CAMPAIGN NOTES.

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

CAMPAIGN NOTES.

Mr. Luke had a busy day on Saturday, and came perilously near infringing the eight-hour rule. Starting with an outdoor meeting at Crofton at 3 o'clock, he travelled thence to Khandallah and ad- j dressed another meeting at 4. After | this he journeyed across country to the Botanical Gardens, where he began work for tho evening. His next strategical point was Wadestow n, where he rallied j his supporters, and finally he wound up by addressing a crowded meeting at Kaiwarra. At all the gatherings except the last Mr. Luke had a good reception, but at Kaiwarra an adverse vote was declared carried by a small majority. " A monstrous act of robbery " was the way in which Mr. Atkinson characterised the Crown Tenants Rent Rebate Act on Saturday evening. It was, he added, merely '" greasing the fat sow," instead of helping the liard-up farmer, and had cost the country, he estimated, £708,000. "A fair deal for all classes, but coddling for nono," was stated by Mr. A. R. Atkinson to describe his aciitude to special legislation of all kinds. lie declared his rival's definitio.i of the issue as "Labour versus AntiLabour " to be a false antithesis based on an absolutely insufficient test. "Capital versus Anti-Capital," or even "Cold water versus Anti-cold-water" would ba equally inadequate as a clue to general politics. As an instance of excessive coddling, which he could not support, he referred to tho clause in Mr. Millar's, Shearers' Accommodation Bill, which provided that "in every sleeping-room a fireplace with proper chimney shall be provided by the employer." (A voice : "And feather-beds?") Mr. Atkinson said that he would not vote to compel a runholder to provide his shearers with a luxury which a majority of tha lax payers of 'the- countiy managed to get on very well .vithout. Asked at Wadestown if he approved the second ballot system, Mr. Luke replied with an emphatic "No." If last Tuesday's election had besn under the old conditions, he would now have been member for the Suburbs, without the necessity of defending a position which he had fairly and honourably won. Ho admitted there were anomalies under the old system, and that a man might sometimes represent a minority of the .electors through there being a multiplicity of candidates opposed to him ; but if the Government lost seats from tnif cause in some places, it gained in others, and perhaps, on the. whole, rough equality was secured. True representation would be achieved by a, system of preferential voting, enabling a voter to indicate on his ballot-paper the order of his choice among tho candidates. Any well-design-ed measure with this object would have his hearty support. But it must be done at one stroke, so that elections would not be protracted, and candidates and constituencies would know their fate at once. "Same old gag of branding candidates as Conservatives, because they were not followers of the Government," said Mr. It. A. Wright at Newtown on Saturday night. It reminded him of the fctory of the lady who went to chuidi, but who never enjoyed the service unless she haard tho word "Mesopotamia" mentioned. Mr. Barber was much heckled on Saturday night by interjectors on the question of the free importation of motor cais. Mr. Barber took two lines of defence. He contended, first of all that motor cars were not imported as a whole free of duty. It was only the chassis and machinery that came in free. The body was taxed 20 per cent, ad valorem. In this way the candidate considered that there was no danger ot the import of motor cars ruining the carriage-building industry. There was .«onie demur at this. Mr. Barber maintained that motor cars were not a luxury of the rich ; they were a practical necessity to many a man in his business. Tor instance, how would candidates be able to get round without the convenience of 'cars? The next man that 'interjected about motor cars wa.s asked by tbe crowd to give it a rest. At his meeting at Brooklyn on Saturday night, Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald devoted some time to the question of the medical inspection of schools. 'I he suggestion that al' school children should be periodically examined by a medical man met with his warmest appioval. Neither parents nor teachers had the training necessary to tell whether a child was suffering from some disease or physical defect, and unfortunately in many cases fathers and mothers had not the means to obtain the services of a doctor. He was satisfied that there would be a great improvement in the health of the children if every school was visited i regularly by a medical man.