THE NAPIER CONTEST.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 296, 5 December 1911, Page 4

THE NAPIER CONTEST.

lx view of tlm fact thtit the election closely approaches it .may be well to give the public <a few further samples of the ’’Telegraph's” methods of fighting an election. Not content with its degrading attempt to mislead the wmkers regarding the acceptance <. r the Labour platform, a hold effort is made to misrepresent Mr. Hill’s attitude on the liquor question. H discloses a badly disguised pin pose tr> <iiscredit ’. lie candidate not only with the workers, but- ;il'() with tlie No-license section o r the electors. Mr. Hill has been known to the people of Napier for many a long year as a staunch temperance worker, ’mt not as a bigot. His * connection with temperance work ;>i ;hf> electorate has got him many friends ::•> the No-license camp and il>os>‘ in favour of license know him to be a man who does not wish io force reform before tlie time is ripe for its reception and maintenance. But tlie efiort to cause Mr. Hill trouble over the liquor issue is easily umlerst andablc— an article headed "For the Thoughtful,” on Saturday, provides the explanation. Th.' '■Telegraph” is nervous about tlie brewery. Having exhausted its power to mislead on the liquor issue inir '. omemporary seeks to place Mr. Hill in a false j»,;siti«>n regarding his :it mb’ to ;!>e Reform Party. Regardless of tlie truth, by ’nv.endo and imjilication it tries to discredit Mr. Hill with the workers. Are unionists bond emmgh to believe the twaddle that is beinu served up for tlie express purpose of guliing them .’ Cannot they see plainly that the effort is to cause a split in their vote’ The ••Tclegi.aph” would like the unionists to assassinate their own cause by slapping in the face tlm people who have offered to help them. What docs i' mattir io Labour whether their candidate is put iti by Reform or Liberal votes so long as they get him there? All the twisting of Mr. Massey's utterances: p.ll the misinterpret;'.'ion of Mr. Crowley s retirement : all the misrepresentation of Mr. Hill's attitude does not affect tlie position in the slightest. Mr. Hill gave no pledge whatever to the Reform Party, beyond the free admission tl.al. the platforms of Reform ami Labour were identical on several important planks. There is no complete identity of opinion between Labour and Reform except on ;> geimral recognition that the Ward (o-vermm-n* has become stagnant and should be rmimvod. Labour has not this bond of sympathy with Liberalism.