THE LIBERAL CANDIDATES MASS MEETING ON THE RECLAIMED LAND.

Evening Post, Volume LII, Issue 168, 7 December 1896, Page 2

THE LIBERAL CANDIDATES MASS MEETING ON THE RECLAIMED LAND.

On Saturday evening a mass meeting wfcs ield in the vacant space' at the entrance to .he Queen's Wharf, addresses being aeivered by the successful Ministerial candidates for the City and S^rb'-Messrs Hutcheson, Fisher, and Wilford — the Premier and the third Government candiSe sor the City, Mr. C. Wilson. The gathering was a large one, and the speeches, which were chiefly of congratulation on the Liberal victory, were well received. As a preliminary, cheers were given for each of the successful candidates; and it may be here remarked that throughout the proceedings demonstration! of appreciation were frequent. MB. HUTCHISON. Mr J. Hutcheson, who headed the City poll, led off, remarking that he would he very brief. They all seemed he said to have a lively appreciation of the fight just ended, and that it was not quite complete in its victory was not their fault He was satisfied that there was such solidarity upon the Liberal ticket in Wellington as had never existed before. That their friend Mr. Wilson, the third I.ili€«rieandidate,li«d not been elated, was due to the fact that he had had the misfortune to start a comparatively unknown man locally. A most sTgnificantfeatureofthepreviousday'svictory W as the victory over the gentl eman who held the proud position of hwd of^ the poll at the previous election. He (Mr. Hutcheson) had no ill-feeling towards anyof the rival candidates, and it would ill , become him to say anything concerning them at a time when Vhoiest foemen wiped tho sword and sheathed thi steel. That the election had beenTaugbtfairly and truly was a great satisfaction to him. That the new Parliament was one likely to give satisfaction they would all agree. There m P, rov^ in tho fighting power upon both sides of the HoS. To,all W members of hi. committees and those self-sacrificing persons who had worked so hard and consistently foT the liberal ticket he tendered bil heartfelt thanks. If any feelings of animosity had been occasioned during the struggle he was willing to forget and forgive It was his ambition to have a fair start, a Sirunderstanding,anda fair field. Untried as he was, he was ambitious to hold the balance of justice between Party and^ Party as equal as frail human nature could. He had no strong personal prejudices, ana U freedom from personal ambition was anythingin a voting politician, he was free from it He only had a limited amount of ability and a limited amount of intelleot, but such as it was it was given freely and unsparingly to the people of New Zealand. He was not going to be a parochial politician. He might have to vote against what might be the interests of Wellington, but this would only be where it appeared to him that the colony aa a-whole had"a greater claim. When this happened he hoped they would try to read between' the lines. He was not merely a class politician. He did not want them to rjut him on too high a plane and expect too much from him, because the higher one was the heavier the fall. He again thanked them for the high honour they had done him. (Load cheers.) JIB. FIBHEB. Mr. Fisher, after opening his remarks in a iocular strain, said that never before had the Liberal power in Wellington so strongly asserted itself as it had done on Friday last. There was a flaw somewhere. How it came about he could not say, but it would have occurred to them that if it was possible to Teturn two members, why not three ? But what had they to thank for this grand, this honourable result achieved? They had to thank thfe consistent, the hard, the uohd support of the working interests of the city. There never was, never had been, such a meeting in the City of Wellington before. After commenting on the comparatively small attendances and lack oi enthusiasm at the meetings of the Opposition pandidates, and then pointing out how despite this fact, the" polling showed how strong the* ' Party yet was, Mr Fisher urged the Liberals of the City to continue then :ombination. Nothing but the desperat< iftorta of the Liberal candidates themselves md their supporters could have achieved s( great a victory in the face of the force! opposed to them. The candidates had behaved honourably to the Party, and tht Party had behaved honourably to them md .in Parliament they would see thai those returned would justify the verdict oi oolling day. He had been asked before th< slection began., to stand as an Indepen ient Liberal. He had tried that tioke in 1893, and went down. He hac the matter put before him by privat< and personal friend*, who pointed ou that the position was now such that he mus make a stand either on one side or thi other. He saul very well, he would g( back to his old position of 1890. Ther< were two things he wished to say. He dii feel sorry about Mr. Wilson's defeat. (I voice— "He'll get there next time.") Hi had tg thank the members of Mr. Hutche son's* Committee for the assistance they ha< given him. and he could not say too mucl of the help he had obtained from the ladies particularly the members of the Women' Social and Political League. If the mci had had a hard time during the election si also had the women. Mr. Fisher euloguet the good work of the women workers a length, and concluded amidst cheering. MB. WILSON. Mr. Wilson said there was a good ol( saying that it was better to have loved an< lost than never to have loved at all, and i was better to have gone through an electioi fight and be able to take the result like ; man than never to have experienced it. I the election had done nothing else, i had taught him to have confidence ii himself to a greater extent than he ha< before. It had done him a great deal o good. It had taught him that there was i great comradeship among all who had thi good old cause of Liberalism at heart. I few days ago he was unknown to most o them ; now he had a great number of friends both amongst the men and, he was prout to say, the women electors of the city He was very well satisfied, very pleased, tha two such good Liberals had been elected He was specially pleased that Mr. Hutchesoi was in, and also Mr. Fisher. As to himself in his spare time he was going to stud] politics properly, so that when the time came and he trusted it would come— it migh be many years, he could wait— but when tha time did come he, would be better able to d< his work'as a member. Let him thank mos sincerely alt those who had worked so ( ban and so well for him— particularly his ol< friend Andrew Collins, a man whose hand hi was proud to shake every day; also, Mr Murdoch and others. During the electioi he (Mr. Wilson) had never left his work ii the New Zealand Times office for one singlt day. No one had been put on to do hi work —he worked by day, fough the election at night. He wad no going to squeak and howl becausi he was not elected. Not a bit of it. H would have another try. He expressed hi gratification at the success of the Govern ment. It was not a question of persons He did not think so much about his owi licking. They had got two raep in for thi city, and had won a great victory. The' would see that he had fought the figh loyally. (Loud cheers.) ME. WILFOBD. Mr. Wilford, who spoke next, comment© upon the Liberal victory in hiß electorate which had so long been a stronghold of th Conservative party, dwelling at some lengtl and with occasional humour upon his elec tion struggle and other matters. He wa quite satisfied, he said, that by honest atten

1 tion to his duties, a strict watch upon the course of political events and with the earnest desire imbued in km though he might not reach a very high position m the political world, he would conscientiously Re after the interests d the district he represented. Then he would be able to come before his constituents at the .next eleotion with deeds, not words: (Cheers.) THE PREMIER. The Premier, who added to the effect of his arrival by coming unannounced and alone, made a very long speech fo r such an occasion, and was well received. His remarks, however, if pearls of wisdom, contained very little that was new. The 4th of December, 1896, he said, had been Empanoipation Day to the people of the City of Wellington— emancipation from the Conservative yoke that had been the curse of the city and kept it back for years Under that yoke nothing had been done for the workers or the business people of the city. Who would have thought that in the Conservative stronghold the people would put a Labour candidate at the head of the poll and two others so high up ? Throughout the length and breadth of the colony the people had on Friday proved true to them- , selves, true to the Liberal cause, true to the cause of the people. Never m the history of the colony had the issues been of so great 1 importance as those of Friday last. Just imagine, three successive Liberal victories! Talk about breaking records ! The Conservatives said, when the Liberals defeated them in 1890, "Wait till 1893 comes, then we will sweep them from the face of the earth" Then when 1893 came, and they were again beaten, — " Wait till next election," they cried, "and you will see where the Liberal and Labour Party will he " Well, 1896 had come, and where were they? If the Liberals of the colony continued true to themselves, the Conservatives would always be out of it. What was the good of all the advancement in the world if, when the time came to elect men to' Parliament, they failed to send men there to fight in support of freedom, who would be true to the people who sent them there, pass such laws as would bring about justice and equal opportunities to all, and bring abottt that state of affairs that must promote the well-being of the people of' New Zealand. After preaching the lesson of organisation and combination, and urging the Liberals, both men and women, to keep together and organise, he said the result of the present election had shown that the Liberal Party was stronger now than it had ever been since 1890. It was never more compact than at the i present moment. During the past session the Government had never had more than a majority of 8 on whom they could rely in !time of trial, now they had 14. Mr. Seddon explained Mr. Fisher's retirement from the Liberal Party in 1890, and said the Party on that occasion refused to carry out the wishes of its ohief, Mr. Ballance, and did a wrong to George Fisher. Of course, human nature was human nature, and so liable to err, but at the same time if he (Mr. Seddon) had been chief of the Party at that time, and it bad refused to carry out his wish, it could have got another leader. But then he was a tyrant. (Laughter.) But yesterday they (Mr. Fisher and the Party) had made a fresh start. Everything of the past was forgotten and forgiven, and he was satisfied, and very pleased indeed, that the people had again returned to Parliament Mr. George Usher. Mr. Seddon made eulogistic reference to Mr. Kutcheson both as a man and what might ,be expected of him as a member, and he congratulated the City of Wellington and the colony of New Zealand on having put a i working man, and one who had proved himgelf true to the cause of Labour, at the head of the poll in the Empire City. Regarding Mr. Wilson, he said that gentleman, since his candidature, had won golden opinions from all. He had shown that he was absolutely unselfish. Time after time he had helped the cause, irrespective of his own personal convenience, and under most dimcult circumstances had done yeoman service in the cause of Liberalism iv this city. Although not returned himself, he felt that Mr. Wilson was just as proud, just as pleased, as though his efforts in the cause had been quite successful. Mr. Wilson, though unsuccessful himself , had done his best to assist in the return of Messrs. Fisher and Hutcheson. If Mr. Wilson had come out a little sooner he would, in his (Mr. Seddon's) opinion, have been one of the members for the city. That he had done as well as he did showed that his services were appreciated by the people of Wellington. They would hear of Mr. Wilson again. If they were true to themselves and the cause of Liberalism, and desirous of helping men who were helping the cause, they would send him to Parliament. Mr. Seddon again jcongratulated the Liberals upon their victory, and urged them to stand firmly together— to be united and work together for the common good and the benefit of humanity. (Cheers.) Cheers for the candidates, the Premier, Mrs. Seddon, and the Women's Social and Political League closed the meeting.