THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

Evening Star, Issue 13091, 26 October 1908, Page 7

THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

[Two columns’ space is devoted to the' first election address of each candidate. Should any candidate require an extended report of his address published, this can j bo arranged for on application to our ; Advertising Department.] I MR TYNDALL AT KAITANGATA. Mf A. W. Tyndall, schoolmaster, of Blue Spur, a Liberal-Labor candidate, addressed about 100 Bruce electors in Burrell’s Hall, Kaitangata, on Saturday evening. The weather was very bad, otherwise' there would probably have, been more present, but Mr Tyndall was given a very good hearing. The Mavor of Kaitangata (Mr C. E. Yates) presided. —The Candidate and the Education Board.— At the outset Mr Tyndall referred to the refusal of the Education Board to grant the application that he had made for leave in order that he might prosecute his election campaign. He did not think' that he had made any enemies so far. One of the members of the Education Board had

said that in a political contest a man was sura to make enemies, and that ho had been in politics himself, but that must have been a long time ago.—(Laughter.) And it was further said that the teacher’s work would be detrimentally affected. It might be only a coincidence, but since starting his political campaign the attendance of the school over which he presided had increased by about 25 per cent. The week before hehad had a larger attendance than ho had had for over a year. He had been in the service of the Board for twenty-five years; and had never asked for a day’s leave of absence, and during the last eighteen years his salary had been reduced by about £75. But still he had stuck to his work, and had never been put off on account of ill-health. He brought these facts forward in answer to the criticism to which he had been subjected, as if common schoolmasters or common miners ought not to take a part in the politics of the country.—(Applause.) r"His Claims for Support.— Firstly, he claimed support on the ground that he was the only Liberal-Labor candi- ] date in the field. He had belonged to tho Liberal party ever since he had been in the colony (some twenty-five years), and for at least eight or nine years he had been doing his best, in a quiet way, without hurting his own position, to assist the workers in any place where they required his assistance. The Bruce miners could testify that he had tried to assist them to gain better wages, but through a bit of misunderstanding and bad management they did not succeed in forming a miners’ union; but if they had only stuck to it they would have been able to form a fairly strong union. He asked the wageearners, on account of his past work and future intentions, to consider his claims, and if they could sec their way to give him their support.—(Applause.) ” The second claim was that he was an elector of Bruce constituency. He was the onlycandidate whose name was on the roll of the constituency. It might not be generally known, but at one time it was tho law of England that no man could stand for a seat in Parliament unless he was an elector, and at tho time of the foundation of the House of Commons it was a statute.

But it gradually fell into disusage, being finally repealed in tho reign of George 111., when England was ruled by an oligarchy of weak nobles. We, founding our Constitution on that of England, had followed the same custom, but he thought it would be a very good law if no person could be elected to represent a constituency unlejis he was an elector of that constituency. It was generally only in country districts that a non-resident was elected to represent a constituency in Parliament. The large towns would not stand it. You would not find Dunedin willing to have a Wellington man, or Auckland a Dunedin man. He thought that a resident for a large number of years should have preference, and he hoped they would take that into account at the election.—(Hear, hear.) Thirdly, he claimed to be a wage-earner, and wage-earners were inadequately represented in Parliament. With regard to —The Present Government, — be had been always a strong supporter of the late Right Honorable Richard John Seddon, who, he Drought they would admit, was the best friend the workers of New Zealand had ever had.—(Applause.) Ho only wished that he could speak in the same degree of the present Government. Th© present Government, on the whole, were a good one, and last session had done good work in many directions, though he doubted if the legislation was cn th© lines Mr Seddon would have advocated if he had been alive. So far as —The Productive Industries—of the country were concerned, they hac been nursed by the Government, and th; prospect for the producers and owners o!

land was very cheerful. There was such a tremendous demand for the products of the ! country that all tho world seemed to bo 1 competing for them, with the result that i it cost much more to live, and this was very hard on the workers.—(A Voice ; " Too ; many combines.’’) Wcil.if that was so, tho | workers would have to combine, and he \ would support a combination of the whole j of tlie workers of tho country.—(Applause.) I —Finance.— Sir Joseph Ward had referred in an optimistic way to the finances of the country. The revenue amounted, he stated in his recent speech, to £9,752,849. If they could get a fair share of that nine millions it would be a very good prospect for the workers, but as they had paid a share of it they were entitled to a juet amount. The public debt now stood at £66,453,897. The wage earners had a right to protest against that. That meant tnat every poor little baby, before it was bom, was saddled with a debt of £66.—(Laughter.) That was pretty rough on the baby, and interest had to he paid on that by the poor child. Still, Sir Joseph Ward found reason there for an optimistic view of things. But they were paying a lower rate of interest than they used to, and there was certainly some advantage in that. What he regarded ns better proofs of prosperity were the hank deposits. The Post Office Savings Bank deposits had nearly doubled in five years, and that was the best evidence of prosperity we had. The Prime Minister had treated liis audience to tome statistics about produce, concerning —Dairying—especially, which had more than doubled in seven years. But there was not much consolation for them in that, as ho know, as a family man. that one could not spread tho butter very thick nowadays—{A Voice: “Haven’t you had a drought up Tuapeka way?’’) Air Tyndall: “No. Things are looking very well; there’s plenty of grass.” As a matter of fact, he had been using butter from Hawke's Bay; there was a factory in his district, and all the milk went there. —No Need for Halt in Legislation.— He was sorry to see that Sir Joseph Ward, at some place or other where he had been speaking, had said that he favored a halt in legislation, and that Parliament harl better sit quiet. The logical outcome oi that, he should say, was not to have am Parliament at all. It seemed rather illogical that they should be asked to eleci a new Parliament and at tho same tim< call a halt in legislation. If elected, hi ■would try to impress members with th( necessity of legislation, especially of legis jation in tho interests of tho workers. I stop in legislation meant a practical dead horse business, and the country part would get things into their hands and sto] progress. In a young country like thi there was no need for any halt in legis latkm. —(Applause.) —The Land.— Tho best way of dealing with the lam question, he thought, was to refer to th point of view of the Farmers’ Union which he thought should be called th landowners’ nmon, because its polic; seemed all in favor of the landowners (He read questions from a circular froi the Bruce branch of the Farmers’ Union He was not in favor of Crown tenants gel ting the option of the freehold. Crow tenants were of two classes—those o Crown lands that had always been Crow lands, and those on Crown lands that ha been purchased by the Government. W

had to foot the bill, and the security was ’ c these lands. He would not be in favor of 1 alienating that land again; .it would be i an imbecile thingfor a country to go ra c for that policy. The lands that had been a sold once and bought baqk again should e be kept for future generations.—(Ap- i plause.) A large part of the national on- e dovvments consisted of inferior land, a 1 good deal of which would never be fit for i cultivation, the most fertile Crown lands < being those that had been purchased in tho i cutting-up of large estates. < —Customs and No-license. — !He was in favor of taxation through ; j i the Customs being for revenue pur- i j poses only if it would not stop a good 1 many industries in the towns, but ; under our protective system it could not ; be carried out. It would cause unemployment immediately. It seemed queer that’ the_ farmers should be in favor of that | policy when a great many of their own i products were protected. When they took the duty off flour and potatoes he would j 1 be prepared to discuss the question more 1 ! fully. He thought it a just claim that i the average man having a vote should be entitled to vote at municipal elections, and ho was in favor of a Referendum Bill. The present majority for No-license was too large, but a fair majority was neces- ■ sary, or the law would not be carried out. He would not vote for the discontinuance , of —Co-operative Works, — because there was no necessity for the; middleman to come between tho employer , and the worker, and the State, being the | employer, why did they want the middle- | man to come between? Although the work might not be carried out as quickly as before, it was done as well, and even if it ■ cost a little more it went to the people of the country. There was one depart- . m.ent of Government administration he did , not approve of. The State had taken upon 1 , itself to a large extent tho business of pro-’ ■ viding 1 —Recreation for Globe-trotters.— 1 The Tourist Department had been founded ’ by the present party, and it was carried on in rather an extravagant way by the Ward Government. It was claimed that [ it brought a good deal of foreign capital . i into the country, and that it made the , I country more prosperous. The Tourist 4 I Department last year received about 1 j £40,000. £IO,OOO would have been enough, { j and the balance could have gone to the Ad- . vances to Settlers or Advances to Workers 3 j account. Members of the Opposition, and j j some even in the Liberal party, were de--1 mending that the utmost be done to curb 3 I tiie tendency to Socialistic legislation, { which, they asserted, was sapping the int dependence of the race, and would end in .> utter degeneration, and they referred to t the tendency of the people to ask for State % aid; but to his mind the independence of the people was in greater danger from the j too-great encouragement to tho tourist traffic, with the accompanying system o! e tipping and other objectionable practices , that would bo brought with it, .encouragr ing a man to beg for his daily wage.—(Apy plause.)

—A Tax on Bachelors.— I In answer to the question “ Are you in ' favor of a tax on bachelors?” Mr Tynd-ll ] said that he was in favor of a bonus to all s moff'ers. Every healthy child reared w.is worth over £SOO to the country, and ho maintained that those noble workers in the cause of humanity who were responsible for the presence of these children amongst us wero entitled to recognition. But it had been found that a good many were piactcally striking.—(Loud laughter.) The birth- £ rate had gone down to about t’nree to each ’> family, and by-and-bye it would go down i to two, then one. and sometime there would be none at all. He would pay the bonus to mothers out of a rather heavy tax on bachelors.—(Loud applause.) —Questions. — In answer to other questions. Air Tyndall said that he was in favor of a State bank; conciliation failing, lie was in favor of compulsory arbitration; lie did not think that if was right for a Judge of the Arbitration Court to make an award over-riding an Act of Parliament, and if such a thing happened he would bo inclined to abolish that court, and try to set up a better'one. Dr J. Fitzgerald moved that the meeting express a very hearty vote of thanks to Air Tyndall lor his address. He did not believe in motions of confidence. He had been present at candidates’ meetings during the last sixteen or seventeen years, but 1 had got more enjoyment from Mr Tyndall’s I than (rnm any of the others. At tho same j time he wished to express admiration of his pluck in contesting the election, and disapproval of the way in which he bad been treated by the Education Board. The motion was carried by acclamation. WHAT OUR “SPECIALS” SAY. [By Teleobapd.]

HAWKE’S BAY. The contest for the Napier sent will in ; all probability be fought out by Messrs A. L. D. Fraser and Air J. Vigor Brown. ! Both aro playing a waiting game, and although the first shots in the campaign ) have not yet been fired, a. considerable [ amount of scouting has been engaged in. : Both candidates will pledge their support 1 to the Ward Government, lienee the result of tho contest will depend very much on local issues. Air Fraser came here nine years ago a comparatively unknown man, captured the scat from Mr K. D. I). M'Lean, and has since withstood two challenges, winning each time by a substantial margin. The coming contest will, howi ever, give him something to think about. Hia opponent has proved himself an able | administrator in local politics as chairman of the Harbor Board and mayor of the j borough, and, although he may not have ! the polished platform style of Air Fraser, he will he a hard man to beat, and it would not at all surprise me to find, when the numbers go up, that Napier will have a new representative in the next Parliament, The roll up to the present totals j 8,061 voters, an increase of 1,150 on the last electoral total. The contest for the Hawke’s Bay seat

I presents a complex problem. There are : no less than five candidates who pledge themselves to support the Ward Government, while that old war-horse Sir William Russell has the field to himself on the Opposition side. L nder these circumstances it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Sir William will head the first poll, but the Second Ballot Act has settled his chance of regaining the seat. Of the other five candidates only two are I regarded as being in it—Mr A. Dillon i (who won the seat from Sir William Russell) and Mr A. E. dull. Mr Dillon does I not claim to he an orator, but he is a | worker, and in these days the man who i can get a fair sprinkling of votes for his j constituency has a considerable pull. Mr dull has a 'pleasing platform manner, and has done good work on local bodies. He is a comparatively young man, and will sooner or later win a seat in Parliament. On the present occasion I am inclined to think he will find Mr Dillon’s popularity too big a handicap. I The Waipawa electorate, which, by the ! way, does not include the town of Waipawa, is dead politically. Strong efforts have been made by the remnant of the j Opposition to induce Mr George Hunter -to 1 come out again, but he apparently recog- ,: rises that the close settlement policy of ■ the Liberal Government has given the i , scat into that party’s keeping for an ini ; definite period. Pastor tlies was ap- • i proached, but he declined to contest fhe . i seat against the sitting member. So far, ■ I Mr C. Hall has the field to himself, and r the Temperance party will probably noi minate Mr Tsitt to secure a valid Local

i Option poll. WESTLAND. Mr T. E. Seddon had a royal reception at. Ross on Friday afternoon, and was . presented with an address of welcome by * ! his Ladies’ Committee. At night Totara 3 j Hall was crowded, and one of the most » 1 exciting political meetings in the southern 3 j borough eventuated. Mr Seddon had a f I good reception and a good hearing, but • 1 when questions were invited he was bom--1 barded with a very lengthy string, lasting ) over an hour. During questions there was j - considerable uproar ana interruption, Mr 1 Serldon’s supporters realising that the I ® questions were the result of an organised a effort to delay the meeting in order to 1 interfere with the social to follow. The e reol'ps tqiestions provoked further ex-

dement, tho candidate scoring over his' eckiers each time. The question-box boig exhausted, a vote of thanks % and coniience was carried on a show of hands, nd tho meeting concluded with cheers nd counter-cheers for the rival candi- ;-tl atos. The social was then held, and a Her the usual programme dancing con- :fi inued till 4 a.m. A large number re- t riained for the social, the floor being u rowded for tho dance. \ Mr Seddon had a most enthusiastic re- I option in his native town, Kumara, on 1 Saturday night. The Theatre Royal was 1 lacked, and intense enthusiasm was die- r ilayed, the meeting being pronounced the 1 ;reatest political gathering since the ear- t iest political struggles of the late Premier t n the same town. Mayor Murdoch, who s iresided, introduced the candidate as he Government selected representa.ive. .Mr Seddon spoke for an hour ind a-half in capital style. There were i slight signs of interruption at the outset, i mt these wore quickly silenced, and thence- ; forward the speaker was given a splendid [rearing. He made many telling points igainst his opponent in regard to local , matters, his crushing rejoinders being received with the greatest applause. He also referred in scathing terms to the local Press, which had opened its columns to ' scurrilous anonymous correspondence. The speech being essentially a fighting one throughout, the address made a marked impression on the andience, which grew wildly enthusiastic as the evening proceeded. Only two questions were asked as against twenty-six on the previous night at Ross, and both were answered effectively. A Kumara native proposed a vote of thanks for the address and appreciation for Mr Seddon’s past services to the district, and confidence in him in the future. The motion was carried amid a remarkable scene of enthusiasm. Three meetings have now been held in the principal centres of the electorate, and all have been successful. The supporters of Mr “Tom” Seddon have every reason to be well satisfied with his prospects on polling day. He next visits the northern part of the electorate on a ten-days’ tour. Mr Michel continues his round of campaign, and will this week start out on Mr Seddon’s trail to reply to the speeches of the sitting member. Mr Michel's meetings are drawing largo audiences, and his fluent addresses excite great enthusiasm. Since Mr Seddon has taken the field actively his chances have greatly improved, and the result will probably be a substantial majority for him. —The Licensing Outlook.— Practically no interest is being taken in the Licensing Question, and neither side iis showing any activity. A meeting | called here lately in the Prohibition interj ests only drew an attendance of about twenty, and the address did not eventuate. All interest is centred in the seat for the House, and it is hardly likely that any attention will bo given to the Licensing Question. More interest is being taken in Grey and Buffer districts in this question, and in each electorate the Prohibition party will poll well. Reduction may be carried in Buffer from all accounts, with a possibility of Prohibition. In both i Westland and Grey the “trade” are considered safe.

AN “ INDEPENDENT ” CANDIDATE. [Special to the Star.] AUCKLAND, October 26. The speech delivered by Mr T. Waite, the Independent candidate for Waitcnmtu, ' at Devonport on Friday night was one of tho most amusing and yet sensational harangues given in the campaign for any of the Auckland seats. Having informed his , audience that he was no orator, but a j practical man with practical' ideas, he went on to give some samples of the same. .Speaking on Defence matters, Air Wake said ho considered that rifle shooting should be encouraged. Shooting at fixed targets was of little good, and it would not be a bad line for the Government to import game so that proper shooting practice might bo available.—(Loud laughter.) He also urged the establishment of a coastguard system and of a naval base at PortTritzroy, on. the Great Barrier.—(Renewed laughter.) While lie did not know much about politics, be claimed to have somecommon sense; moreover, he did not intend to resort to bribery, and he did not intend to knuckle down to any section of the community.—(Applause.) A man had come, to him not long before the meeting, and was in the hall, who told him that unless ho was paid £lO he would “ wreck the whole meeting.”—(A Voice ; ‘‘Who is ho?”) The candidate begged to be excused. One foot should be allowed to talk at a time.—(Laughter.) Ho only asked that when people spoke hardly of him behind his back his friends would not believe them until they heard the other side of the question. These were tho methods that were adopted in Now Zealand. Then a lady had sent an urgent message to him, and when ho rushed over she asked for £6 to pay her mother’s passage to Alelbonrne ; and that, said the candidate, was i electioneering. Pleasant, was it not ? (Laughter.) He was opposed to that sort ot thing, anyway. The population should be kept in*the country. In conclusion, tho candidate said he would not be conventional if sent to Parliament.—(Laughter.) Hia audience need not smile. More unlikely things had happened.—(Renewed laughter.) There were too many cobwebs and conventionalities in Parliament: the mace, for instance, the gold ou which should bo melted to reduce the taxation. Then tho Scrgeant-at-Arms should be obliterated also ; and there was no necessity for the expensive guard that attended the Governor. Party government droukl ho done away with. Some of the finest intellects were simply wasting on the Opposition benches. At the conclusion of the address a voting man rreo and asked the candidate if he thought he was a fit and proper person to represent the electors. The candidate : “ That can be very well judged on my speech.” A vote of thanks ’ was accorded.

CAMPAIGN NOTES. Mr G. Laurenson, who is seeking reelection. for Lyttelton, opened his campaign at Woolston on Friday night, when he addressed a crowded meeting of electors. He was accorded an enthusiastic reception, and at the close of his address received a vote of thanks and confidence. Mr C. M. Gray, who is seeking a second term for Christchurch North, also addressed his first meeting on Friday night. He was subjected to considerable heckling, but was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence. Mr F. H. Smith, of Albury, who twice unsuccessfully contested the Timaru seat against the Hon. W. Hall-Jones, will stand for Waitaki in the Opposition interest against Sir William Steward. “ Tho idea to-day of what was a Liberal was as follows : A man who closed his mouth, shut his eyes, and who swallowed the party’s policy with pleasure.”—Mr R. A. Wright, Independent Opposition candidate for Wellington South.