progressive policies, had much more to do with the present prosperity, than had the present Government. The real cause of returned prosperity was the general rise in the price level of commodities —especially of the goods we export. It would be much nearer the truth, to say that 90 per cent of the prosperity of these last few years, was the result of causes with which the Prime Minister and his colleagues had nothing whatever to do. Any credit due to him is freely given, but if he thinks that the electors of New Zealand will swallow his statement of the case, he is sadly underestimating their intelligence. “The Prime Minister, and some of his colleagues, never cease to lay claim to all the credit for any good that comes along, and also never ceases to blame past Governments for all that goes wrong. If they can’t blame the last Government for some unfortunate happening, they then call it an act of God. It was the increased income arising from the price of our exports that caused our present prosperity. When we consider that our income from exports during three years (Continued on page 3.)