MR. BOLTON'S VIEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 123, 23 November 1908, Page 3

MR. BOLTON'S VIEWS.

"A healthy Opposition is always useful," said Mr. Bolton at his Willisstreet meeting on Saturday night. "But the policy of the Opposition party is not that at all. It has simply been a carping criticism of measures passed by the Government of the day during the last 18 years." No Government, he added, was perfect, and no Government ever existed that did not, here and there, make a mistake; an honest mistake was always pardonable. The Opposition members, in general terms, charged the Govornment with debauching the constituencies, mismanagement, incompetancy and corruption, but they never quoted chapter and verse of any particular instance. So opposed was the Opposition to everything brought forward by the Government that it had fought against every beneficial piece of legislation that had come from the Government. Why, it even opposed such measures as the Lands for Settlement and Advances to Settlers Acts. The candidate said he did not think that the Second Ballot Bill was a perfect measure by any means. If returned he would advocate an Abcoluto Majority Bill. The Opposition argued that the Second Ballot Bill was a shot at Labour. .How much had the Opposition done for Labour ? How much did it care for Labour 18 years ago ? — three shillings a day for married men and 2a a day for single men on the relief works. All it wanted was to attract the Labour vote to the Opposition candidate. By reason of the Second Ballot Bill, Labour had succeeded in getting a candidate in the final heat at Gisborne and another at Wellington East. Had it not been for this Bill, Labour would have had no chance in either of those constituences. He was a Liberal and a Democrat and he asked them to remember him on Tuesday. The candidate was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence. He also spoke in Lambton-quay and in Charlotte-street,