ELECTION TACTICS

Marlborough Express, Volume LIIII, Issue 23, 28 January 1920, Page 3

ELECTION TACTICS

SIR JOSEPH WARIKS COM-

MENTS;

DETAILS) PROMISED LATER.

"DISGRACE TO EVEN BARBADIANS."

Reference to methodls adopted in Iho campaign for the recent* General Election vvas made by Sir Joseph Ward in the course of a speech at the recent luncheon tendered to him by % members of the Liberal Partjy. He * indicated that he would go into detail concerning methods used against hini personally, in tihe Awarua distri,oti and in other paa*ts of the county, when he returned to his old electorate in, the course of the next few days. "I am fully conscious of the very bittbotr personal attack centred on me, as head of the Liberad. Party, in practically ©very electorate in New Zealand,' he said. This was a concerted movement, as was instanced by the fact tihat for the fortnight before the* elections many, of tlio leading papers opposed to him dealt exclusively with the "Wardists" «ndl did not attack the principles of tho Liberal Party at all. Since the general election he had gathered information, in the shape of literature, of a campaign against him that would be a disgrace and a discredit to the most barbaric ; people in tlie wo lid. Ho had been accused of doing things he hadl, not done. The other party., as far as he was concorned, was qu c ite weloom© to be in I»ower under such conditions, but, personally', he , would not represent any constituency in Parliament, howover much he might desire to help the country ,to which he owed so much, on tive score of bigotry. (Applause). Inferring to, the raising of the sectarian question, he said that in the US years in which he had been in PatliamenT; and in tho 26 years in which he had been in Cabinet he 3 had never heaardi brought iip for consideration or discussion things which had been charged against .aim in black and wJiite througuout the, country. He had never hoardl the question of Protestantism or Catholicism raised in Cabinet. "I have never had in any single instance.'' continued Sir Joseph* "a consultation with, tho head of any Church, my own or any other, -in regard to an electjion or for the purpose of asking for support fcr my party; and I haive never been asked by the heads of any religious oi-ganisation in-this country ..'.., to have my position used for tho purpose of promoting the special interests of any Church or any section of Church people in this country. I want to say tha.t . . . on© of the most deplorable things that can ©ceair to anx country is to have the methods of tho*dai*k ages brought, into it for'the purpose of allowing any men to gain any position, however noble that position may be." Never once had' h& attemped to appoint anyone to tho Public Service on the score of their religion, in point of. fact), in .nine- I cases out of ten it« was impossible for j an Minister to know the religion of any aspirant. He wished none of | these people harm, but he was not , going to1 allow the people of tliis countiy to remain under a wrong impression. He wanted the people to be able to judge of the true position, ; and to know that there had been in his electorate so>-called Christians, some of them working fcr two and a half years, attacking him, not on j public vjuestions, but making absolutely lj'ing statements for the purposo of putting him out of public life when the tame came.

Six Joseph also spoke of an attempt -to impugn his loyalty, saying that one man,, now a member of the Reform ! Party, had classed him as an assoi ciate'of Bolshevists. He had gathered' a great deal of information about the campaign, and he would deal with these matters more fully in hip own electorate shortly.