CAMPAIGN SHOTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 101, 1 May 1930, Page 8

CAMPAIGN SHOTS.

RETORT TO MR. WRIGHT. MR. STALLWORTHY'S ATTITUDE. A statement attributed to Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P., that the Minister of Health, the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, lias not taken any part in the Parnell byelection . was denied to-day by the United party organiser, who said it was regrettable that an ex-Minister of the Crown should make a statement which was contrary to fact. Early in the campaign Mr. Stallworthy had delivered an address to a large audience in St. Mark's parish hall, Remuera, and had paid a high compliment to the United party candidate, Mr. W. A. Donald. Mr. Stallworthy said this morning that if an ex-Minister of the Reform party had no other weapons than falsehood to use in the Parnell by-election campaign he would have done the Reform party a service by remaining at home. Mr. Stallworthy said the electors at Parnell, and of Now Zealand generally, had every reason to be gratified that a man of Mr. Donald's personality and undoubted ability, ripened by business experience and wide travel, had been sufficiently self-sacrificing to offer himself for election. He was convinced that if Mr. Donald was elected he would render his constituents and the Dominion excelleut service. Why Labour Supported It. "Why did the Labour party support the United, legislation? I say it was because it was good legislation." —The Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Public Works, at St. Mary's Church Hall last evening. '1. Am Only Human.'' "I am not omniscient. I am only human." —Mr. Donald, in excusing himself for having 110 knowledge why the postal authorities failed to deliver a certain letter in Samoa. Bellamy's. ' "Bellamy's is a place where you can get good cocoa, tea and coffee and also some of the finest whisky that ever went down a man's throat." —Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P., Mr. Wright, being a strict prohibitionist, it can be assumed that he was speaking of what other M.P.'s have told him. "Whisperers." • Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P. for Wellington Suburbs, is a comical storyteller. When Mr. W. P. Endean mentioned that Mr. Wright had given him some valuable tips about questions that are asked candidates, the Wellington M.P. said, "You don't know you're born yet. You will get all sorts of questions fired at you. And another thing you will have to put up with —the whisperers —people who spread all sorts of unkind and untrue remarks about you. If you stand for Parliament anything you have ever done will be raked up. Anything your father and your grandfather has ever done will be brought up, too. If these people go back very far and the Darwinian theory of evolution is true, they might be surprised."

Twenty-four Hours' Praying. Another story by Mr. Wright: Many years ago the late Dr. A. K. Newman fought a contest in Wellington. First it was announced lie was elected, then it was said he was defeated. Again lie was placed at the head, only to be told he was not in. When the time came to return thanks, Dr. Newman said, "Well, I don't know whether I'm in or. out yet. All I can do is to ask you' to pray for me." The next day a parcel of ballot papers was found, and Dr. Newman was elected beyond doubt. The following day he received a letter from a wag, who enclosed an account for fl 4/. "Praying for you for 24 hours at 1/ an hour," explained the writer. "Sniping in Ambush." A suggestion that the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, was "sniping at the United party in ambush" was made by the Minister or Public Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, speaking at St. Mary's Church Hall. Mr. C'oatos, he said, was going round the country holding "semi-private, speci-ally-packed meetings," from which the public, and often the Press, were excluded. The only .report of any of the meetings had appeared in a lJannevirkc paper, and in that Mr. Coates attributed to Labour blame for the displeasing position of politics to-day. But who was displeased with the politics in New Zealand to-day? A Voice: I am! The Minister declared that the only ones who were displeased were those who were ailectcd by tax and land supertax. ,