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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 26, No. 10. 1963.

'Liberal' Image Unreal

page 7

'Liberal' Image Unreal

The New Zealand Liberal Party is most definitely Liberal, and not liberal. This is evident from its pre-Conference manifesto, which advocates the abolition of graduated income tax and death and gift duties; the changing of all possible state businesses to private corporation "compelled to function under ruling business conditions"; the removal of Reserve Bank control of overseas funds; and the exposure of New Zealand producers to world conditions, unprotected.

Cooler heads seemed to have toned down these policies at the Conference held in Wellington on July 12-14. The clause on income tax has disappeared, as has the blanket condition on free trade. But the so-called Liberal party is still a highly Conservative, private-enterprise group.

Why the name then? In his opening address to Conference the Chairman, Mr. D. A. J. Hadley, gave a clue when [unclear: he] invoked the name of New Zealand's greatest Liberal, King Dick Seddon. In New Zealand "Liberal" has an emotive value which could attract votes.

The new Liberal Party's 40 candidates might be expected to address their main pitch to the traditional conservative group of small-town businessmen. Conveniently the small towns are the marginal seats today: places like Gisborne, Rotorua. Hastings. Palmerston North. Wanganui and Timaru need only a 2% shift from the party in power to put existing members out.

This arch-Conservative trend is one which runs right through New Zealand political history: the United Party of the late 1920's is an example. Today's Liberals represent two factions, one, the Progressive Liberal Party, centred in Auckland, and the other, the just plain Liberal Party, with headquarters in Christchurch.

The Auckland-South Island schism, reflected in other New Zealand organisations, is longstanding among Liberals. The Progressives, now resigned at least temporarily, to being the Auckland branch, seem less hidebound: they advocate a nuclear free South Pacific and State aid to private schools. The original Liberal manifesto also adopted conservative Constitutional Society propositions for an Upper House and a written Constitution.

The small-town and city conservatives are a declining breed relative to wage and salary-earners. It looks doubtful that the Liberals can hope for representation, let alone a minority government. There is no crisis with which to grab protest votes as there was for the Social Crediters in 1954. The National Party's Conference showed that the Party is as confident and united as it has been since 1949. Any votes may come from centrally tending Labour voters, dissatisfied with Nordmeyer's leadership.

The best that the Liberals can hope for, and their aims partially admit this, is that by putting pressure on the 15 or so marginal seats in the electorate they can get votes to tip the balance in the House, and thus force one or other of the parties to rethink their policy. The chances of doing this are extremely slim indeed.—R.G.L.