MR. FORBES AT NEWTOWN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 107, 2 November 1908, Page 2

MR. FORBES AT NEWTOWN.

Mr. W. Forbes addressed the electors at St. Thomas's Hall, Newtown, on Friday evening, when over 300 were present. He contended that if the electors wanted a true representative, they must return a man with an independent spirit ; if they were content to vote for a man simply because he was a supporter of the Ward Ministry, or any other party, they might as well send their ballot box to the House labelled '•Wellington South vote," with a boy to carry it out of the door after their party. Dealing with the land question, Mr. Forbes said that if the butchers, the bakers, the bootmakers — every individual in our city — wanted to feel that there was prosperity on every side, they must see that the country was prosperous; that the land in reality was turned into a wealth-pro-ducing factor. People should be put on the land, and productive public works should be carried out to give them quick and easy transport to tne city. There was no greater incentive to industry than the prospect of ownership, and he believed in every man having the opportunity of making his home his own. The candidate stated that thousands of pounds were spent every year on the Tourist Department, and the only return the Government received were the train fares from Auckland to Rotorua. Four, hotels at Rotorua were, he asserted, run by a company. They had their own butcher's shop, their own/ sawmill; the Tourist Department at the present time was simply an advertisement for that privato company. Rotorua was vested in the State, and why should a private company own the hotels ; own the nets that caught the tourists' money? Mr.' Forbes said he was not a Socialist. He would give the Socialists a home of their own, and they would cease to exist. He, wanted to see the two classes of workers — the man that worked for himself, and the man who worked for another — brought shoulder to shoulder, and the paid agitator, who was the caus© of all strife, "wiped off the slate." In answer to the question, "Should a vote of no-confidence be moved, what side would you take, if returned?" the candidate replied, "Not the Ward Ministry's side." Applause folowed this pronouncement.