GISBORNE SEAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10741, 12 November 1928, Page 5

GISBORNE SEAT.

MR CLAYTON-AT ABERCORN u -aATiL. I /■; c-

REFORMERS AND TAUPO line] EXPRESSES SORROW TO SIR, T ' ‘ GUNSON. s - ■

So ?K 70 ° r el ectors attended the Abercorn Hall on Saturday evening when Mr. W. Lissant ~ Clayton United candidate for,, the; > GisSrne .seat, continued his .campaign. Mr J. Morrison was- in the chair rt ;• Mr Olay ' spoke: very ‘' imich on the lines- of previous addresses, strongly, criticising; what he. termed the unnecessary .survey of the inland route of the Gisborhe-Napibr railway, the alleged. hold-up. of. the work on that line; arid the now well-known rabbit farm in the Taupo ' district and its alleged special permit from the Government. ;

! ‘Regarding my assertion that, prominont men in Auckland owned land in the Taupo district,” he continued, “I freely acknowledge that I was wTong in one name I - mentioned, that of Sir James Gunson. I received a letter from an official in Auckland, giving me the names of these particular landowners, among them being ‘J. Gunson. I naturally concluded ibat this -was Sir James Gunson. Immediately I noticed Sir James’ disclaimer, I accepted it, realising that a mistake had been. made. Then as a gentleman should, I wired Sir Jainos and expressed my sorrow .«t having used his . name in that connection, freely acknowledging my mistake.”—(Applause.) After dealing with the evils of Order-in-Council legislation and the trend of; the/present Government towards socialisation, as at previous meetings, Mr Clayton went on to ‘date that ‘‘one very astute person in Gisborne,, Mr L. T, Burnard, had got together at a private * meeting a gathering of very influential'businesssmen, not people like you and I; but the really influential people of the town.” Mr Lysnar had attended and they told him that the Government;'was 1 interfering too much with grivate business. The sitting memer had agreed with them and had put forward various suggestions intended to improve matters for the business men. “He even suggested,” added Mr Clayton, “that, hospital fees be fixed on a sliding scale from 4s 6d per day to £6 per week, according t.o grade, though how on earth the patients were to be graded I don’t know. No man would like to know that when his wife went into hospital she would have to be graded to determine whin: fees, were payable.” 1 Mr Clayton also deplored what lie considered the lack of foresight on -the; part of the " Government in not having studied up the history of pre-vious-wars and shown enough vision to prepare for the depressed times which were certain to follow the lastwar. in dealing with Sir Joseph Ward’s loan*proposals, the. candidate stated that there were ho grounds for, doubts as 1 to being able to raise the money" at Home. Under the scheme, the return 1 to the investor would be £4 15s "8d , the last Dominion> loan had yielded lust over £4 19s per cent, and three New /ee-Jand loans now on the market were returning onlv £4 13s 3d per cent. - That extra 2s 5d per cent; for Sir Joseph’s loan would ensure it being eagerly snapped up by investors. Mr Clayton considered. ' Emphasising • that the United Party would enforce the compulsory purchase clauses of the Lands for Settlement Act in order late closer settlement, Mr Clavti i criticised the R eform G overnment -a i length on their work in this direction, instancing the Okawn soldiers nettlement in Hawke’s Bav . among others, ns an example of their muddling.’ That area, lie sm-l hack beer: bought at £l6 per acre, but to-day it was valued at about £6. NMiat was the trouble? he asked. A voice : “Toryism. ’ '•You may ca.ll it that,. continued Mr Clayton, “but I think it is shockingly had business.’ Onlv one question was asked the candidate, this being whether he favored the establishing, of agricultur-al-'schools in order to give bcyi* farm training. Mr Clayton rephe that he stronglv favored this ami that the United policy specifically of.Mr »■***■> vote of thanks to the candidate vas carried by acclamation.