MR ARTHUR WITHY IN ENGLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 195, 16 August 1895, Page 3

MR ARTHUR WITHY IN ENGLAND.

HIS CANDIDATURE FOR SOUTH

HEKEFORDSHIRE.

From the Hereford " Times " of July 13th we learn that Mr Arthur Withy contested the South Herefordshire eeab againsb Mr Biddulph, the Unionist sitting member, a local banker. At his first meeting, Sir Joseph Pulley, the late Liberal candidate, who retired on accounb of illness, eaid, in introducing Mr Withy to the electors, that he had great pleasure in supporting him, because their political views were co much in accord on the burning questions of the day. It was essential that the winga of the House of Lords should be cropped, and thab their privilege of spoiling legislation should be done away with. Mr Withy followed in a speech which occupies a column, and said ib was not a question of Homo Rule for Ireland merely, bub of Home Rule for Greab Britain. Was it to be governed by the people for the people, or by an irresponsible House of hereditary wreckers—a house of landlords ? Ho then alluded to the Parish Councils Acb, and the mutilation of the allotment clauses by che Lords, and showed the beneficial etfecbsof allotments under ju3b conditions, as on Lord Carrington's estates. Dealing with the laud question he showed that the tax was now levied on the values of 1692, and consequently only produced about one million, whereas if ib were levied on present values, as ib ought to be, ib would produce from 30 to 40 millions. Ie was to this 6ource that they must look for the free breakfasb table, the payment of members and the old age peneione, that were so urgently needed. This revenue had been lost to the people because landlords had had the making of the laws, landlords who. objected to the payments of labour members, i but who had managed to pay themselves pretty »well, by evading the the land tax which they were in justice bound to pay. Mr Withy then dealt with the Employers' Liability Act, which the Lords had mutilated so that the workmen were driven to contract themselves out of its benefits, and the greab railway companies could continue to " accidentally " kill their men at about the same cosb as horses. He advocated "one man one vote" and "one woman one vote." (A voice: "Ib will be good-bye to the Tories then.") They wanted votes for the *' sons of toil," nob for the "tons of soil" votes lor men and not for clods of earth. The editorial notes quote the address lately eenb to Mr Withy by the Auckland Knights of Labour. The Earl of Chesterfield addressing a mass meeting in Hereford said he was " glad to tell "his hearers thab they had found a rattling good Radical candidate in Mr Arthur Withy.'who had come down aba moment's notice to fight the contest for Hereford South." Several other meetings are fully reported, at one of which the Rector of Eastnor presided and proclaimed himself a broad Churchman, a Radical, and a member of a Dsmociafcic Federation. Ho found that if a parson went to a Primrose mealing, ib waa 'all right,1 bub if he attended a Radical meeting he was i very much boycotted. Ho objected to being a sleek, well-groomed cabbage, dressed in black. He claimed to be ono of fche people, and could nob do other than identify himsolf with them in politics. Thab was why he iras there to ask them to welcome Mr Withy. Lady Henry Somerset also gave Mr Withy her energetic support, bub apparently local influences were too strong to be overcome ab such shorfi notice, and the returns as cabled show that Mr Biddulph retained the seat.