OPENING THE BALL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 September 1938, Page 5

OPENING THE BALL

■ PRIME MINISTER’S ADDRESS IN WELLINGTON CHALLENGE ACCEPTED SOCIAL SECURITY & OTHER ISSUES. t I f ENTHUSIASM DISPLAYED. 3 (Ey Telegraph—Press Association.) ‘ WELLINGTON. This Day. A review of the record of the Labour Government over the past three years, an outline of its election r policy, and a criticism of the mani--3 festo of the National Party were given t by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Lion. M. , J. Savage, in his address in the Wel- ? lington Town Hall last night. The hall r was packed to the doors, many people l’ being turned away. Mr Savage was given an ovation as he entered the hall, i and when he rose to speak the audi- > ence sang, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fel--1 low.” At the close of his address he ! was accorded three cheers and again : acclaimed. j The Mayor of Wellington, Mr T. C. A. Hislop, presided, and associated on , the platform with Mr Savage were the , Minister of Education, the Hon. P. Fraser, and other prominent members of the industrial and political Labour ! movements. In the course of his address, Mr Savage said the position before Labour took office was disgraceful and acutely intolerable in a country with rich resources. A great deal of the cause of wide distress was plain enough. Nothing mattered then except cutting down josts, which was the one evil that aggravated the trouble. The Nationalists had not changed. Again they I were pledged to their masters to cut costs. Thev were inherently unable to , believe in the success of new ideas and I new methods. “It was for that reason.” • he said, “that the National Government i blunged thousands of peonle into pen--1 ury. .And what, chaos and misery they 1 created in a few years! Young children were denied access to the schools ; and thousands of boys and girls were ; without opportunity of work.” Today. Mr Savage declared, a multitude of young men were unskilled or bjindalley workers because the Nationalists banged and bolted the industrial door against apprentices. LABOUR ACHIEVEMENTS. Mr Savage reviewed the achievements of the Labour Party and said that Nationalists were cackling un and down the country that the issue was private enterprise versus Socialism. The plain fact was that the battle | was between stupidity and common sense. (Applause). The Government was not out to steal the farmers’ land, he said. Its job was to put people on the land and to keep them there. The farmers would understand that. The Government had done more to increase the equity of the farmer in the last three years than the Nationalists would do if they were in office for 103 years. And now Labour was being accused of wanting to socialise the farms. The thing was too stupid for words. Thousands of farm mortgages had been adjusted. Under the Government’s mortgage relief legislation, £4.000,000 had been written off. That did not i look like socialising the farms. Last : year £1,500,000 was voted for the im- '■ provement of country roads. The same 1 amount had been provided this year. ’ AH' backblock farmers would be taken "out of the mud” within five years. 1 It was also said that Labour was ■ out to destroy religion. “If the old neonle get 30s a week that will not 1 destroy religion,” Mr Savage said. “It . will be bringing the Kingdom of God 1 on earth.” 1 MONETARY CONTROL. i “The clear objective of Labour is to. make money the servant instead of al- - lowing it to remain the master of man- ’ kind,” Mr Savage said when referring < to the party’s policy of extending the 1 control of the financial and banking i system until representatives of the peo- 1 pie are the sole authority for the issue of credit and currency. ; “It is just as necessary for the na- I tion to organise and control the money < system as it is for it to organise and 1 control the army and navy,” he said. ’ “The issues involved are too great to > be left to private individuals or cor- f porations. The issue and control of £ money by the State is indispensable to r the public welfare.” He gave his pledge I that the peoples savings would be safely invested and that the public ere- ( dit would be intelligently used. Three times as much was being spent 1 on defence as in 1935, Mr Savage ob- ' served. ' NATIONAL PARTY POLICY. * The Opposition policy was remark- t able both for what it omitted and what t it stated, the Premier continued. The Labour Government was creating a new social order with higher standards of living and a greater measure of hap- I piness and prosperity to the average I man and woman. As a .derripcratic J party it /was (asking .for. an emphatic 1 popular mandate to translate that.faith . into reality. The Leader of the 'Na- f tional Party was seeking to divide' the j country on two main issues, social security and guaranteed prices. “I accept , that challenge now,” Mr Savage said. ' “We will fight it on that. If the peo- j pie do not want the social security f proposals they will have to get rid of . me and the Government. These proposals are going into operation. I am not threatening anybody. You can depend on me to carry out the pledges , I am, making to you in the name of Labour.” , The statement of the National Partv that it would not operate the Social Security Act meant old age pensions , at 22s 6d a week instead of 30s. widows ' with young children would get 20s in- ( stead of 25s a week; invalids would be given 20s a week instead of 30s; miners stricken with their occupational c disease would be paid 25s instead of ' 30s; there would be no sickness benefit and no emergency benefits. With one hand the Nationalists would exempt from the tax all persons under 20 and all wages of women, but f with the other hand they would take - away the social security benefits. E There would be no unemployment be- ; nefit. no sickness benefit, no free doctor j or hospital unless the people were i

poor, no free medicine unless they were poor, no superannuation unless they paid for it in full. “I don’t want anything but your goodwill,” concluded Mr Savage. “If I can get the goodwill of the people of this country I will go down to the grave satisfied.” MOTION CARRIED. The following motion, moved by Mr H. E. Combs. Labour candidate for Wellingtqh Suburbs, and seconded by Mrs. C. Stewart, Labour (candidate for Wellington' West, was carried: — “This mass meeting of ■ Wellington citizens thanks the Rt. Hon. the Prime Minister for his masterly and inspiring review of the political situation in New Zealand, and his explanation of' the Labour Party’s election policy, and hereby records its sincere appreciation of the snlendid work that he. his Cabinet colleagues and the Parliamentary Labour Party have accomplished in three short years, in transforming the economic, industrial and social life of the people. “We are proud of the work they have done, and look forward with confidence to the continuation of their snlendid achievements after election dav.

“Furthermore, we express our complete confidence in the Rt. Hon. the Prime Minister and the Labour Government. and pledge ourselves to work untiringly for their return on October 15.”