THE GENERAL ELECTION BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 69, 15 December 1919, Page 9

THE GENERAL ELECTION BATTLE

LAST DAYS OF THE CAMPAIGN LIBERAL SLUMP IN AUCKLAND NEWS, NOTES, AND COMMENTS

Distant Fields. A good roads policy is common to all parties. Sir Joseph Ward at Martinliorough went one better than all the rest. He told of a road ho knew of in America UKjO miles long with a concrete foundation and a bitumen surface, and suggested that we could have sucli wads hero in New Zealand. "If there is one subject 011 which 1 do know something it is tho loading problem," .-aid .Ur. A. JJ. M'Leod, in making reply to Sir Joseph Ward's pioinises of line roads to New Zealand, "i have seen those roads in California, and 1 got particulars about them as to cost of laying them and the cost of maintenance attenvards. Those roads are laid lor pneumatic-tyred motor traffic. Horse* aro Kept there only by the rich, kept for pleasure,'and they'are always shod with rubber. Those roads would not carry our mixed New Zealand traffic, Steelsliod horses and steel-tyred wagoils would cut them to-pieces. And these roads could not be laid'in America for less than <£40 a chain, Even, at that price they would not remain (jood without heavy maintenance costs, Our road problem will not be settled -it .Sir Joseph Ward does spend three cr four millions ou making roads. Millions of maintenance will have to be provided also. I agree that we shall nave to adopt soma 6) stem of sealing our roads with tar or bitumen, but it will have.to be a bettersystem than that advocated by Sir Joseph Ward.'' j Ladies, Beware. • j Here is a direful execration of the woman elector who fails to do her duty on Wednesday next, and is forwarded by a contributor who significantly signs himself "canvasser":— The womankind tfho will not vote Mnv sho wear 1914' a coat, . Her skin burn red,"her nose-end peel, . Her high-heeled shoes may-pinch her heel; Her fire shall sulk (with beastly coke), Her chimneys fill her house with smoke. I When cabbage fills her house with odour, Her swelliest friends shall motor over; And when the butcher's failed to call. (And there is naught to eat at all, Her man (as I'm a living sinner) Brimrs six relations homo to dinner. All these, ana woes we do not note, Fall on that "She" who will not vote. Stumped! "Halve you any Idea what the price cf butter would be if the farmer T orked 4-1 hours a woek-jind paid his family union wages?" was a question nsked Bloodworth, Labour candidate for i'arneil, at a meeting at Epsom. The candidate said ho had no idea. Perhaps he could guess, but was vise enough not to say. A Compliment, "The lit. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward could not have paid me, a new candidate, a greater compliment than to visit Martmborough, my home town."—Mr. A. D. M'Leod at Greytown. Especially as Sir Joseph Ward did no more than to make it quite clear that his policy will not suit Wairarapa. That Murchison Rebuff. Tho Labour extremists on I'he West Coast aro still sore about the conduct jot the Murchison electors, who refused to i listen to an address by Mr. H. E. Jiol--1 land on the ground that he was not loyal. J The "Grey River Argus," the organ of • tho extomists, refers angrily to a newspaper "that; cites a despicable incident | hko that at Murchison as an evidence of ■ real loyalty, when anybody but an imj becile would regard it as merely base political trickery." I Why th? conduct of the, loyal electors ! of Murchison should be described a3 ' "base political trickery" is not at all clear. The electors did not try.- to howl. Mr. Holland down, in the fashion favoured by the extremists ..themselves. They merely bft the meeting. The Bad Old Days. . ' f . / "I have -nothing to do with the past history of this conntry jioliticaUy," said Mr. A. D. Mi'Leod at Greytown. "I am too young. Now, -I am supporting a gentleman who is just about as Liberal a man in his views and ideas as any man you can find within the shores of this country, tho Right Honourable W. F. Massey." (Applause.)' Extremists and the Gratuity, Mr. Holland denies very angrily that he and Mr. P. Eraser voted agaiust the gratuity to the soldiers. He cannot get away from the plain fact that the third reading of the Expeditionary Forces JJill, containing the gratuity 'proposal, was carried ou December G, 1918, by 54 yotes to 2, the minority consisting of Mr. Holland and Mr. Eraser.' It is also true, of course, that since then the extremists, who had very little regard indsed for the soldiers during the war, had made loud professions of a desire to be generous to the. returned men. But in December, 191S, Mr. Holland .awl Mr. Eraser considered iihat'the "rights" of the military defaulters wero more important than tho claims of the soldiers. That was why they voted against the Bill.- ' How it Goes, No people who can lise tho multiplication table believe that (he Wardists have any .real hope of putting into effect their big schemes, especially the ten and sixpenny housing scheme. Mr. A. D. M'Leod, the. Reform candidate for the 'Wairarapa seat, , has pointed out that at <£750 the rental of a house on a 31 per cent, rale of .interest will-be J. 28 a year. This makes no allowance for einking fund or insurance or repairs. And Mr. M'Lcod said: "If Mr.-Massey had introduced a housing scheme providing for houses at 10s. Cd. a week Sir Joseph' Ward would have offered you ouo on a ss. a week basis/' But Will They? "I say to the official Labour Party: Disown the LW.W., liho "Red Eed, tiie go-slow, and the direct-action methods. Cut out your extreme doctrine of Socialism and robbery from tho thrifty and provident under the camouflage of nationalisation of Mic means of production, transport, and exchange, rigliUy termed by one of your leaders (Mr. TT. E. Parry) as expropriation. (Cheers.) Cut out the professional agitator, whose life's-work seems to be to breed and fosler class hatred and discontent among loyal, honest, working nwn. (Cheers.j Take down your red "a? of revolution and put up the British Flag of freedom and justice. (Cheers.) Declare your j loyalty to the country and Empire. Then | you wi)l reinstate yourselves with tho people of the'country, and they in turn will show you their gratitude and their enters j—Colonel Mitchell at Eerhampore. Her Citadel. "The kitchen is the most important room in a house. Any man or woman who has done housework knows that," said Miss E. Melville, Government candidate for Auckland West. The candidate was referring-to tho housiii" legislat.au passed last session, and stated that before groups of houses were creeled (.lie would like to see competitive designs called. It was no us? having a house that looked j all right from the outside, or lliat had a nice drawing-room, if the kitchen were not well planned! She thought a, few . vumen who had done, work in kitchens j ' v. ould lie able to give great bcrvico. in that matter. I

A Rer Argument Dissected, Tho Labour candidate for Wellington North professes to be.pained that any-' b"dy should talk of preparedness for war. He says it is "singular how few people are followers of the Prince of Peace." Tho Labour Party, ho adds, has given serious consideration to this matter, and "'has come to the conclusion that peace is one of the" chief blessings of life." . Nobody disputes that peace i|> a blessing But the man who says that the nation, under present conditions,. need not' lie ready to fight is either foolish or disloyal. Any worker who wants to bo honest with himself and his country in this matter lias merely to consider the fact that the methods of peaceful arbitration have not yet been applied successfully, even to industrial disputes. .The labour union which is dissatisfied with an award or .with tho conditions offered by the other side usually .tries to get its own . way by some form' of strike—that is, by force. So'nations have used force in the past 'and will .continue to use it in the future. ; For men who advocate the strike and" defy' ■the law to 'say that war is avoidable is rnero hypocrisy. • Fair Words. , '' "Sir Joseph Ward would have, us 1)0lievo that he is all impatience to put tliroireh- nil the electric power schemes, and that if we put him in power he will finish them all in three years or so," said Mr. A. D. M'Leod at one of his recent meetings. "It is some 12-or 13 years since Sir Joseph Ward's party made tho harnessing of waiter powet a: State monopoly. From 1907 to 1912 what'progress did ho make? • . A voice: None. Mr. M'Leod: Well, perhaps not that. He certainly did start the Lake Coleridge scheme, but when all is 6aid and done tlirit .is only an SOOO-horfcp-'power scheme. Now n few'weeks ago the Massey Government bought the Horn Hora. ■ scheme in Waikato, without making any song about it at all ..and that is a 9000-horee-power scheme, a bigger job than the Lake Coleridge show, of which my opponent's friends boast bo much. They never tell us a word about this purchase' , by the Massey Government." A Touch of His Old Form. , — . The Liberal leader made another vague ' statement in Auckland about his attitude towards tho Labour extremists. He said that constitutionally, if the Liberal party came back the strongest party in the House, it would, he believed, be his dutv to move a want of confidence in tho Reform Government. It was of no'importance whatever who voted for or,against that motion as -.'very member .of the House—it mattered not to whioh Dartv he belonged—was entitled to vote.."But," Sir Joseph Ward continued, "if I formed*a Ministry and it. whs dependent for its existence upon a vote or support of the extremo Labour that is .'quite, .anoflier matter. I would endeavour, of 'n i-rm n' if I were unable to do so without the 6tipportooff f the extremists then the usual course to follow of lie Government of which I i was at the head would be to put-it to ►(...(■■•Hi . T'liit i« the only -way in which a true ascertainment of the position' of' the moderate section in tho House of Representatives can -be Imirnl. It is s'mnly puerile on,the part nf nmv;i'"'iis fp Hik.about extremists in the way they do." It is for the electors to discover lust what all this means. One thine is clear enough and that is that Sir Joseph Ward is anxious to cover up what he really • would do. I In Two Breaths. "The 'Lyttclton Times,' whose strong ! points are not political controversy and consistency," says tho "Sun," "has had ■ a lot to say about the lack of Reform candidates in Christehurch. It has poked acidulated fun at the Prime Minister, I ind asked him to explain the absence of j Masseyites in tlio local fields. _ It has up- | braided him for not challenging, as the j Liberals are doing, the extremists. Then. ; in the next breath, this impartial and ' j sagacious commentator 1 accuses the Reform representatives standing for the Kaiapoi. Riccarton. and Lyttelton seats ns designed vote-splitters and intruders. Our shrill contemporary cannot have it both ways." Real Slavery. , An interjection about the individual liberty under Labour brought forth the following sally from Colonel Mitchell at Berharapore: "You. believe a man has ii.dividual rights sometimes. You claim that a conscientious objector should not lie made to fight for his country. Yet you refuse any patriot the right to work unless he joins the union, no matter wha' conscientious objecbions, he may have to joining. You recognise a mans individual right and conscience wKere the country's destiny is at st-ike, but not when it affects your union. Ho must join or starve. You are not consistent." (Loud applauso.) How They Voted. "Are you in favour of taking the Conscription Act off tho Statute Book?" was a question put to Mr. F. Pirani in the Town Hall the other night. "I am surprised at that, question," said Mr. Pirani. "The Act is off the Statu to Book. Tho only men who voted against the Bill to take conscription off tho Statute Book were Messrs. .Holland and Eraser." Debauching a State. . Tho other (lay Mr. W. H. Hughes explained in a speech why Mr.' llfan has left. Queensland, and i 6 seeking |o>enter Federal politics. "Enterprise has been killed in Queensland," said Mr.. Hughes, "thousands throughout the State ..are idle, and tho. prospects for the future are still more gloomy, for, as tho present Premier now belatedly avows,' there trill bo a further deficit this year of at least X 1,500,000. The railways have lost and are losing millions, the wild tat .State enterprises which wero to usher in- the dawn of a new day for the worker ore. being run. at a loss, and, as an AiW.TJ. organiser himself bus said, to employ; Chinamen and blackfellow'!. The State of Queensland, standing as it does on the brink of financial bankruptcy, with. unemployed men meeting on every hand, explains the. (light of Mr. Ryan. Tho financial debauchery cf the past;":fonr years, the hopeless incompetency, cf Mr. Rvan and his friends to managQ.Jlie affairs of this great State, the pandering to lawlessness and lo one section, n't.the expense of all other;, have ! tMuccd Queensland to straits so se-r'ous that they must be seen to be understood." Reductio ad Absurdum. "Thin go-slow policy is a relic of "he old Chartist days," said Mr. A.. Di M'Leod at one of his meetings in Wairarapa. "The Chartists used to say, 'Do less work, and thoro will bo more work for everybody.' Carry that idea, to, its logical conclusion: Do nothing at all and there will be lots of work!"