"A NIGHT OUT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 205, 31 August 1933, Page 5

"A NIGHT OUT."

LYTTELTON AUDIENCE. COALITIONIST HECKLED.* CHEERS FOR MRS. MeCOMBS. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. A meeting addressed by Mr. F. W. Freeman, the official Coalition candidate, at Lyttelton last night, was in the nature of "a night out," for a section of the audience of 300, and it ended with cheers for Airs. McCoinbs. At no stage was tho meeting free from a running lire of good-humoured interjections, which the candidate returned in the same spirit. He was in better campaigning form than at any of his previous meetings. Ho dealt for some time with the advantages claimed for the | Tunnel Road, which he wishes the I Government to adopt as a major unemj ployment relief measure. | As the candidate went on to speak of I the country's solvency and the glorious traditions of the Empire, voices invited him to "put another rocord on," and "cut out the bunk." Depression, argued the candidate, who appeared to be enjoying the interjections, was a reaction from a period of (artificial boom. "There should have been no depression," declared a voice. "On Road to Recovery." Mr. Freeman aroused an uproar by declaring that the Labour party, by promising additional social services, for which tho ratepayers would pay, wanted the people's money to buy votes. Mr. Freeman: Let me tell you what I have been thinking. (Laughter.) I do think sometimes, you know. I believe that we are 011 the road to recovery. A Voice: Oh, turned the corner! "Gordon can't boss me," declared the candidate, when an interjector made reference to Mr. Coates. He spoke highly of the late Sir Joseph Ward, as a great Liberal Prime Minister, who had given

grants for the bettering of Canterbury's access to the sea. A Voice: And Gordon turned you down ? Mr. Freeman: Yes, Gordon turned us down, but he won't turn you down when you put me in. A fusillade of questions greeted the candidate after his address. He was asked, "Which side of the fence he would jump" if the Coalition Government broke up? Mr. Freeman: I will follow the Leader of the Government. The Questioner: What if it happened to be Mr. Holland? Mr. Freeman: He has to get there first. Education "Cuts" Defended. Defending the Government's curtailment of education facilities, Mr. Freeman said there was such a thing as overeducation. In Hawaii the educational facilities were so great that liftboys were

B.A.'s. There was a great danger of putting a limousine education into a "baby" car. The heads of the Government had seen fit to deal with the education vote as a depression measure. Educational facilities were such that a working man's son could go right up to the university. The candidate thanked the meeting for a vote of thanks, and for its irregular hearing.