NATIONAL PARTY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 May 1943, Page 2

NATIONAL PARTY

MASTERTON WOMEN’S SECTION. ANNUAL MEETING YESTERDAY. The annual meeting of the Women’s section of the Masterton branch of the National Party was held in the Y.M.C.A. rooms yesterday afternoon. There was a fair attendance. It was decided to send Mrs Grigg M.P. a letter wishing her a speedy recovery to good health. Officers were elected as follow: President Mrs T. R. Barrer; vice-presi-dents, Mesdames Hugh Mackay, Robert Miller and Miss B. Kummer; committee, Mesdames, Harris, Hewitt, Gray Engstrom, Dawson, Dorsett, Wright, Russell, and Miss F. Maunsell; secretary, Mrs Alexander. Mrs Miller did not* seek re-election as president and she was thanked for her services in that capacity. Mrs Barrer referred to the National Party’s after war reconstruction plan and commended the savings campaign. It was necessary, she said, to save now and to spend constructively after the war to create employment. New Zealand would be required to produce an increased percentage of butter, cheese, meat etc. for Britain after the war. Mrs Barrer referred to the different forms of Socialism, namely National Socialism, Communism, an extreme form of socialism, and Christian Socialism. She said New Zealand had been developing its own form of socialism. In a democracy the essence of socialism was that the character and the ability of the individual should not be submerged under a system of bureaucracy. Referring to the National Party’s land policy Mrs Barrer said that frequently present members of the party were blamed for the high prices paid for land after the last war; yet the members who were blamed were not in Parliament then. The party’s policy regarding land for returned men was that the price for land should be based on the productive value of the land.