MESSRS PERCEVAL, REEVES AND TAYLOR AT THIS THEATRE.

Press, Volume XLVIL, Issue 7725, 3 December 1890, Page 6

MESSRS PERCEVAL, REEVES AND TAYLOR AT THIS THEATRE.

Messrs Perceval, Reeves and Taylor addressed a meeting of the electors of Christchurch at the Theatre Royal, last night. There was a very large attendance, the building being crowded, and there was also a number of ladies in the dress circle.

His Worship the Mayor, who occupied the chair, briefly introduced the speakers, end urged upon the electors the responsibility which rested upon them in voting ou Friday next; Mr VV. B. Pbbceval, who was the first to apeak, said that they had deemed it only courteous to address the electors on the last occasion in the centre. They took it as a great compliment that so large a number uf the electors had attended that evening to hear them speak on subjects which had been worn almost threadbare during the past four weeks. They had been called the performing fleas, and he took it as rather a compliment that they had been compared to such a pertinacious and industrious insect. Mr Perceval then went on to urge upon the electors the importance and responsibility which weighed upon the ejectors in the present contest. While this was so, a corresponding responsibility also rested on the candidates, all of whom, he believed, were men of integrity, and who sought to serve the colony. Tne question wan, whether the candidates held opinions which were in consonance with the wishe» of the people or not. 1C it were not, then their very ability and high character was a rod for the backs of the people. The speaker then went on to say mat. they invited the electors, if they were opposed to the present Government, to support the candidates who were pledged co oppose the present Government. Therefore ne asked them to vote in accordance with this principle. Each one had three voces, though thuy could vote for one, two, or three; yet he asked them noc to split their votes. They wanted to send to Wellington three men who would support the party they,' as Liberal candidates, were ngutiug for. He tnerefore asked them to vote for three candidates, leaving ou one side altogether any individual feelings. They stood there and asked ihe electors to coudeuiu the laud policy of the present Government, because cbey .had takeu no steps to stop duniuiyistn, because cney had endeavored to bring the system uf village BeLileinenfcs to a close. The Liberals wanted to see small settlers on tne land, and this they could not expect to get 'from the present Government. He was opposed to further borrowing, except to pusn forward land settlement, ana this he thought might be obtained in the colony. Wnile he hoped: to see borrowing* reduced to the ucmost limit, he would favor a small loan for laud s-ittlemeut. Mr Perceval then referred to the insecurity of the investments uf the money of the colony, a revision of tne Customs tariff, tne reform of the constitution of the Upper House; the conservation of he rignu* of tne working classes; and the keeping of the system pi education in its present state of efficiency. Mr Perceval then proceeded Co dwell upon the necessity wnich existed for carrying on the colony in the interests ot the rising generation, and the instilling of eeutitueuts of patriotism into the minds of the young New Zealanciera. and drew a picture of the present state , of the colony of .New Zealand. He loved Sew Zealand, and so iongae he had breath in his body he would do his best to raise the colony out of the pitiable state into which it had fallen. The Government wanted the colony to sleep, to go into a death trance, and" it was for the electors of Christcburcb, and oi. the colony generally, to awaken the colony from this trance. The speaker went ou to Urge the necessity of more technical teacuing in their State schools, particularly in tne higher standards. Aβ to the secondary schools, they were, as they knew, supported by endowments from the laud of tne people, and he could not think -that these endowments were ever intended, to aid those who ooutd afford to pay for their own children, but those endowments should be expended in providing technical education, more scholarships, and generally fitting them to take their part in lite, fie then went on to urge the necessity of some such provisions as were contained In ttie Labor Bills to protect their boys working m factories. They had advocated a policy of protection so that everything which could be manufactured here should be. Mr Perceval then urged that their young people should be induced to take upland. Tne action of the Government witn reference to the land was, ne need hardly say, not in any way in accord* aace with the wishes of tne people, and he called upon them to wake up lo a seuse of their responsibility and to say whether they were content with the present policy of tne Government, or would have a policy which would be for the benefit of the colony as a whole. The power was in the .hands of Che people. They 'who went to Wellington were but the mouthpieces of the people co carry out their wLmee. He asked mem to remember that on Friday next New Zealand expected every tnaa to do his duty, and he hoped they would do so, not letting their vote go to Che first paid canvasser wuo asked for it, or the caudid ate who gave them tt jgiass of beer. (Loud applause;. . &c R. M. Taylob was the next to address the meeting, and commenced by referring to the claim to economy puc forward by the present Government, which he denied. The speaker then referred to the appointment of Judge Edwards, which he said meant the payment of £2500 a year to do a good turn to a friend. The land question was the question of the day, and ne could not understand why a section of the Press should denounce a clergyman who wished to open the eyes of the people as to the present state of the land question in New Zealand. The speaker then proceeded to denounce the preaeut Government for extravagances in their travelling allowances, which he said was very great, fie trusted they would on Friday all toe the mark, aud vote for the three. Mr W. P. Rbbvbs was the next speaker, and commenced by sayinghehad toask their indulgence whilst he referred to some personal matters in connection with the present election. In doing this he would specially refer to two attacks which had been made upon him, because these had gone beyond the stage which he thought was fair and open warfare in connection ,, with the present struggle. These attacks had assumed the shape of written questions of a personal character sent up to him by men who were afraid to sign their names or to show their faces. He bad, daring the contest to stand the brunt of anonymous letters and articles by the score. Only the other day he had counted up to twenty letters attacking him, and then he was called away. Tnese letters and articles in a certain section of the Press drew a terrible picture of him as a kind of political spider sitting in the middle of a web, putting out a feeler here and one there, patting up a candidate there, and Dulling down another here, manipulating elections here, there, and everywhere, and. indeed, to (use a wellknown phrase, that he was generally bossing the show. Bat what were the facts, fie Was not the Kiog of Christchurch, no one set up t in authority over them, but simply a humble individual, who, since he had come back from Wellington, had done his best to keep oat of other people's business, and to mind his own. But, as they knew, a journalist was always made the recipient of stories from all sorts and conditions of men, and of confidences of all kinds. Now, the purport of the questions > to which he had referred wgp fo^draw from him the confidences renewed In Mm, tojextract from him what had been said to him by other people or what he had said to others. But he had put his foot down and had refused to reveal the confidence reposed in him. Now he had told them he would deal with two nowts which, as he had said, had gone

beyond fair fighting. One of the points was that questions had been asked of him referring to the private business of his father; the commercial conduct of the business of the Lyttclton Times ; questions as to private conversations -which he was supposed to have had with members in the lobby of the House; questions as to conversations of a private nature said to have been held by him with the man in the street or Jn his own office in the LytteUon Times office. Was he to be questioned on such questions as these. (" No, No.") If he were compelled to do so then the Star Chamber would be nothing at a 11.,, (Applause.) The questions he had referred to had no bearing on political questions—for these he would answerbut were put with a view to extract from him information with regard to private conversations, and get him to violate the confidence which had been reposed in him. Now he came to the second matter to which he desired to refer. Last Sunday evening he had been, attacked on the platform of a teetotal meeting in Sydenham by a clergyman. That gentleman complained o£ him (Mr Reeves) as the editor of his newspaper for having treated him unfairly. This clergyman had said that he had sent a letter to his newspaper on the subject of prohibition, and th<*t he had refused to insert it. This had been made a good deal of by che paid canvassers of his opponents, but what were the facts f The leeter was sent to his newspaper on Friday, and he (Mr Reeves) was informed by his sub-editor that it had not come In until he (Mr Reeves) had gone home fpr the night. It was not sent on to him until twelve o'clock on Saturday, and that letter actually appeared in the LytteUon Times on the Monday. (Applause.) He had told the clergyman these facts in private conversation, and he said that he would write a letter withdrawing the charge he had made aprainst him, but afterwards he said he did not think he would do so, as the statement had not been made in any paper, but that he would do so at the next temperance meeting to be held in Sydenham. When, however, would the next temperance meeting be held ? Would it notjbe after the election, and what then would be the use of the retractation. There was another statement which had been made, and on which he was glad to have an opportunity to stamp it out. They knew chat two candidates—Messrs Russell and Tanners had come forward for Heathcote. Now the charge was made that he (Mr Reeves) had brought out Mr Russell as a candidate for Heathcote, and had then basely deserted him. That charge he at once said was unfounded, and probably arose from the fact that Mr Russell and himself were great friends, and that he (Mr Reeve-.) was kuown to entertain a very high opinion of Mr Russell's ability and political knowledge, but it was untrue that he either brought out Mr Russell or deserted him. He had a ietLer from Mr Russell in his possession denying these cuarges, and also denyiogthat he had brought forward Mr Russell as a candidate for Heathcote. In the Telegraph newspaper that evening there was au article referring to this question, which was a farrago of wild nonsense, exaggeration, and downright falsehood. He was not in the habit of noticing attacks upon himself, either in the Telegraph , or The Press, for one reason, because he should not have any time to attend to anything else. Bat he would sky thfc}, that he believed that no politician of his age had b*en so persistently advertised as he had been by the Press and the Telegraph. Now he would refer to general politics, and, first, he would desire to say that it might be the last occasion on which he miKufc address a Canterbury audience. As there was now no declaration of the poll, and cousequeatly no opportunity of spisak'ing,'he'''''took advantage of the present one to thank tue people of Christchurch who had stood to him so gallantly during the present, contest. He found on coming back from Wellington that several of the mp3t influential of, his supporters' declined to take part in helping him. Still he was not discouraged, and he now appealed to the people. What the resulc mignc be, personally, he did hot care, but he might say that the task of any Liberal who fought in the forefront of battle was a raosc thankless one. Mr Reeves then went on to'accuse the present Govern-, ment of inconsistency and failure to carry out the work of the government of the colony, and particularly Sir H. Atkinson for inconsistency on' the subject of the reduction of the number of the members of the House, and concluded by saying "Vote for us three, and so strike a fatal; blow at the landowners of New Zealand."

A number of questions mainly ou" the same lines as those "asked at other meetings were asked- and answered. Mr W. JV Bbookeb moved—" That thle meeting accords a hearty vote of thanks to Messrs Taylor, Perceval aud Beeves for their addresses, and also expresses its confidence in (hem as members for Christchurch in the next Parliament.

This was seconded and carried amidst loud applause. ' A vote of thanks to the Mayor for; presiding, and three cheers closed the meeting. ' ' '""■ ;

Mr RE Rhodes will address the electors of Heathcote at Opawa, this evening, at eight o'clock. Mr Tanner speaks at Philipstown this .evening. Mr J. Tippett Smith will address che electors at the Library, Knightstown, this evening, at eight o'clock, and tomorrow night at the Rink, Christchurch. Hon. Mr ; Rolieston will address -the electors at Hals well, this evening. < A meeting of Mr Stead's sub-Com-mittees will be held at the Corn Exchange, this evening, at 7.30. /Mr Eden George will address the electors of Chrletcourch at the Theatre Royal, \ to-morrow evening, at eight o'clock. A report of Mr Lance s speech at Oxford appears on page 3 of this issue. Mr R. Moore's general election Committee met at Rangioraon Tuesday, there being seventy members present. Mr. J. Roberts in the chair. A quantity of routine business was transacted in antici-; pation of polling day/ Mr McGregor addressed a very orderly and enthusiastic meeting at Barry's Bay on Monday evening. Mr O. LcComte presided. In the coutse of his remarks Mr McGregor explained his position with: regard to the education question, in respect of which he has lately been misrepresented to a certain extent. On the motion of Mr R. Latter, seconded by Mr -W. G. Chatfleld, a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence was accorded to Mr McGregor. Mr John Joyce spoke at Teddington on Monday night. There was a good attendauce, and the chair was taken by Mr W. Blatchford. During bis speech Mr Joyce said that' with regard to the strike he had tried to lead the Union men like children; it was the only way to deal with them. He was accorded - a vote of thanks and confidence. ' • .

Mr Saunders addressed a meeting of electors in the Springston schoolroom on Monday evening. • There was a large attendance, and Mr McGullougb occupied the chair. Mr Saunders received an enthusiastic reception, and on the motion ot Mr McMeekan, eeconded by Mr Powell, was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence, there being only two dissentients. A report that Mr Merediths Oxford Committee having met in the Working Men's Club there, where there is a sale of liquor, had invalidated the election, is said to be groundless in this respect, that the advice of a solicitor is that the Corrupt Practices Act does not reach a Club.

Mr W. Hoban met about 100 electors of the Kaiapoi district in the Oust Institute Hall. Mr H. J. Howell presided. After his address, in which Mr Hoban entered fully into an explanation relative to the land tax and local industries, a,, vote of thinks, proposed by Mr Anderson and seconded by Mr Gallehty, was carried with acclamation.

Mr Anson addressed a large meeting of Selwyn electors at Kowai Bash on Friday evening. Mr George Rutherford was voted to the chair. Mr Ansoa spoke for about an hoar, after which he answered a number of questions, to the evident satisfaction of the meeting. He was accorded a unanimous and, hearty vote of thanks for his address. Mr Anson addressed a large meeting of Selwyn electors in the Darfield schoolroom on Saturday evening. There .were about 140 electors present. Mr Moflatt was voted to .the chair. Mr Anson spoke for about ian hour. In the course of his remarks he alluded to the fact that he had been dubbed a Ministerialist. He wanted it to be thoroughly understood, that if elected, he would go to Parliament as an Independent, and that he would sapport any Government that might be formed which had the true interest of the rural districts at heart, combined with a vigorous policy of land settlement. After Mr Anson had Riven satisfactory answers to & number' of qoestioas, Mr B. Reid proposed, and Mr A. Gonn seconded, a hearty vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Anson. The resolution was earned uaaaimously.

(PBSBS ASBCCIA.TIOK TSXiBeSAIa.) . DTJNEDIN, December 2. The Protection League have decided to teaommqaA Messrs Fish, Hutchison end Piakertoa for the city, Mr D&wsoa for the suburbs,and Mr Jaxaaehtos thePeJiln-