POLITICAL ARENA

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 138, 9 December 1919, Page 7

POLITICAL ARENA

PLATFORM POINTS

FROM CANDIDATES' SPEECHES

"Are you pledged to the . P.P.A. ?" was a question addressed to LieutenantColonel Mitchell last evening. "No," answered the candidate, "I am not."

"Are yon in favour of a State tottery?" was one qf the questions put to Mr. J. P. Luke at Thorndpn last night. The questipper referred to "the large amount of money going to 'Tatts.' " Mr. Luke said he was opposed to a State lottery, but he was not with those who urged that additional permits fpr race meetings shculd be withheld. There was iip reason, to his mind, why racing should be restricted to any particular areas.

Spine questions and answers at Mr. Pritchard's Petone meeting:—"Are you a Prohibitionist?" —"I am a life-long abstainer, and personally vote Prohibition, but at aij time I w;ll submit to the will of the majority pf the party I represent pn policy matters pn this questien." ''Which flag would you prefer, the red flag or the Union Jack?"—'' Can you tell me where the red flag flies? I am qiute content to be under the Union Jacli." "Are you in favour pf direct action?" —"I stand for constitutional aciipn and constitutional Government." "Have you the support of the Catholics or Romans?"—"l am pledged to no party besides the-Labour Party, and stand fer equal rights for all, and special privilege, for none. lam a Presbyterian, but stand for no sect."

"Let us consider the case of the family which has lost its breadwinner," said Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell to a meeting of women at Brooklyn last evening. "Often the children are sent to a State home. Now, if it pays the State to pay Someone to look after those children, then it will pay the State better to pay the mether to look after her children, for the home, the real home, is the place where children can best be brought up. Who suffer ? The children, and, when we loqk deeper, the State, and. the State cannot afford to let the children suffer. The State must lend a hand, must make provision for such cases, and give those children every possible chance, free education, from the kindergarten to the university." (Applause.) -"..'""

■ "Has the Government of this country ever tried to njake this cppntry happier and brighter, for the people?" asked Mr, A. L. Montpith ( Labour candidate for Wellington East, at Hataitai last evening. "I'do not think so. If I did, I should not be standing here to-night, You have had commissions and boards until you are bored to death, and ypu have had legislation that does nothing. I need only refer you, to land* legislation and land aggregation. What jas '"■ the Massey_ legislation done on the subject of aggregation and re-aggregation? My .occupation takes ma alj over New Zealand, and' Italic to farmers wherever I go, and wherever I go I find the same thing— land getting into the hands of the few. Here it will be one' family, where there were half a dozen before, and there it may even be worse; from North to South you fipd it everywhere. ' An(J yet there is a l_}d-bunger."

"In six and a-half years, the Seddon-Ward-Mackenzie Administration erected 209 workers' dwellings," stated Mr. J. P. Luke, at the Thorndon Methodist Hall last night. "That was in time of peace, but the Massey Government beat th,at record in time of war. In three years the Reform Government erected 429 houses, on an average of 140 per year, as against an average of 52 per year by the former Administrations."

Mr. D. K. Pritchard stated at Petone last evening that an appeall was being made to support men with a stake in the country, but the trouble was that these men had too d —— m^uiy stakes in the country, and the people would be better socially and economically if these people were pushed put of power.

A branch of the New Zealand Labour Party was formed at the Upper Hutt on Friday evening last, with an attendance of twenty-five at the inauguration. Apologies were received from about as many more for inability to attend, but with, assurance of membership. A resolution was carried unanimously: ''That the immediate business should be to as-, sist the candidature pf Mr. J. M'Kenzie, official Labour candidate for the Otaki electorate."

"We are told," said Lieutenant-Colon-el Mitchell, the Independent candidate for the Wellington South seat," "that New Zealand cannot hope to compete with English or foreign manufacturers on account of the higher rates of wages in the Dominion, but I .believe that the wages in other countries are being levelled up to our*. Let us manufacture our own raw materials, for -why should we send our wool 13,000 miles across the sea, only to bring it back oyer those 13,000 miles of , water, and then pay duty on'it befpre we put it on our backs ? Why should we send our leather to America, and buy American boots made of New Zealand leather? When we realise our possibilities as a manufacturing people, we shall be leas at the merqy pf men like Ceats, whp are making prpfits of 40 per cent, at the expense of the working people." First and foremost, said the speaker, develop hydroelectric power.

"The talk of the standardisation of footwear has been nothing bnt a scandal in leather. It will never get any further than the samples in Parliament Buildings. There will never be any relief till the people put in a Labour Government and get State factories."—Mr. D. K. Pritchard, at Petone.

Instances of bad business in settling soldiers on the land were mentioned by Mr. A. L. Monteith at Hataitai last evening. He had been up at Waimarino, where there was a settlement of returned soldiers, and he had fonnd a general regret that they had ever touched it. In Hawkes Bay ope squatter had sold an estate for subdivision among returned soldiers, and netted £70,000 on the bargain. Up in the. Shannon district, an estate of a 1 deceased settler had been offered tp the Government by the desire of the late owner, specially fpr placing returned soldiers on the land. • The price was reasonable—£3s an acre—but, though the place was visited and inspected by Ministers, the offer, was turned down. The trustees then put up the property for auction, and the overall price realised was £51 per acre. Since then as much as £80 or £90 had, been offered, but the present owners would not sell. That was an instance of gross lack of foresight by the Government. The results of such inept policy were seen in the alarming influx into the towns and the depopulation of the country.

Mr- H. 0, Browne met his men's committee last night. Reports were receivedfrprn various centres, and in every case the candidate's prospects were said to be bright, ,

"If there is one thing that the Massey!' Government has done which should! arouse your enthusiasm and earn youa approbation it is the placing on tha Statute Bcok pf the Beard of Trada Bill. That Bill has immense possibilities, as far as dealing effectively with profiteering is concerned. When it is in full operation it will do more to keep down the oost of Eying than anything else."-— Mr. J. P. Luke (North) at Thorndon Methodist Hall last night.

pealing with the land question at Ha> taitai last evening Mr. A. L. Monteithi gave it as a telling test of the land policy of the Ward and Massey Governments that while the total increase in tha population of the Dominion during tha war time-was some 9000 or so,- Wellington City had increased aibeut 20,000 an_ Auckland probably about 30,000 in population. There had been an alarming influx into the cities, greater in this country than in the Commonwealth. Quoting from the official statistics of tha Commonwealth he gave the increase'peO cent, in metropolitan areas for the Commonwealth as 26.62, and fpr New Zealand as 80.89 for the same period of years. Many country districts had lost population, and he knew of countio quite close to Palmerston North which had suffered considerable losses. Aggregation of land was rampant, and for a country that had to live up to its exports, tie outlook was not good.

In speaking on the question oif epidemics Mr. Dunbar Sloane advocated the establishment of-a Citizens Army Medical Corps, with officers, N.C.O.'s, and men _ (men and woinen)—an organisation laid doWn pn the Army principle whereby everybody would know /their exact duties; buildings decided on for hospitals, chemists' shops, . fruit 'shops, and wholesale wine and spirit stores to immediately come under the State; medical men at so much..per"day'to be immediately commandeered on the.first indication of an outbreak. Finally, ■to give everyone in New.Zealand a" real live interest in this scheme^ he suggested a New Zealand Health Day once a year on the same lines as a Rpse and Carnation Day, etc. An immense sum of money would be collected, which would be invested by the Government and held against any outbreak. After all the health of the riatipn was the first thing.

''Steady up, Jolm!" Urged an interjector at Mr. J. P. Luke's meeting at Thorndon last night, when the candidate asserted that the Massey Administration had done more for the social uplift ofi tlie people than any Government in ; recent years. Mr Luke said that.. the most important map in the Dominion was the Premier. (A voice: "What about the .miners?") Mr.-'L,uke'stated that he was" out to see that' the miners had a fair deal. Everybody was; entitled! to a fair deal, and that included the miners, of course. He had a great deal of sympathy for the miners, particularly since he had had an opportunity of inspecting tho surroundings in which they liyed. (A voice: "Who was to'blqina for that?") Mr. Luke: "The, past .Administration much more than the presenfl Administration." Mr, Luke was apparently quite uaable to convince a'certain section of the audience, that in' the Massey Government the miners had them greatest friends.-

At Brooklyn, it would eeem, there a_d some people who approve the spirit which caused the conscientious objector to become a byword among those who did their share, both at hpme and overseas, men and wemen. Lieutenant-Col-onel Mitchell thinks 'differently,-.- and said so very plainly in answer to" a question' put to him last evening in, regard to the court-martialling of certain of those men pf censcience. 'When a certain number ef these cpi_cien'tious objectors came to France,' he said, "they came immediately under my command. I knew whafc was going on, fpr it was a weekly' occurrence to see in routine orders that su,ch and such a man had been found guilty by courtrinartial of deserting or refusing duty in the face of the enemy, and had been sentenced to death. I. saw the danger that these men were running, and thought it my duty to warn them, and I am pleased to say that nine out of the twelve did, at my instigation, some useful work; they did their bit on your bphalf and came thrpugh like men. (Loud applause.) I have no time for the conscientious objector, but I did think it my duty to protect him against his own ignorance, i (More applause.) Everyman who did his bit fought on your behalf." (Loud applause.) ,"