LIBERAL DIEHARD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 20 October 1922, Page 6

LIBERAL DIEHARD.

To the Editor. Sir, —I am very glad to see there are a few candidates coming forward on the Liberal side at the next election, which shows Liberalism is not dead, as Mr. Massey tells us. The wish is father to the thought, no doubt. When the sleepers awake, as surely they will, the pendulum will swing back the other way . Certainly, Mr. Editor, every working man and woman in New Zealand should be, must be, on the side of Liberalism, but appears to have forgotten that fact or would never voto for a protectionist Government. The so-called Reform Party have been very clever in drawing a red herring across the trail. They have raised a bogey. They say the extreme Labour Party will win unless all join hands and support them, which is absurd, knowing as we do that the loyalty of the workers of this .country is not questioned. Now, Mr. Editor, I say thi_: No Got. ernment pursuing a policy of protection can be working in the interest of the great majority, but are going back a hundred years, when in the Old Country the people were groaning under that evil. During the Victorian i era William Ewart Gladstone passed a Bill for free trade. A free breakfast table, the open market, was his ideal. What happened? Trade and commerce; increased and went up by leans and bounds lor forty years-, forty years of prosperity unsurpassed. The millions reaped the benefit; England became the market for the whole world; prices dropped. There you have the secret of the high cost of living to-day. One instance, though there are scores: Benzine, though 2s per gallon in the Old Country, Mr. Massey .says it will be no cheaper here until the whole of the stocks in hand are cleared. Ye gods! This is legislating for the people with a vengeance. The people suffer, and will, under such ruling. If they would look at these things reasonably

and think it out, every railway man miner, or other worker would in this little island as one man go straight for tlie Liberal cause. Thanking you Mr Editor, for space, I am, etc.. ONE OF THE VOTERS. P.S.—I have yet to learn that it was looked upon as a sensible' thino- to do vyhen Esau sold his birthright" for a mess of pottage, much less was it commonsense. (To the Editor.] J Sir, —It is now some weeks since a' letter appeared in the Star over my name but it has been with difficulty that 1 have, refrained from writing lhe situation, however, is fast becoming desperate, and I dare not remain silent any longer. How much has the conduct of party affairs improved since my last complaint? Not one iota. The same complacent clique still reign supreme in Regent Street and pursue their policy of splendid isolation. Meantime the party is being made the laughing stock of the district, and no authoritative spokesman is heard in its defence. Why do our leaders persist these continual challenges? Why do they not face up to the questions and smite the questioners hip and thigh? People are beginning to ask when the Liberal Party intends opening its campaign here, and nobody seems to know. Meantime all manner of rumours are curernt, some going so far as to suggest that an arrangement is on foot m this electorate between Liberal and Reform, as has taken place elsewhere. If Mr. Corrigan is handicapped, as is suggested by Mr. Wilford's failure to announce a policy, then it is high time the local league sent a strong protest to Wellington against the dilatoriness of the party leaders. At all events, the opening of the Liberal campaign is long overdue, especially considering that our candidate is a novice Even with three candidates in the field we have our work cut out to win *Patea, tor rumour has it that official Reform is solid for Mr. Dixon, and, further, that Labour is now supporting Reform. We cannot hope to win merely on tlie traditions of the past or the shortcomings of our opponents, but only by such. s^ong, united action by our party as a whole as will demonstrate to the electorate our vitality, our tenacity, and our confidence in the future.—l am etc., ' DISGRUNTLED LIBERAL. Hawera, October 17. fWe have had to excise a few 'sentences. Correspondence on this subject bas been going on for some weeks now at intervals, and we have allowed correspondents considerable latitude, but with the increasing demands upon our space during the next few weeks we must ask writers to keep their letters as short as possible, free from persona ities, and dealing with the issues along fair lines; otherwise the letters will be subjected to a rigorous censorship.—Ed.} ' ■ . 1