THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17606, 8 November 1922, Page 9

THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

NOTES FROM WELLINGTON. MR WILFORD AND THE PRESS. (special to "the press.") WEIiLINGTON, November 7. Mr % M. Wilford. leader of the Lib-eral-Labour Party, has no good word to 6ay for the New Zealand Press. In that respect he is different from Mr Ma?ssy. Mr Massey dees not "squeal" abr.ut the Press, even when it hits him its hardest blows. He takes it all smilingly, for he knows that if the- cause is just, unjust criticism will do no harm, whereas just criticism of any party must be beneficial to th© nation, as it is to the criticised. Of late- Mr Wilford has beeu com plaining a good deal about the New Zealand Press. Recently the "Post,' which used to support him, took him to task for his attitude in regard to the Press, and in an address to his constituents last night, Mr Wilford returned to the charge. He reiterated his statement that the Pre;* of New Zea'and is partial and is the servant or vested interests. He do:larod that by a judicious elimination of news they sained their- ends. Newspaper shareholders were alto shareholders in banks and other large concerns. No paper had reported what happened to tho Mortgage Extension B : t"t, wh:e:i. he declared, was an iniquitous measure ana was stopped bv the Liberals. "Some of these newspapers declare we are allied with the Red Feds," said Mr Wilford, "whilst Mr Ho land says we are allied with the Tories. Newspapers say that Messrs Vigor Brown, McCallum and Witty left the party, but the- were never m it. "V\ e are m a parlous state to-day net from what the newspapers say, but because or what they do not Gay." Length of Parliaments. Mr O. J. Hawken, speaking **> Eltham, referred to a remark by the chairman as to the lengthening of the lifo of Parliament to five years, and stated that it coincided with his views. \s it was now, no sooner did a now member get into his stride and become useful, than he had to fight another election. He intended, if he were reelected, to press for a, live-year Parliament. Sir Joseph Ward and the New Opposition. Recently, when it was announced that there was a possibility ot fcir Joseph Ward re-entering Pnrhancnt, there was great perturbation in the ranks of the Liberal-Labour Party in Parliament. openly said it would be a great mistake for Sir Joseph to re-enter the political arena; ot.-w* expressed the opinion that his health would not stand the strain; and all evidently recognised that his reappearance 'in the House of Representatives would greatly complicate matters so far as thev were concerned. Up till a few weeks ago few of them seemed to ! recognise the possibility. It has been remarked here that Mr Wilford, in his election speeches, has studiously reI trained from mentioning the name of J his former leader. Mr Wilford's Party. In a speech last evening Mr Wilford said that Reform wanted the Labour Party to.be the official Opposition, and not the old Liberal Party. "When the last Parliament met," he said, "Mr Speaker counted the two parties and my Party was more than that of Mr Holland—how many I am not going to tell you." (Laughter.) At the Pafea by-election members of the Parliamentary Labour Party delivered fifty-one speeches, and their candidate nearly lost his deposit." Dealing with the approaching election, he said the Labour Party at present numbered nine, eight being from city electorates. 'Three of these will lose their seats, and there are three seats they may gain," he declared. The Labour Party would return after the election no stronger than they were now. fcßiould Labour become the official Opposition, sooner or later they would occupy tho Cabinet That was what Reform and Labour were after, but it would be disastrous for the country if their wishes came to fruition. Contortional Misrepresentation. In reply to a question at' his election meeting last week, Sir Andrew Russell said that lie did not understand the working of proportional representation } so he could not offer an opinion on it. In Australia it had been called "contortional misrepresentation." Wellington North. Mr H. E. Combs, who came into prominence lately as secretary of the Post and Telegraph Officers' Association, and who fought hard for linking up with the Alliance of Labour, does not seem to be making great headway in his election campaign. He is contesting tho Wellington North seat against Sir John Luke, who is also opposed by a Liberal-Labour candidate. At last election Sir John Luke had an easy victory over the Liberal-Labour and the Holland candidates. KAIAPOI. HON. D. BUDDO OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN. The Hon. D. Buddo, the Liberal candidate for the Kaiapoi electorate, opened his campaign in the Grand Theatre, Kaiapoi, last night. The Mayor of Kaiapoi, Mr J. H. Blackwell, presided over an attendance of about 80 or 90 electors. The chairman said that the candidate had been in the political atmosphere of the Kaiapoi electorate for about ?3 or 2-A years, during which time be had attained high office in the Government of the country. The candidate, who was received with applause, said tnat there was no need tor him to apOiogise tor his soliciting the votes of the electors. He was or the opinion that .Lioerahsm was the only policy for a true democracy, bmce he last sat aa the representative of the district, three years ago, the Dominion had passed, and was still passing, I through a bad financial depression. He hoped that it would soon pass into I better times. The cry of the Government that Liberalism was dead was not quite in accordance with facts. The hst of candidates at present in the field included 63 Reformers and 62 Liberals. Did this look as if there were no Liberal i Party ? Mr Buddo went on to enumerate the measures that the Liberal Party, of which he had been a member for so long, .had placed on the Statute Book. Some of those measures, which included the granting of old-age pensions, advances to workers, the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, had been from other countries. The Reform Party claimed the lot of these neasures as its own. It was now extending them to meet the increase of copulation and other needs of tne .hues. He adversely criticised the nanner in which taxation had risen. There was a great need fo; relief to be granted with regard to the

taxes on small farmers, who should bo I assisted particularly with regard to mortgage taxes. Since the Reform Party came into power tho National (loot had increased to an alarming extent. It now stood ct £2(W,000,U00 net and £219,000,000 gross. Last year the sum oi i009,L'20 was uncollected in land tax and the sum of i' 609,918 in unpaid income taxes. Such a position had ncv-er occurred before in tho history of the Dominion. Tho trouble wns that we needed a more equitable system of land taxation. In Australia, for instance, the taxation was assessed on the average valuation of tho land over a period of five years. In 1893 the Dominion was in "a bad financial position, as was again the en.«e to-day. By 1900 the Liberal Government Knd pulled through satisfactorily and business people and farmers had h;'en able •jto keep on their feet. If the electors would only rctnrn-the Liberals to power again, it would not bo long before the finances of the country were in a satisfactory position. Mr Buddo st"tod t>«t the number of sheep in the Dominion had recently decreased by a million, but he considered that this was more than balanced by tho increase in the dairying industry. The explanation of this was that farmers preferred to leave sheen alone for the* present and take up tho better paying dairying industry. With regard to the meat pool, he remembered that some two weeks after the pool came into operation it was announced that the price of meat had been increased, the adv.ime being duo to the existence of the pool. As a matter of fact, at tho snnto period the price of Argentine and Australian meat also went up. It was clear then that the increase wns in no way due to the operation of the pool. The rise ennie about because tho stores in England were empty, and had to be refilled. However, if the pool were to deal also with shipping so that the farmers could get -cheaper freight rates it would serve a useful purpose. Canada had its own shins, and so also had the Commonwealth of Australia. Why should not New Zealand also have a fleet of its oVn. Tho | ships of both the countries mentioned came to the Dominion and lifted our meat. He felt certain that after tho depression, if the Government did not I do something in the dtre-tion of securing a State fleet, the farmers themselves would tako the matter up. De-d----ing with the question of the settlement of returned soldiers, Mr Buddo claimed that many soldiers were occupying land that was too highly valued. _ A revaluation was urgently needed if a good many soldier settlers were to bo saved from going to tho wall. If a reasonable reduction in their debts was not made, the result would not be creditable to the Dominion. Ho was of the opinion that the time was again ripe to open up more lands for settlement, with a view to relieving the congestion in the towns. There were methods to bring this about which could be adopted quite well by ihe Government, if it so desired' After referring to the. proposed Rural Bank, which he thought could not be successfully established in New Zealand. Mr Buddo proceeded to criticise the administration of tho railways. At present, he said, the railways were only paying 1 per cent., although our expo'ts wcro greater* He contended that the case could be met by reducing passenger fares and freights, so as to place thcinwithin the reach of the oeople. There ivas no question about it—a change of management was urgently needed in • connexion with the railways! He was in favour of a more lively policy with regard to roads, with a view to saving haulage charges. He considered also that too much expenditure ' was incurred in setting up Royal Commissions, many of which were not necessary. Turning to the question of education, the candidate expressed dissatisfaction at the reduction of 10. per cent, in building grants. Some of the schools he had seen in the country were very far "from being fit for children to be taught in. The Government should make more equitable distribution of the fund? available for this purpose. Mr Buddo seated that he wns strongly in favour of proportional representation, and was apposed to the continual changing of electoral boundaries. It would be far more pleasing to candidates, and to the electors, too, for that matter, if such changes were in future to take at periods of ten years instead of fiveyears. Touching on hydro-e.ectricitv, Mr Buddo said that he was strenuously opposed to~ Canterbury being deprived of its nwitural advantages in this connexion by having to face a flat rate. At the same time, he was not favourable to a duplicate system being sot up by any local body. The best way to deal with the matter wns to put the present Government out of the Treasury benches. Referring to defence, he expressed himself as being of ihe opinion that sufficient forces should always be retained to meet any emergency, although lie realised 1 that reduction had been necessary. Concluding, he stated that he resented the imputation made that because he was a Liberal he was not patriotic. It was a mean attitude to take up that because a man opposed the party in power he was not a patriot. Summing up tho political position, he would say that the Reform Party had done its best, but it had lacked the necessary foresight and ability to manage tho business of the country. Answering questions, Mr Buddo said that ho would favour a commission of experts being set up to go into the question of whether the proposed Kaiapoi Harbour could be mado succe ifiil. With regard to his attitude in the event of a vote of no-confidence being passed in the Government, Mr Buddo said that tho question was a tricky one. For instance, if the party in power was turned out with the support of the Labourites, the party that succeeded it couM bo turned out again the following day by tho same means. He would state, however, tbat he had no sympathy with any party that adopted extreme views and measures. On tho motion of Mr Jamos Hickland, seconded l>y Mr W. Tait, a vote of thanks to the candidate and of confidence in the Liberal Party was carried. TIMABTJ. (press association telegram.) TIMARU, November 7. Mr P. J. Rolleston, the Reform candidate for the Timaru seat, opened 1 his campaign to-night, when ho addressed a very largely attended meeting. He gave a general support to Mr Mas'sey's platform, but deprecated the present party system, stating that' though a Reform supporter, if elected, he would retain his individuality in the House. Mr Rolleston was accorded a very favourable hearing and received a vote of thanks for what was described as "a splendid address" TO-NIGHTS MEETINGS. Mr S. Andrew—East Oxford Town Hall, 8 p.m. Mr G. W. Forbes—Lobnrn Hall. Mr J. MeCornbs—Friends and supporters, Woolston Public School, 8 p.m. OTHER MEETINGS. Mr H. S. 8- Kyle—Whitecliffs and Coalgate, Monday. Hon. D. Buddo—Ohoka Public Hall, to-morrow, 8 p.m. Rev. J. K. Archer—Rugby street schoolroom, to-morrow, 8 p.m. Mr G. Witty—lslington Hall, Tuesday, 8 p.m.