Election Post-Mortem

The last General Election must go down in history as the biggest sham and the biggest waste of money we have yet had to put up with. What it will be remembered for was its complete lack of alternative party programmes. Both major parties promised P.A.Y.E.; both also offered numerous juicy baits of doubtful ethical value. As for the Labour £100 tax rebate—that was a positive bribe. The same can also be said for the National Party promise of £25 grants for secondary school children. Credit goes to Dr. Mazengarb for his criticism that present-day politics had degenerated into a calculation as to which party could offer the biggest offer of paper pounds to the greatest number of voters. Credit is also due to F. P. Walsh as the only man who seemed aware of the critical state of our economy. Perhaps we could do well to imitate the current Finnish experiment of having a Cabinet of experts. Inclusion of Dr. Mazengarb and F. P. Walsh would be a sound beginning.

Undoubtedly the most worthwhile promises were those put forward by the Labour Party concerning housing and banking. Labour's 3 per cent, housing loans and baby mortgages are among the most positive steps taken by any government a encourage home ownership. As for changes in the issue of bank credit, my guess is that nothing will be done about it. It wa merely a sop to win the Social Credit vote. Probably much the same holds true as regards the Labour promises that worker participation in management, industrial co-partnership and profit-sharing will be promoted. No doubt this was a sop to tha section of the Labour party which sponsored a remit along those lines at the last Labour Conference.

All three political parties passed over in silence the question of religious education in public schools. It looks as though the Christian ideal of life is to be permitted to give way to a pagan culture exemplified in our youth by "chicken", "stove-pipes", and spring knives. We must applaud those few Christian gentlemen in the National Party who gave a candid personal opinion (and not a party one) on the issue of State Aid for private schools.

No comment on the General Election is complete without a few words about some of the policies that could have been put forward, but were not for one reason or another. Decimal coinage and eventually the entire metric system along with a reformed calendar is one line that could have been taken. Another is the total abolition of useless unproductive defence expenditure and its re-allocation to the Colombo Plan. Again, a sound industrial policy could be the utilisation of our bauxite deposits and iron sands.

The moral in Orwell's "Animal Farm" does not seem to have caught on. No sooner were the Socialists in power than they took over the Tory mansions for their Cabinet and began to let their families drive around in ministerial cars. The worst offender is undoubtedly the Minister of Education, whose son was driven away from the National Bowling Tournament in a government car. Might I suggest that what the Labour Party requires is an examination of conscience and a complete reorientation of thought.

T.J.K.