OAMARU SEAT.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17750, 30 April 1923, Page 9

OAMARU SEAT.

''■* HEARING THE END OF \ CAMPAIGN. it« * i FIGHTING SPEECHES BY MR V 3IASSEY. Hi'* y i __ 'y'l (SPKUI 10 "TM PEESS.J |{i ' .QAMARL', April 29. J'/'fte determination of the Prime Min'*liiier and the Hon. E. P. Lee to make •&» to the whole of the people of the O&asru electorate the issue which is responsibility to settle on Tuescalled for long and speedy travel"l'Jfeft wlth lrduous caln P ai S n work'fat» Mr Masseys' arrival in the district nearly a fortnight ago, he set a , which for speed and physical en- ' *Jn»nee can only be wondered at. A , jjrior-car has carried him into almost part of the electorate where there ' '■& a hall or a schoolhouse. He has ! -m«n in all his speeches to crowded 'iidiences a comprehensive account of ' ■s© Government's work, and its posi"''fiori. "Wonderful receptions have been V.gfren to Mr Massey everywhere, if"' Mr Massey's programme yesterday -''WW as large as that for every day he Vjuj been in the district. In the morn■*'i'ißg fle took a deputation and finished -irtp urgent Ministerial work. In the he spoke at Totara, Ba Ora, ['mi Enfield, and attended some pleasJilint little social gatherings en route. which is the last day of jftte campaign, another full list of visits "Cind speeches is to be carried out, conifchiding with a fine rally in the Oamaru ?«Hall in the evening.

§j£j: ; The Country's Credit. Ifelln his speech at Totara, Mr Lee said a journal declared stable Government, iple to help to make The responsibility i, and if they did would do, it woufd 1 the country. Mr 3 high standing of overnment in LonIt was in the itry that that high maintained. The mid not be lountry which lackrnment, and if the anger in this, there •ehension. (B£ar, e a calamity if for g Government New -estige fT had held d's money market, the hands of the Juld be trusted to (Applause.) mdly applauded on I must compliment colleague, Mr Lee," in the plea he has fovernment, and to nent we must have made up my mind, n, to go on. If I have to go to the i .that stage in the the country is iafc the verdict of '.' (Prolonged apissey said Mr Lee's tancial standing of idon were correct. r Massey) did asanient was in the ning that standard, iy other countries, at of £66,000,000 riewed. Already he with London for he was pleased to ceived satisfactory ;hings were more rplus of £1,315,000 ould be in a better, itlers.-' (Applause.) I; that what this i reduced taxation, n- cutting itaxation , and he would ask 3 a further Teduc- ;■-'• .He was taking he knew that New r be,restored to its mtil the taxes were est possible limit. Ivocacy for a State lid that the people bank in the Bank ■reason of the fact it .appointed four six controlling the a institution. The the Bank of New dividends, land, in- , £600,000 a .year, he revenue of the of the of assoy eulogised the Control Board, It iable work f. or the big reductions jin &, and storage, and, •ould be to the adjrying industry to he same way. It ttcr for dairy-farm-ecide. He was not matter, but they Weat Control Board y its organisation, ould- have their own the Board. a, hearty vote of the Prime Minister (J. Bruce said the manner in which ways meted out a lasses of the coma people recognised had proved very mil farmer's friend, it gftod health would ttinue long in the atry. (Loud apWind, Etc." from Kia Ora there ;ek, which in times s given trouble to rovers. Yesterday rs of the Ministerial creek, and it took rater which had enAt the Kia Ora' a large gathering of bled to meet the Mr Lee, oa.e of the aed was the creek, i a bridge over it. io handled the matstickiug up of the i almost an act of r Massev could now was a "bridge over ter and applause.) ster, smiling the n the joke is against t is quite clear that i of the party's cars ;ed, and "the "request f the settlers, "we tatter is settled." of the meeting at presence of a large When Mr Massey rrounds he was sureties, who gave him Mr Massev. feelment, said, ,* "It is ladies to give me me. I appreciate 1-in the scboolhouse *ic, and the Prime spoke lengthily

on what the contest meant, and on current political questions. The usual vote of thanks and confidence in the Government and Mr Leo was carried.

Interruptions Quelled hy Eloquence.

No doubt two things struck the Prime Minister and Mr Lee when they stepped on to the platform of the Enfield'Public Hall last night—that everybody who could come to the meeting was there,- and.that a number of Mr Macpherson's over-ardent supporters were present for fun, and probably with a little keenness in their endeavour to make the meeting a rowdy one. If they had the last-mentioned idea their failure to carry it out was all the more significant. The proceedings opened with loud applause for the speakers and a considerable amount of'boohing from the back of the hall. When the uproar ceasea, the chairman bespoke a patient hearing for the speakers, and amid applause, shouts, and boohing he sat down.

Mr Lee on rising to speak received a similar reception. "I am gratified-' he said, "that so many people have come to hear Mr Massey and myself. It is evidence of the importance'with which the by-election is regarded." (Applause and uproar.) Eventually Mr Lee obtained, with the exception of one or two exceptions, a clear run and very frequently was he applauded. ,"I to' express my pleasure" said Mr Massey, "at seeing so big a gathering. I take this big audience to mean partly a compliment to the speakers (.applause), and party a proof of the interest that is being taken in the political situation. I believe that the whole.of the people of New Zealand are taking an interest in the contest. At present the Government has a majority of three, which is not enough to enable its work to go on. I am not going to say that there will be a dissolution or that the Government will resign. lam going to fight dhifl through, if it is possible to do so. (Applause.) If the Government is to foe successful in grappling with the many problems and difficulties which confront the country to-day, it must have a majority." (.Applause.) -.. s In trenchant style Mr Massey proceeded to deal with criticism levelled against the Government. It had been said he stated that the Government had made its eurpluß through keeping back public works. Those statements were absurd. The Government had spent more on the railways during the last, few months than had teen spent for a long time. He quoted a number of returns in proof of what he said. The country was now on an era on prosperity and his critics knew it. Whilst he was not going to take all the credit for tfie magnificent surplus that had been- attained., he could say that the careful and prudent administration of the Government had helped in a large measure to achieve the results announced. (Applause.) Somebody had said that he had no right to come into the electorate during the campaign. He as Prime Minister had a perfect right ;to come into the electorate. The Oamaru contest was not merely a fight between Mr Lee and Mr Macpnerson, but the position of the Government was at stake l& voice: "hear, hear, Bill") and it was his duty to place before the people the issues involved. Mr Massey concluded his speech amidst cheers. After the cheering had subsided, a number of questions were asked of the Prime Minister and Mr Lee, and frequent 'exchanges of repartee between Mr-Massey,'Mr Lee and the, audience gave piquancy to the meeting and '.brought forth Bhouts of laughter. A hearty vote, of thanks and confidence in the Government and Mr Lee was carried with cheers. >

WHO ASKED FOR FRESH ! ELECTION ? ; A CONVINCING REPLY. (SPBCUI. TO "Tfflt PBES«.") WELLINGTON, April 28. Possibly at this late .stage of the Oama'ru' election, nothing can be said that will have mnch, if any, effect upon the electors, but all the same there should be some reply to the incorrect assertions made by the Liberal candidate in bis addresses. - Mr Maepherson's statement ,as to who asked tor the fresh election is, in fact, entirely misleading. Everyone who was in Court during the hearing of tne case will remember that his counsel at one stage ,-when there appeared to be a possibility, of the decision, regarding the disputed votes going against him, asked that in that event there should be a fresh election. ■ 'ln regard to some other statements made by Mr Macpherson.-l called this morning upon Sir John Smdlay and asked if be would say anything m reply Sir Jonn was reluctant to enter into 'the controversy, but upon my showing him a report of Mr Maepherson's ralmerston speech, he made the following statement:—"l hesitate to add anything to the entirely spontaneous and uninvited letter that 1 wrote to Mr Lee. But. these imputations certainly are such that no member of the Bar should remain silent under them—imputations that I have, cast a slur upon two Judges, whom I esteem so highly. In the letter I wrote to Mr Lee, I was careful to say 'I am not, of course, criticising the decision in your case. The Court, as you know, showed the utmost impartiality.' My letter, I think, makes it perfectly plain that I was merely pointing out that the Judges found that a majority of valid and formal votes had been cast for Mr Lee, and that if the decision of the election count in the case of t-ampbell v. McNab (which'was decided in the same circumstances) had been followed, Mr Lee would have been j declared elected and no new election ! would have been ordered. The Court in this case, however, in quite a proper j and impartial exercise of its discretion, tempered the strict legal result of the voting, and decided that Mr Macpherson be given another chance, seeing that there was a possibility tuat through the printing of the surnames as well as the Christian names on the ballot papers, the result of the election might have been affected." Upon my drawing Sir John's attention to Mr Maepherson's allegation that it was not he (Mr Macpherson) who had asked for another election, Sir .Tolin Findlay said the facts were indisputably as follows: —In paragraph i of his recrimination (which is the technical name for what might be called the defence and counter-claim'* Mr —acphersnn set out that the ballot papers contained the full Christian names of the candidates, as well as the surl names, and claimed that snch irregularity had affected the result of the election, if m cases where the whole | of the names of a candidate had not been struck out the votes were he?d to be informal Upon this paragraph | counsel for Mr Maenherson in the eiec- ? sked ' that " the election should be declared void, so that n fresh election might be held. This application, of course, was mhde on the a?s».mnt.on that the Court might find that Mr Lee had a majoritv of vand votes. The Judges acceded to the application of Mr Maepherson's counsel, and having found that Mr Lee had a majority of valid votes, in effect ordered another election on the ground that the circumstances alreadv mentioned might have affected the* result [ of the election.