MR. LUKE AT WADESTOWN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 123, 16 February 1918, Page 8

MR. LUKE AT WADESTOWN

A UNANIMOUS VOTE. i Owing to the extremely wet weather thero was only a small attendance of electors at the Clubroom, Wadestown, last evening, when Mr.- J. P. Luke delivered an address in pursuance of his candidature for the Wellington North seat. Mr. A.- R. Atkinson occupied tho chair. Mr. Luke said he was there as tho candidate of tho National Government, and he denied the right of anyone to say that he had not tho right to stand for the seat, and lie was determined to stand finnly until the, electors gave their decision on Thursday week. There was no one who would not believe that the National Government had Worked honestly in the interests of tho prosecution of the war, and it was a grfeat thing for New Zealand that the two leaders had come together to work shoulder to shoulder for the good of the country and the Empire. Ho gave great praiso to Sir James Allen, who, ho maintained, had fully justified his position. He held that the Government would be discredited if tho mail they put their brand on was not returned, and such a defeat would be acclaimed in Germany, as it would bo magnified into the defeat of the National Win-tlie-war Government. It had not beon a small thing to get an army of 100,000 in tho field. It had

been a great work, and a great responsibility tor the Government, and it was to their credit that these men had been landed at their destinations without a casualty. They had to respect and honour for all time tho boys who had gone away to fight- for them; the nurses who . looked after tho soldiers when thc-y were sick and wounded; and the doctors and the chaplains, who had made such tremendous sacrifices. Tho Government had been blamed for many shortcomings in . dealing with the industries of the country. They had been able to secure £57,000,000 for our products, which had been safeguarded with the aid of the British Navy and the brave men of • the mercantile marine. The Government had borrowed in all £52,000,000, most of which had been raised in the country. There had been some talk about tho conscription of wealth. He thought the Government was conscripting wealth pretty effectively. The taxation was not placed upon the necessaries of life. First and foremost, it should be a cliarge upon those who had made money out of the war. There would be another loan raised in March, and he felt sure that it would be raised as easily as the others had been. Years ago when they had raised £3.000,000 on the London market, they had considered it an enormous amount, but they had raised much larger loans in their own country, and so had helped the country, because tho interest was paid here and not in London. He thought the functions of the Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board should be extended. Only a little time ago, he interested himself in two young returned soldiers, both _ of whom had been wounded, who wished to be assisted in a fishing enterprise at the Sounds (for the supply of the Wellington. market), but he was told that the board could not help such a proposal. He was of opinion that the board's hands should not bo so tied—that they ( should have tho power to help the men in any reasonable industry or occupation. He was standing as the National Government's candidate, and hoped that tho claims he had put forward would weigh with them on election day. At tho conclusion of the address "the chairman . moved a hearty vote of thanlcs to Mr. Luke, which was carried Unanimously.