NATIONAL PARTY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1938, Page 7

NATIONAL PARTY

MEETING OF PONGAROA BRANCH. ADDRESS BY MR J. H. IRVING. The annual meeting of the Pongaroa branch of the National Party in the Masterton .Electorate was held recently, when there was a very large attendance. The branch has 181 members. The chairman, Mr P. Kent, reported a successful year stating that all arrangements were completed for the election. The following are members of the committee: Messrs P. Kent (chairman), S. P. Eunson (secretary), S. F. Herbert, B. D. Armstrong, A. Ruskill, H. Thomas, B. Chatfield, W. E. Davis, C. P. Hunter, L. Ballantyne, D. D. Riddell and R. B. Robinson Junr. A convenor was also appointed to form a ladies’ committee.

Mr J. H. Irving, the candidate, and Mr G. R. Sykes, organiser, were present. Mr Irving said this was the last of the eleven branches in the electorate to hold its annual meeting. The electorate organisation, which was now complete, was a most democratic one. It was the desire of all those opposed to the Labour Party that the organisation should be maintained on those lines. It was hoped that in the future, closer contact would be made between the members and the people of New Zealand, so that better government would prevail. The great trouble in the past had been that a number of members had lost touch with conditions in their electorates. With several thousand party members in an electorate, however, this would be impossible. The members of the party no doubt would see to that.

“The policy of the National Party will be set forth within two months,” Mr Irving went on to observe, “and it will then be . my duty to address as many of .the electors as possible. We must fight the election cleanly, with a constructive programme and not simply the one of endless criticism so often resorted to, I regret to say, by both Government and Opposition. The National Party must look after social services more than the Conservative Governments of the past have done. New Zealand has in some respects lagged behind the rest of the Empire? Today very few people, doubt the justice of redistributing the national income, but there is no agreement on any plan of bringing this about. If the rich are taxed until all incomes are equal, the incentive to toil and to save would be lost and the consequences would be demoralising.”. Great Britain had first introduced a national health insurance scheme in 1911 and also a limited unemployment insurance scheme, which was extended to the whole of industry in 1920 and further extended social pensions in 1925. All these three social schemes were compulsory on nearly every employee who earned less than a specified income, contributions being made by employers as .well as by employees. The State also contributed. In Britain, there was no question of having to contribute and then not benefiting, as proposed by our Labour Government. Mr Irving said he thought contribution without benefit absolutely wrong in principle. The New Zealand plan was meeting with tremendous opposition from all sections and he doubted whether any legislation so far passed 'by the Labour Government would have such an effect in removing it from office. Mr Savage had said that the sky' was the limit, with the brakes off. The brakes would be used when the country was running backwards downhill, Mr Irving observed, if the Prime Minister overtaxed our financial resources.

“I believe in giving credit where it is due,” Mr Irving added, “and we should all admit that some of the Government’s legislation is good and that we must carry it on, social insurances in particular. The most important plank of our platform next to social services will be that of land policy, which is what I believe the people of New Zealand want. This has been given months of consideration and I feel sure will meet with your appreciation.”