ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 November 1928, Page 5

ELECTION CAMPAIGN

WELLINGTON PROSPECTS.

LITTLE CHANGE ANTICIPATED. i ' ; 1 A DULL TIME. " (By Telegraph—Special to The Star.) -f WELLINGTON, Nov. 9. Electioneering conditions-in Welliijgton give little indication of' change) | in fact, the general-quietness is giving ' some concern to the local political > leaders, who are left anxiously won- | dering, in the absence of clear evi- | donee, what is going to happen. Particularly devoiu of signs, and. por- f tents is the licensing position, though the reduced activity of “dry”, advo- : :sj cates causes them to run a serious risk j of lessened sujiport in the Wellington * area, which includes ‘ Wellington East, j Wellington South, and Wellington. | Suburos, three constituencies where | the local restoration issue, is the sub- '% jeet of decision. The most likely constituency ;to ’ make a change is Wellington -East, 3 where Mr. T. Forsyth, the retiring Reform member, is faced with his exchairman of. committees, Mr. J. J. ] Clark, an unofficial Reformer. This | split is likely to make a gift of the 1 seat to Mr. R. Semple. (Labour), and | will be a case of reversion to its orig- | inal party allegiasce. ' - U : .f| Wellington South has a three- ; cornered contest, actively, pursued by Mr. It. Ale Keen, retiring Labour member, Mr. M. F. Luclde, senior city councillor, who is "standing* in the X3overmnent interest, and Mr. J. Burns j (United). Though Mr. Luckie’s good campaigning wilt: make .. him, the \runner, it is probable - that that will be f the best he can do in so safe a Labour - area. Another “safe” Labour seat is Wellington Central, which Mr. P. Fraser 1 has carefully' cultivated by much- local j effort between the polls. Airs. Young, J Independent Labour, is not taken seri- Jj ously, while Air. A. D. Sloan (Reform), * though on a losing hazard, is doing ’3 good party service by keeping so experienced a Labour candidate as. MSfeii Fraser tied up to the district. A few weeks ago Wellington NortlF : was regarded as the open event, because Sir John Luke, the Reform mem- ij her, has a straight fight against Air. I C-. H. Chapman (Labour). The retir- J ing member has lost large blocks of i votes through boundary changes, and it remains to be" seen how ( the inany .: public servants in the constituency' will express themselves' over a grievance carefully fostered by Labour relating to the Government’s failure to restore cuts made, in salaries during the last retrenchment. There "is a fairly large Reform vote in the area, and as Sir John Luke is said tp,. Jbe carrying support from the liquor in- : terest, thus he may win through, though nobody appears to be confident.; Hus opponent has not been impressive | on'the platform, a factor which makes Sir John Luke’s chances; more■'hope- .. ful than at the commencement ,of the campaign. Platform work is Air. T. M. Wilford’s strong point in Hutt, where he faces Air. W. Nash, the national secretary of the Labour Party; a wellinformed but uninspiring speaker, - Air. Wilford should hold his seat, • and should take credit in thisyevent, .for,. it will be by hard campaigning. Thus J the AYellington position reduces - itself 1 to one possible Labour win at: Re- | form’s expense, the remaining seats being unchanged. _ -■ There are,no suggestions of-change in the country areas of .the province, : Air. W- F. Field (Government).- being likely to retain Otaki," and the H6h. A. D. AlcLebd . .should- again wjp. in Wairarapa by a good majority.

UNITEDS’ LOAN PROPOSALS. • if-J&i'i. DISCUSSED BY SIRi JOSEPH WARD. ;*■' (By Telegraph—Press Association.! • - - . INVERCARGILL, Nov. S. _ To- an audience that packed the municipal theatre to- overflowing, Sir Joseph Ward, Leader of the United- Party,' der. livered his principal address in his own electorate- this- evening. He spoke" f-or nearly three hours, and-was .given a most enthusiastic and. patient hearing, interjections being entirely absent. Outside the theatre there was a crowd- of abouh 1500, who listened to the speech by means of loud speakers.. . V Referring to his loan proposals, Sir Joseph said his opponents were suggesting that he was' proposing to borrow £70,000,000 in one year. This was quite wrong, and they a-s well as he knew that it would be impossible to borrow such an amount ill one year; or, if. he had it, to lend it out ■ in one year. Future settlers and many of the present settlers should have an opportunity to secure money at 4-1 per cent, to enable them !;q stay on the land. People.were being driven off the land, a-nd in very many instances this was due to" 1 their inability to obtain advances. . According to Government -' figures 13,000 had left the land during the last three years, and generally this had been because -they had been unable to make a living, and were starving. It was the speaker 5 s object to completely change this. He would issue 41... per. cent, bonds for a term of 32-j- years. Investors at Home sent to London eachyear £400,000,000 of new money for investment, and he was proposing that New Zealand should secure a portion of this capital. " ' ' - It was easy enough for the "State to. procure the money. He himself had procured £30.000,000 20 or 30 years ago for land settlement. If that was possible then, was it not possible to borrow £70,000,000 in ten years for .putting thousands on the land? It was proposed to set aside 25 acres of land so that a home could be provided for anyone who wanted it. The money would be available at 4| per cent, on leasehold, with the right of freehold, and money for the erection of homes at 4J per cent-, wo.uld also be obtainable. - At the conclusion of the speech a vote of confidence was- carried with Very few dissentients. -