AUCKLAND CENTRAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 246, 17 October 1925, Page 14

AUCKLAND CENTRAL.

A STORMY MEETING. MR. WILSON'S ADDRESS. AT ST. JAMES' HALL. Every seat was occupied, there was not even standing room at the back, when Mr. F. W. Brinsden. the chairman, introduced Mr. Charles A. Wilson, the official Reform candidate, to electors at St. James' Hall last evening. Apparently the chairman expected a stormy meeting as he opened with the words: Ladies and gentlemen. I have noticed that the only candidates to get a fair and impartial hearing are the Labour men. I am personally acquainted with Messrs. Parry. Savage and Bloodworth and know that they are not responsible. But I believe a small section of Communists started the trouble and if any section think they are going to upset this meeting they are wrong. I will call upon the police to warn them and if they don't take heed of the warning then they will be prosecuted. A voice: Sit down, you're not the candidate. The chairman: I am in the position of referee and I will see that Mr. Wilson gets a fair go. A voice: Will you be quiet. Tliis was a sufficiently lively opening and when the candidate got up and started his address, there were almost continuous interjections from various parts of the hall and particularly from a section near the door.

The candidate in opening said that it was not his intention to delve into past history, and revive conflicts that should be forgotten, but rather to indicate the lines upon which he thought the policy of the country will proceed. Elections imposed a duty upon the people to see that they obtained politicians of the greatest experience and capability, so that they were equipped and trained to judge every question upon its merits and from the national and not personal point of view.

A voice: Mr. Parry knows that; he's a dead moral.

It was for the electors not to be swayed by this or that partisan feeling, but to judge for themselves and vote for the men who were likely to deal with questions in the best interests of the nation. There was no need to talk to him about working people. He was one of them, like most of our business men. His father was a miner and a pioneer on the West Coast, an Irishman, born 20 miles from Mr. Massey's home. Perhaps it was from him he had inherited a hatred of oppression and of special privilege in any form. And so he offered himself for the position of representing what is known as a working-class electorate in Parliament. It seemed that the slectorate could use the services of a man who was a worker and yet had 25 years' experience of business management. What ordinary people not something 100 years from now, not charity, but a chance here and now, so that they and their children could develop independently, and make their own way up the ladder of life. To develop the land we need people who would work if they had the chance, and it was to the country to give them that chance. A voice: Give us some politics. He was stai-ding as the official candidate for the Government party, under the leadership of Mr. Coates. Mr. Coates had courage, force of character, determination, ability, and above all a fairness which led him to see both sides and select that which was right, not that which was expedient. A voice: What about Harry Holland? He would follow the Premier on any question so far discused, knowing full well that he could be depended upon to run straig-ht, and do justice to the country. A voice: Never mind Coates; give us your platform. Chorus: He's got none! Mr. Wilson continued to praise the work done by the Prime Minister, until scmeone iv tbe audience began to snore while others pleaded for "some politics," and still another interji-.-feu that it was not Coates, but "Goats" the candidate was speaking about. The candidate then dealt at great length with Communism, and again someone asked Mr. Wilson to define his platform. Mr. Wilson: You're getting it. From the back: Ha! Ha! He intended to devote one evening to an exposition on the fallacies of Communism or Socialism, taking their three catch-lines, viz, "For use and not for profit," "distribution and not sale," and "the worker must have the full product of his labour." These were supposed to do away with wage slavery and were contrary to possibility and would result in chaos. Dealing with the land policy I the "usehold" policy was. he said, absurd and he would call it "loosehold." (Applause). He had seen the L.I.P. and O.R.P. A voice: And P.I.P. Mr. Wilson then drifted on to the town-planning scheme for Orakei and expressed the opinion that all the electorates should undergo town-plannim* first. A voice: What about the Civic Square. Continuing the candidate said that when the configuration of the city was , considered there was no reason win- it should not be town-planned before they thought about Orakei. It was important to see that five houses were not built where there should only be two. (Ap-

plause). . The candidate touched upon workers' homes, factories and sections, and advocated modern villages, his remarks being punctuated by a running fire of comment from those at the back of the

He touched briefly upon the housing' question, advocating town-planning, factories, and workers' homes in the sunurhs, better facilities for Devonport, a kind of composite home. He advocated agricultural instruction in school for boys, emphasising what a beneficial effect such would have on farming. On the subject of immigration he thought that New Zealanders should be giveu the first opportunity to take up fand. It was an extremely hard job to _et certain people to go on the land. The Labour party could do no more to put people on the land than any other party. A voice: Cut out the Labour party and tell us something about Reform. Here an, elector who would turn the scale about IS stone made his way up the passage and sat on the side of a chair about three rows from the front. He opened with: What about the sailors in gaol?—and was immediately the subjecf of a short heart-to-heart talk with a constable. At the conclusion of the address somebody moved a vote of thanks and confidence in the candidate and at once about ia dozen people in different parts of the hall, mostly at the back, wanted to move an amendment. The chairman declared I the motion carried.