WELLINGTON CENTRAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 140, 11 December 1919, Page 7

WELLINGTON CENTRAL

MR. F. PIRANI'S CAMPAIGN

MORE ROWDYISM AT ST. PETER'S.

The meetings of Mr. F. Pirani, the Liberal candidate for Wellington Central, are as hard to get into as the most popular of entertainments-; to get in one has to be early; late-comers have no chance. At last night's meeting in St. Peter's Schoolroom the hall was again crowded a long time before 8 o'clock. There was again a great deal of rowdyism, and many personalities were hurled at the platform, but the candidate was , able to make himself heard better. Mr. J. H. Fuller'presided.

Mr. Pirani said he was going to touch on one or two topics that might be considered outside the ordinary run of politics. He would deal fully with his platform at a Town Hall meeting. Social service, he said, was a subject which should receive, more attention, so that 'everyone might be compelled to render his or her quota for the good of the whole. The segregation of alien races should be considered, as in America and elsewhere, and the Chinese should be kept to one locality. Interjects occurred here, but Mr. Pirani said he, would not answer them, as that would only encourage the interjectors. He went on to deal with the need for improved housing, and said that the slum areas should be replaced by clear, open spaces, for otherwise those compelled to live in the city would never enjoy true health.] Large factories should be barred in city districts and should be established in the country. He was against armed force as a means of levelling matters in any country, and held that it was not right to deprive small holders of their lands. The people to whom attention should be turned, however, were those holding large areas of land which they were not developing properly. Continuing, he spoke of loyalty, each reference to the term being greeted with derisive " Ohs" from a section of the audience. "The issue here in Wellington Central is clear cut," said the candidate, amidst a running fire of interjection. "You have standing on one side a representative of the most disloyal secfaon in the country, a representative of the revolutionary extremists. I have not lived 55 years in New .Zealand not to know what New Zealanders are, and I say that they are not going,- to stand for that sort of thing. ._ Oh, I know you don't like the salt rubbed in," said Mr. Pirani above the uproar, " but I havo never known a man not worth twopence who could stand it." A voice: "You can't say I am a disloyalist, for I've been away at the front for three and a-half years. That's more than you can say." (Applause.) Mr. Pirani :"But you're not worth twopence if you boast about it." (Applause and uproar.) "The soldiers who did best ih the war are known as the 'silent Diggers.'"

Getting back to his train of ideas, Mr. Pirani dealt with ths cost of living, and said that it hit the smaller salaried men worse than anyone else. Therefore, he thought that when unionists secured an increase before the Arbitration Court a corresponding increase should be given to the class he had mentioned. At this stage the usual wrangle took place concerning the challenge made at |an earlier meeting.'' Tho matter disposed of, Mr. Pirani referred to the need for making a white New Zealand the most prominent plank in every party's programme, and wanted to know why "the Labour Party had abandoned this important principle. In response to an interjection, Mr. Pirani suggested that £4 a week was^a fair minimum wage. Mr. Pirani answered a number of questions, refusing, incidentally, to answer a man-who, he said, had followed him from meeting to meeting for the sole purpose of disturbing the proceedings. Suddenly a member of the audience moved a motion of no confidence in the candidate, put it to the meeting amidst a loud volume of "ayes," arid announced that it was carried. The meeting, then closed.

"What about indentured labour?" interjected a voice at Mr. Pirani's meeting last night. "Well, I would have thought my position was clear on that point," he said, "for 20 years ago I had to stand a libel action for writing against it. Anyhow, the reduction of 1000 from 3000 in the number of indentured labourers in Samoa is not such a very bad thing for those responsible foi- it.. There is not one of you crying out against indentured labour who wftuld go and do tho work in Samoa."