"THE OLD IDEA"

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 127, 25 November 1935, Page 18

"THE OLD IDEA"

GOVERNMENT ON LABOUR

HAS BECOME MOSS GREEN

The dining-room of the Club Hotel, Titahi Bay, was packed on Saturday evening, when Mr. Will Appleton, the Independent candidate / for Otaki, delivered his final address in that area. Mr. T. J. Melville presided.

The candidate gave a resume of his policy, and explained where the Coalition had fallen down on the job. He dealt particularly with the sanctity of jcontracts and the tendency to bureaucratic control during recent years. The speaker said that he had ho desire to wreck the Government, but in common with thousands of other electors he felt that'the time had come to throw off the shackles of the dominance of Mr. Coates and his Socialistic henchmen^ but in such a manner as" to avoid the subjection of the country to the Labour Party. "It is quite evident," said Mr. Appleton, "that the. people demand a reconstruction of the moderate forces in the House, and the old idea that the electors must vote either for-the Government or for Labour . has • become moss-grown. The very fact that no less than 31 public-spirited men are standing as Independents, at their own expense, shows the trend of public opinion." • \

Mr. Appleton predicted - that • when the numbers went up on Wednesday, the Independents would be sufficiently Strong to compel the Government to change its polity and get back to sound principles. In his opinion there would come about a blending of the moderate forces, and they would then have a real National Government.

The candidate dealt in humorous vein with the recent utterances of the Prime Minister concerning Independents, and said that-when the United Party displaced Reform in 1928, United candidates really occupied the same position as the Independents today. Furthermore, remarked the speaker, it was interesting to recall what Mr. Forbes had said on a previous occasion. Mr Forbes' had stated that "the Liberal Party preferred to preserve its independence, and that there should be no fusion with the Reform Party. He believed that the future of this country was along Liberal lines, and that if an alliance was made with the Reform Party the Liberals would #o back on their professions; If the Liberal Party were false to its principles and joined the Reform Party for the purpose of heloins? vested interests, the people who believed in the Liberal policy and have sunported it, could have nothing but contempt for it^Mr. Appleton said that was exactly wha« had hapoened over the last four years. Sectional interests h=id been protected up to the hiltj>^and the great mass of the people had had to bear the burden by costly taxation of a most inequitable character, jt "It is interesting to find," said Mr Appleton, "that the National candidate has had to make use of the name, of a dead man in his eTorts to bolster up his candidature. The words of Sir Joseph Ward, whom the Reform Party had consistently maligned during his lifetime, were now trotted out to support a very weak case. The National candidate h=>s not the ghost of a chance, and anybody who votes for him is simply assisting Labour, because the issue is definitely between the Labour and Independent candidates. "

"For the most part," said Mr. Aoplelon, "the Nationalist has simply followed my ideas. He has shown no originality of thought, and it is quite evident that he would si*nr)ly be a mere pawn in the same./ What Otpki needs, and what the Dominion needs, is a sDrinklintc of bu^ness men who have proved their worth: men who will not be shackled by party ties, but who will, courteous)v defend the rights and privileges of the people." The candidate referred to his successful business career/^nd to his twenty years' association--with local bodies in and around Wellington, and claimed that on his record alone he was entitled to the confidence of the electors In respect of the Labour Party. Mr. Appleton said that he believed that the Labour candidate was a very fine tyrje of man. but. unfortunately, he had Dledeed himself to the Labour policy, and would have to obey the dictates of that body. Mr. Aopleton drew attpn tion to the recent remarks of Mr Munro in Dimedin. and said that tha» gave the public some idea as to what would haDoen if the Labour Party.co* into power. He was sure that the electors of Otaki would not tolerate such Mussolini, tsKics in this country and while probably they liked the Labour candidate as an individual th«y couM not subscribe to the ill-con-sidered and revolutionary- ideas of the «r>'l'tant section of the Labour organisation.

After answering a larce number of ouestions. a vote of thanks and-conn ->»n<*» iii Mr. Anrjleton as their futur" 'v nn th" motion nf Mr rvawH Kirk"n'difi. The ro^tin" eoncl>"''*H with *^° smr!n» nf "Fo r He's a JoUv G oo ri bellow."— revtov,^ renort published by arranp^^""t ■>