HUTT ELECTORATE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 43, 20 February 1914, Page 3

HUTT ELECTORATE

MR. SAMUEL'S CANDIDATURE Mr. Albert M. Samuel met his supporters in the Lyceum Hall. Lower Hutt. last evening. The attendance numbered twenty-seven, and the chair was occupied by Mr. T. A. Poterkin, Mr. Or ton Stevens having to fulfil a business eiigament in Christchurch. Mr. Samuel, in opening, said that he was not going to deliver a policy speech, the purpose of the meeting being to form committees. It was time that a candidate came out as a supporter of the I present Government ; that was why he ] was standing. Mr. Samuel's estimation i of Mr. Wilford was that he showed an amount of self-confidence bordering upon colossal impudence. As regards himself, Mr. Samuel said that eighteen mouths ago ho had been waited upon by an influential deputation o£ Hutt residents and asked to stand as a Government candidate. Mr. Orton Stevens, however, had been asked to "come out," but he would not stand. About two months ago Mi 1 . Massey had told him (Mr. Samuel) tliat the matter of choosing a " Reform " candidate was in the organiser's hands, and had said shortly afterwards that Mr. E. P. Bunny would be the official candidate. Mr. Bunny, however, for domestic reasons, had decided not to stand. "I have been given to understand," said Mr. Samuel, "that I will be the accepted Government candidate. People say I have the heart of a lion to tackle it, but I am certain that I will make a. good fight." Mr. Samuel went on to say that it was the duty of the Hutt electors to keep in power the present Government. Mr. Wilford should be put out, because he had played fast and loose with the Hutt Electorate. The Liberal Party would to-morrow form an, unholy alliance with the Social Democratic Party if it were not afraid of the boomerang afterwards. In the speaker's opinion there would soon be only two parties in the House-— " Reformers " (the only progressive Liberals) and the " Revolutionaries " (or Red Feds.). Which was the Liberal Party to adhere to? Mr. Samuel criticised Sir Joseph Ward and his party for heckling the Government during the strike and making pai;ty capital out of the industrial unrest, instead of helping the Government in its endeavour to put down disorder. Touching on navy matters, the speaker expressed himself in favour of the policy of the present Government. Personally he was in favour of New Zealand going in for a modern cruiser, costing between £400,000 and £500,000. At the conclusion of his speech Mr. Samuel stated that he would meet the electors in the Town Hall at Lower Hutt at an early date. Mr. Orton Stevens, he added, was chairman of his committees.