A RIGHT ABOUT FACE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1307, 9 December 1911, Page 5

A RIGHT ABOUT FACE.

STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF A CANDIDATE. WHERE DOES MR, MOORE STAND? A great deal of surprise and curiosity has been aroused by the singular statement of Mr. !•'. llooro on Thursday night in. returning thanks to his supporters.

Ho; said, according to (ho "Evening l?sV whoso report exactly corresponds with The Dominion:— "Thrco years ago," ho said, "I -was nearly at the bottom of the poll. To-, day 1 am next to tho top. (Cheers.) lhe position now is that the Hag of Masseyism is on top—(cheers)—tho flag of Liberalism down below, and tho blue and white flag of Labour— which stands for political purity—is between tho two. If those Liberals who voted for tho two defeated candidates to-day support mo ou tho second ballot tho Hag of Labour will fly abovo tho flag of Masseyism. I hope tho Liberals will treat mo as a Labour man just as Labour men are i treated by Liberals in Australia."' Yet, in his speech at Johnsonvillo on October 11 ho made an unmeasured attack on tho "Liberals." The following ara extracts from the "Evening' Post" report (given here in order te check Tun Dominion report):

■Tho maladministration-of tho Government, ho said, was being greatly resented in Labour quarters, and in order to end it, Labour was uniting with tho Opposition where there wero 110 contests, (lioir, hear.) On lionday the speaker told .Mr. Massey thcro was no need for an Opposition candidate in this electorate while ho was coming out. lie pointed out that Labour was willing to aid the Opposition in turning the Government out of office on the ground of corruption and dishonesty. If Labour held th» balaneo of power aftor tho elections, it would keep Mr. Massoy's party in office, provided the progressive legisjil ot tho P -I ** l was not repealed and that no capitalistic legislation wan introduced. Tho people would get fairer treatment from the Opposition, which they could not get from tho Liberals, who had grown rich and fat after twenty-one years of office. They utterly disregarded the consequences of anything they did. Even in iiltlo things, honesty and jnstico were disregarded. . . . Tho onlv wav to put an end to this was to put' the Government out of office. Tho labour party would bo tho political party of the iuture. It* numbers for the next two or throe years, however, would bo too small to take up. tho reins of office, but, by uniting with Mr. Massey, it was possible to transfer office, iromtho present Ministry to the hands of men who must act cleanlv for the few short yours they would hold office unless the party proved itse f to bo really and truly a reform party, and not the Conservative party from which it formerly sprang.. He thought Mr. Massey was too largehearted to act as the Tories did. Let Mr. Massey.use tho new broom under tho eyo of Labour. The Dominion report is precisely tho same jn substauco at ovory point, and largely the samo in tho actual words-

Tho maladministration of tho Government was mooting with such resentment in Labour quarters that in any districts where Labour was not represented, Labour would unite with tho Opposition rather than assist in keeping the Government in power. m I'T-st. in conversation with Mr. Massey, the speaker had inform•it'll! ,h ~ at ~c was Prepared to vote with the-Opposition to eject tho Government. Labour would vote with Mr Massey on consideration that if returned to power the Opposition would hold office as an administrative Government merely, on condition that 7, W t°-V 1(1 uot I " p P aal anv of tho really Liberal measures on the Statute aook, on condition that they would not introduce legislation that was capita istic, or in tho interests of tho capital-owning classes of the country A year or two of clean administration this country very badly wanted, and he behoved that clean tration could be got from Mr. Massey, whereas it was impossible to net it from the party that had grown so politi S ° ° Ut 0f the gamo of The only way to reform was to send into Parliament men who were CTing to oppose, the continuance of tho present Government in office. Tho labour party would, in his opinion, bo tho political party of tho future, but m the meantime it would bo too email to take up tho reins of Government By uniting with Mr. Massey™ however, it was possible to transfer tho reins of (jovernment into the hands of men who must act cleanly in tho fow- short years for which they would hold tliem-unlcsa they should prove themselves truly a Hcform party? Ho bohcTOd m Mr. Mkwsey as a" man. i »i! aS i a man to do the hard cruel things which tho old lVmcs delighted in doing, and which tho Liberals allowed. dealers in laud to do m this country. In several snbsoquont speeches Mr Moore repeated these sentiments. Thoy are reported in our issues of October ■>;) October 20, November 1, and on other ?> atc ?' .25 No " ml --or Iho said (at Lvall Bay): The _ opportunity (o change'the present Administration should not bo lost at the coming general election."

"Is Labour running j-ou now, Mr. Fisher?" was a question put to that candidate last ovoning. "If they are scnsftilo M , I jalco thorn to be, tKcy Trill/' respondixl ill. Jjlaher.