THE ELECTIONS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 138, 8 December 1914, Page 4

THE ELECTIONS

ANOTHER LIVELY MEETING MR. FISHER IN ST. PETER'S j SCHOOLROOM A FUSILADE OF INTERJECTIONS. Addressing a crowded audience in St. Peter's Schoolroom last evening, tho Hon. Fj M. B. Fisher had to contend with an intermittent fire of interjections, but there is little doubt that the enthusiasm of his supporters outweighed the expressions of disapproval by his political opponents. Mr. D F. Skinner presided. THE AMOKURA— AND FLOGGINGS. I The Minister, who received an ovation I when he stepped forward to speak, opened by stating he wanted k> refer to allegations of "dastardly treatment of the boys on the .Amokura." made by Mr. H. E. Holland, the Social Democratic candidate for Wellington North. The training ship, he said, came under his control, and he wished to dwell on the matter.' He was proceeding, amid sundry interjections, to refer to the Commission of Enquiry which had been set up. when a voice called out: "Floggings have taken place." Mr. Fisher"; They wore flogged under the Act of our predecessors, and we repealed it. (Applause and dissent.) So troublesome became the heckling 1 that the speaker raised his hand, and, pointing to a member of the audience, remarked : "Now, don't be annoyed with me. You came to me for & billet, and because you didn't get it you are annoyed with me." (Applause.) The boys on the Amokura were punished for offences they deserved to be punished for -- A hecEler : Cigarette smoking. Mr. Fisher : Would any mother ask that her boy should not be puniehed with seventy-five boys aboard f (Ap- ' plause.) The speaker, after further interruption, stated that those who didn't want to listen could leave. If they didn't leave, and persisted in interrupting, they would be put out. During the present contest he had done his utmost to vindicate free speech. (More applause and a suspicion of dissent.) Referring again to the Amokura boys, he remarked that as a result of their training twenty-four boys would be able to join the mercantile marine without paying the heavy premium that would otherwise be necessary. The Government did everything possible for them and to increase their efficiency. "I never heard of flogging until the enquiry was held," hq went on, "and as soon as I did I stopped it." (Loud applause.) A voice : After you spoke about it, one got twenty-four strokes. Mr. Fisher invited the interjeetor to bring the facts under his notice that night, and although the Amokura was away iii the South at the Auckland and Bounty Islands, he would guarantee he would be able to obtain a complete report from the head of the Marine Department on the following day and publish it in The Post. (Applause.) ' A voice : Give us politics. Never mind the Amokura. Mr. Fisher : - Some of you would like to use the Amokura to dig me out, but you object to me using it to dig myself in. (Enthusiastic applause.) lou have no hesitation in going about behind my back slandering' me, and say. "Give me politics." I say, "Give me fair play." (Another outburst of applause.) The Minister then referred to other slanderous statements tha£ had been made about 'him. A voice: Why don't you prosecute them ? Mr. Fisher: You give me the evidence, and I will prosecute them tomorrow. "AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE." Touching on tied houses, he said he was against them, and the party to which he belonged was pledged to do aAvay with tied houses. If there was one monopoly which ought to be done away with it was the brewing monopoly. (Loud applause.) It was one of the evils of the law that brewers were permitted, to control what were known as tied houses. After a lessee had improved his house "out of sight" the "heavy nailed landlord" came down, and charged him £3000 for the goodwill. In order to get the best men in the trade, it was necessary to amend the law., so that the licensee could obtain a share of the value he had created. "We have made a pledge — (Interruption). An interrupter : Yon won't be there ! Mr. Fisher : We have made a pledge, not an unholy alliance." (Applause.f "If he had wanted an alliance with the Social Democratic Party he could have got it, and the price of it would have been that he would, when the strike came, have .had to refuse to suspend the Shipping and Seamen Act, and throw his colleagues overboard. He had refused that offer. Had he thrown his colleagues overboard and resigned from the t Government, the Massey Administration would have crashed down, and the strike would have been won. "I was determined," he added, "to be loyal to my colleagues and see the thing through." (Loud applause.) Proceeding, Mr. Fisher said" he had no more malevolent ,and bitter opponent than the New Zealand Times. A voice : It was The Post three years ago. Mr. Fisher then read the list of shareholders. "One has only to look at that list to realise the reason for every article published in the New Zealand Times," said, Mr. Fisher. (Laughter and applause.) Afterwards the speaker proceeded to deal with the much-criticised Westport Harbour Board appointment, and, judging by the applause with which his remarks were interspered, his explanation/ was a satisfactory one. He then read a letter from Mr F. F. Munro, late chairman of the board, showing how appointments had previously been made for political purposes. Incidentally he reI marked ; "The Minister at that time was the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward." A great burst of hand-clapping and stamping arose from the back of the hall. HATE AND MALICE. As far as Labour was concerned, Air. Fisher continued, let Labour dp the best it could. If it was going to win it must do it through the ballot box. "If it is going to win, I hope it won't be through an unholy alliance. I don't think the present political situation affords any satisfaction to anybody concerned — (a voice : Not to you, you bet) — for while h is true that one extreme section of Labour and the Government are opposed to each other and Labour may possibly liave contempt for the Government, it has an equal contempt for the present Opposition and i© only working with the Opposition for its own ends. They have no bond in common" A voice : Diplomacy.

Mr. Fisher: I don't call it diplomacy. I call it hate and maiice. He referred to the Social Democratic Party, and pointing to two men in the body of the liall who had been noticeable for their interjections, said : "Those two gentlemen sitting at the end of the row have got most of their political education from me. (Hear, hear, and applause.) They have attended my meetings regularly this election and last election, and they no doubt are gradually beginning to see the dawn of hope. . they are Radicals " A"gain the Minister was side-tracked from the subject of his address by interI jections : "It is not a good alliance," ho said, referring to Labour and the Opposition. "It is an alliance based upon bad feeling." A voice : Upon expediency. Mr. Fisher : What good is likel/ to come from a Government that is returned upon an expedient baronetcy? (Applause.) Another voice : Get rid of the Massey Government. Mr. , Fisher : You might get rid of the Massey Government and get sometliing I "a jolly sight worse." (Interruption drowned by applause.) "NEW SUITS AND TOOTH BRUSHES." Touching on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, he said the various pensions proposed would mean J an annual increase of £3,000,000 a year, and hefore any increases were made it j was advisable "to wait and see where ( the war is going to land us." (Applause.) " Why, gentlemen," said Mr. Fisher, "you might as well put into 'your programme three new suits and three tooth brushes." (Loud laughtei 1 .) Frequent references to " batons " and " specials " induced Mr. Fisher to up- | hold the Government's method of suppressing the strike, and interruptions thick and fast. He 'pointed out that before the "specials" came the strikers had taken possession of the i wharves and knocked ships' officers I about. Someone interjected that the strike could have been settled by reason. The Minister! Did you* ever know the Federation to he possessed of any reason? (Disapproval and applause.) Mr. Fisher resumed his' seat amid enthusiastic applause, and after he had answered the inevitable deluge of questions, a gentleman in the front of the hall stepped on to the form, and shouted, to the accompaniment of a good deal of disturbance and the counting out process, " I move a very hearty vots of. thanks and confidence in Mr. Fisher and the Reform Party." There was a volume of cheering wliich eclipsed the boohooing, and the Chairman declared the motion earned. Further cheering for Mr. Fisher, also for Mr. Fletcher, was raised outside the hall after the meeting.