THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 277, 18 November 1905, Page 1

THE GENERAL ELECTION.

ECHOES FROM VARIOUS CORNERS. The Dunedin correspondent of the '' Christchurch Press '' wires -.--Notwithstanding the fact that Mr Mason is opposing Mr J. Allen for Bruce, the " No-license " party intend to put MiBernard Nicholls up as a candidate. He will simply lecture at various centres on No-license. The deposit of £10 will be paid by the party, but the electors will be notified that he is not a candidate for political honors. Mr O. F. Clothier, Opposition candidate for the Hurunui seat, addressed a good attendance of electors at Aniberley htis week. The candidate criticised the administration of the Government, advocated a Civil Service Board, and described himself as an out-and-out advocate of no-license. He was in fasnj of giving Crown tenants the ri|P^o purchase the freehold at the original valuation. A vote of thanks Avas passed. " Now, ladies and gentlemen, I come to one of the most important things in running an election —lies! No sooner does an election begin than lies are sown broadcast over the length and breadth of the electorate. Don't believe anything you hear except from the candidate himself; don't believe anything but good of all the candidates. If I can't get through on my merits, I don't want to get in on the demerits of my opponents, so I shall speak nothing' but good of them."— Mr A. W. Rutherford, M.H.R., on the ethics of electioneering. The expenditure of 20s or 25s would provide candidates with the Parliamentary papers of a whole session, and it is inexcusable that the public should be bombarded with political manifestoes, which could easily be compiled by a decent schoolboy from half-a-dozen newspapers. —Mr Tanner, at Phillipstown. On the tenure question he was ready to leave the Government, and the House, too, before he would consent to any interference with Sir John McKenzie's system of land settlement. His: opponent, Mr Mitchell, had done nothing since the start of the election campaign but vilify him (the speaker), but he claimed he had done his duty as a mejnbcr and a Minister, and would' riot retaliate a word. —The Minister of Lands at Timaru. Mr Soddon at Hamilton—''Personally he had a great respect for Mr Massey. They differed on political questions, but he could always respect a man who conscientiously differed from him, so long as there was no hitting below the belt." A Wellington candidate declared the other night that it was a marvel to him that " in this land of unions, we have no Consumers' Union, for, after all, the consumer's burden has become altogether too heavy to be borne." On the question being asked Mr A. W. Rutherford after his address at Hanmer, whether he favored a tax on bachelors and spinsters, his reply was, "No, poor things, they cannot help it—it is not their fault." The most miserable time ol his existence, lie declared, was the first thirty-one years of his life when he was of this estate. Speaking at Timaru the Minister for Public Works (Mr Hnll-Jones) ssiid said that he had at first approved of Clause 9 of the Licensing Bill, thinking of the destructive work being done by sly grog-sellers in various parts of the Colony. After lie had considered the clause and come to recognise that itmight mean an invasion of the privacy of the home, he had supportel the other members of the Government in

striking out the clause. He would be prepared to oppose a similar clause again at any future time. The Licensing Act as passed by the House was a good one, and had put the licensing question entirely in the hands of the people. He had not voted to keep open the Ashburton Club. He had always advocated the abolition of the totalisator.

The Premier at Auckland:—The Opposition had shown extremely bad taste in their references to the Mapourika trip. The Opposition never told them about the North Island Trunk railway picnic, upon which the colony was even charged for vaseline—(laughter) —and insect powder. (Laughter). Captain Russell and the Hon. Mr Fergus charged 30s a day on that trip, and the colony was asked to pay £106 for canoes and Is 6d for a coiikscrew. (Cheering). One of the members of that Commission had to go under medical treatment, suffering from corkscrew-phobia. (Laughter). The Minister for Lands, on the same subject, at Timaru:—Why, a resident on the Wanganui river had acquh-ed a competency by collecting the bottles that floated down that stream after that 1 egislative party had passed a certain place.

_ Following is the text of the resolution proposed by Dr. Gibb and carried at the Presbyterian Assembly at Auckland:-—'_' That this Assembly, while heartily approving of the national system of education existing in New Zealand, once again deplores the exclusion of Bible lessons from the curriculum of the State schools, and affirms its profound conviction that it is essential to the moral welfare of the rising generation, and ultimately, therefore, of the whole nation, that the Bible should be read daily in these schools, and that the minds of the children should he familiarised with the great truths and facts of the Christian religion. This Assembly further expresses its entire approval of the proposals of the Bible-in-Schools Referendum League that the question shall be submitted to the electors for their decision by way of referendum, and that to this end Parliament should pass a special clause in the Schools Referendum Bill, approving of the question which the League has submitted to Parliamentary candidates now seeking the suffrages of the electors, and finally calls upon the faithful people of the Church to do their utmost to secure the return of such candidates as will pledge themselves to support the measure by which the question of Bible-in-Schools will be submitted for final decision to the electors of the Colony."