STRONG CRITICISM. MR. HOGG'S RECENT SPEECH.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 139, 14 June 1909, Page 7

STRONG CRITICISM. MR. HOGG'S RECENT SPEECH.

fßr TEr,EGRAPH.— SFEOIAI TO THB FOST.J OHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The Lyttelton Times, referring to the Minister of Labour's extraordinary speech in the House on Saturday, says : "Mr. Hogg appears to have talked like an irresponsible demagogue seeking notoriety, by attacking landowners, capitalists, and every one else who had accumulated a little wealth under the existing economic system. Then he betrayed the depth of his own ignorance of the elements of banking and banking reform, regardless of the fact that his wild ideas might be seriously credited to the Government itself, 'it is, not pleasant to have to condemn a Minister at the outset of his career, but Mr, Hogg has left us no alternative. He has angered the whole Liberal parly, and it is obvious that his presence in the .Ministry must the loyalty of sane and cautious wn, who have no desire to be regarded as supporters of hare-brained and ill-considered schemes. It seems to us that he alone can repair the damages he has done, and that he can/do this all the speedier by retiring from the position for which he has shown himself so poorly 'qualified." DUNEDIN, This Day. The Otago Daily Times says : "The Minister for Labour is simply irresistible. By his blundering speeches he seems to justify the fears of Ministerialists that the Government cannot safely be trusted to carry on the business ot Parliament dining Sir Joseph Ward's absence." A DEFENDER SPEAKS. ' {By T^LP.GnAFH.—SrECiAi, to The Post.] DUNEDIN, This Day. At the close of his lecture on il Jack Cade" before the Socialist Party last night, Mr. Barclay, late member for Dunedin North, said : "Even now we have a Minister of the Crown (Mr. Hogg) considerably ridiculed, gibed at, and sneered at for his advanced utterances from the Treasury benches. They say this man Hogg is impossible, his ideas are absurd, he has no sense, no understanding, just as they did long years ago to others ; yet I venture to predict that ultimately it will be found that Mr. Hogg is much nearer the truth, and his views much more in accordance with the best interests of New Zealand, than are those of his opponents at the present time."