THE GENERAL ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2309, 17 November 1914, Page 6

THE GENERAL ELECTION

CAMPAIGN POINTS. NEWS NOTES AND .ADDRESSES ■ * v "" AND PRESS COMMENTS. :'. During the fifteen years from 1891 to 1906 (imder the Seddon Covernment) the number of occupied rural holdings (Crown and freehold) of one acre or over, in New Zealand, increased at an average rate of 1744 per year. Holdings of the same olass Inoreased during the five years from 1906 to 1911 (under the Ward Covernment) at an average rate of only 787 per year. Statistics of the total occupied rural holdings in the present year are not available, but In the two years from July 11, 1912, to June 30, ■ 1914 (under the Massey Covernment) the number of holdings was. in- ' creased by 4483, an average of 2241 per year. Remember theso figures:— ' .',.- Under Seddon 1744 more holdings per year. Under Ward 787 more holdings per year. Under Massey 2241 new holdings per year. ; • Remember also, .under Sir Joseph Ward for the first time on record in twenty years, the. number of occupied holdings showed a DECREASE BETWEEN 1909 and 1911 of 1276 IN NUMBER, While x the area held increased by over half; a million acres (see page 874, Year Book, 1913). " Remember also, that Mr. Massey passed an Aot to PREVENT FURTHER ACCRECATION of this sort In future.

..The Prime Minister informed a Dominion reporter yesterday that Parliament would be dissolved towards the end of this week, and the writs issued for the election of the new Parliament.

The Hon. A. L. Herdman opens his campaign , for 're-election' as representative of Wellington' North on I'riday night. .He will speak in the Kelburn Kiosk. ■;;:";;.:.:. ; :•■ ~- ■

There is every possibility of'there being a third candidate for Wellington' East, where Dr. -Newman (Government) and Mr: D. M'Laren (Labour) looked as if they would 1 ;have the same straightout "battle tba't'.'they had.three years ago.: ,It is known all over Wellington that Mr; O : ;"'M'.; Luke, a late member the Legislative Cqunail,- a former Major of \Vellingt6u, : and President of the .Central. Chamber of Commerce, has been approached'by many of his friends in the electorate-to become a candidate, and he is to give a definite answer one way or the'other to-morrow. Mr. C. M. Luke stated!'yesterday that if he found it possible , to stand he would.do so 'as; an Independent, as he did not see that the sovereign rights of,the people were vested in any one party. Asked which'way he would vote on a want-of-c6nfidence motion in the .present .Government;-Mr. Luke said that ;it all depended on the,issue at stake, as all. waut-of-confidence motions arose but of: some measure or principle.

Mr. B. R. Gardener, Opposition candidate for the Otaki seal, took suddenly ill after addressing a well-attended meeting at Paraparaumu on Friday night; says our Otaki correspondent. He appeared in bis usual health at the close of his address, but a-little, later he complained of- feeling unwell, and soon after became delirius, with short lapses of consciousness. It is now very doubtful if Mr. Gardiner will be able to continue ■ with his campaign. '/■ ■

.'; A certain measure of sympathy may .be extended to Mr. J. W. Munro in the role which he is required to play as a candidate for Dunedin Central (says the "Otago. Daily Times"). In pursuance of the bargain that is said to have been struck, in terms of which the Opposition offers him the support of such adherents as it possesses in the electorate, it is his duty to" blacken the .Government to the best of his ability and to paint the Opposition in comparatively Favourable colours. , It is a hard task to ask-of a-Red Federationist, when .the\official organ .of "that body asserts that the Reform, Party and the Opposition are equally bad, and when ho has himself said on the public platform that the workers can have nothing more to hope for-from Sir Joseph Ward than from Mr. Massey. '

Thus a. West Coast paper: "Owing to partial indisposition—the trouble being ;vefy common, in the district just now, namely* an aggravated boil on the back of the neck—the programme is somewhat altered."

A question put to the Reform candidate (Mr. H. de Lauteur) at his meeting in Gisborne was:—"Can you consistently sing .our fine Anthem, 'Rule Britannia,' with the line 'Britons never shall'be Slaves,' when you and ell the rest of. us in New Zealand have no voice whatever in the direction of the foreign policy of the Empire; only the electors of Great Britain and Ireland being so privileged ?" ■ Tho question was greeted 'with laughter. Mr. de Lautour said this was not a-question to laugh at. We required',' representation on an Imperial Council. He could sing "Rule Britannia" because he knew that Britain did rule- and always.would rule, but all the same we should have some say in matters affecting the; Empire, and we would have it. (Applause.)

The Massey, Government has been faced with the'keenest and bitterest opposition, political bargaining/and an industrial crisis unprecedented in the political history of this country, and to top'all has : to bear grave responsibilities connected with the war in which the Empire is engaged.—"Manawatu Herald." ,--• ■ :'

.. Touching oh the.Huntly disaster, Mr. Andrew Walker,, Labour candidate for Duuedin North, blamed the Government for not-haying passed .tho' .Coal-Mines Bill.at an earlier stage, although it was "a matter of life and death." Tbe "Otago Daily Times" '; remarks :— "When Mr. Walker has looked a, little more closely into the history of the Bill ho will probably realise that no one dreamt in 1912 or 1913 that there were any conditions in!the Huntly mine that we're dangerous to tho lives of the men employed in it'. The Taupiri Company's mines were, in fact, regarded as the safest- in the Dominion."

"Nothing is too preposterous, apparently, for the 'Liberal' candidate to say. . . . Mr." Macpherson, the Opposition candidate for Qamaru, has been telling the electors that 'in two years and three months,' from March 31,1911, to MaTch 31, 1914, the gross public dobfc increased by £18,000,000. That period i» not two years"and three months, but three years. The Reform Government held office for only one year and eight months of that period."—Christchurch 'Tress."

which he resides or is interested; Quite, a number of such servants, of the State were now actively interesting themselves in local, governing matters as members of local bodies.; The fact that the Government intended next session to grant Civil Servants the full-right of appeal was favourably commented on.

At Eketah'una. the other night Mr. Sylws treated the suggestion .that the Government was responsible for the Huntly disaster as it should be treated —with contempt. As Mr. Sykes pointed cut, it was as equally absurd, to blame Sir Joseph Ward for the loss of the Penguin because a lighthouse had not been placed at the spot where the steamer went ashofo.—"Wairarapa Daily Times.". . ■

"In'sis'years the Ward , Government had erected 209- workers' homes at a cost of £94,622. The present Government had erected 345 homes at a cost of £162,322. Sir Joseph "Ward's average was 33 homes per year, Mr. Maesey's 125 per year."—Sir Walter Buchanan at Waihakeke.

"His chief reasons . for joining the Government were that-his old party had joined hands with the Social Democrats,' and 'the Government had accepted the Liberal policy,, and were building 'on it, and had granted freehold'to Crown tenante,' which had been blocked by tho Liberal Governments, and on which he had opposed them on a no-confidence motion."—Mr. W. H..Field, at Otaki.

Touching on'/the of Native lands, the speaker said that there was no doubt, buf that, the legislation,, fashioned by Sir James Carroll and.the Hon. Mr.. Ngata had-'.been ..framed to block settlement. Why should a Maori landlordism be set up? And yot this was what Sir James Carroll had been, doing for 21 years.—Mr. De Lateur, Reform candida'to for Gisborne. .''

- Hγ. John- Robertson •at his Etorton meeting,' tapping himself on the .chest, grandiloquently exclaimed: "I told Mr. Maesey on the floor of the House that he i was responsible for the Huntly disaster." Poor Mr. Massoy, liow. he must have trembled. It would have been just as sensible for our liito pledge-' breaker to-hare told hie audience that Mr. Massey was responsible for the war: —"Manawatu Herald."

"Mr. Robertson emphatically informed his meeting that Mr. Girdenor was not the official, Liberal candidate for this (Otaki) constituency; Hβ said tho Liberal Party decided not to put up a candidate against him (Mr. Robertson) and a similar arrangement had been made between the Labour Party and the Liberals in other constituencies. This clears up a very important point, and is evidence that political bargaining TTas. taken ptaoo between the Opposition and Social Democrats to oust the Maesoy Government at any cost. It would be interesting to know the exact terms of ■ this unholy alliance. Air. Robertson has let the cat put of the bag, 'but was slim enough to avoid details."—"Manawatu Herald."

The Opposition Party supporters seem intent on supporting any sort of a Jbaby bonus scheme which is likely to win them a few, votes. Mr. T. Gresham, an Opposition candidate for an Auckland seat, in one of his addresses last week, said that his first point was with regard to women and children. He said, "Dear old Dick Seddon" always advocated keeping , the cradles full, but unfortunately never introduced legislation calculated to further that object. Mr. Gresham then outlined his sceme, which was that a mother, should receive a benus of £2 upon the birth ef a child and an allowance of 10s. per month until it Teaohed the age of five years. If Parliament could eee its way clear to raise the bonus to £5 he would be quite agreeable. ■-.-.

, The executive council of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants has drafted the following list of questions to be submitted to all Parliamentary candidates:—Are you in favour of (1) tho Ministerial vote in.railway appeal cases being abolished; (2) full civil and political rights to all railway servants; (3) a forty-eight-hour week for ■ all classes of railway servants; (4) payment of -superannuation- te widows or superannuated ' members; (5) an increaso of wages of casuals from Is. lid. to Is. 3d. per hour; (6) the placing of dining-car men on the permanent staff and D.—3; (7) the abolishing of tbe division barrier between tho second and first division, whereby every man will have an opportunity to rise . hy merit and ability to the highest position in the service; (8) all engines and rolling stock being built in. the Dominion."

Determined views on tho Licensing question were voiced by Mr. I. Gresham, an Opposition candidate, at a meeting in Auckland. Hβ said he .was opposed to prohibition, which, he stated, was an interference with the liberty of the subject. What they wnnte'd was pure, ■unadulterated beer. (A. voice-: And Slent.y of it.) Most of the evils of rjnking were duo to bad beor and spirits, and his aim , would be to get it pure. (A voice: How would you get it?) By punishing a publican who adulterated the liquor just as severely as the man who watered the milk. If a fmblican was caught selling adulterated iquor he should be fined £50 for the first offence and for the second—(A voice: Hang him.) No; ho would cancel his license. Personally, ho never drank during business hours, but he liked it at night. (A. voice, waniingly: Well, you lot it alono in the future.) Because a few men made beasts of themselves, why Rhould he go without his glass at nightP Ho ulso objected to the liquor question going to the referendum.

Amongst other things pointed out last'evening by Mr. R. A. Wright, Reform candidate for the Suburbs, at a meeting of electors at Ngahauranga was the fact- that boyond increasing the salaries; etc., in the Civil Sorvico, tho Reform Government had taken a very important step in advanco by relaxing tho regulations which prevented nicmbcifc of tho Civil Sorvico from occupying positions upon local bodies. It was now open to. any member of the Public Service, or of the Railway Service, to offer himself for election t<i n.ii? or all of ,*ihe local bodies m the district, in