MR STEVENS IN REPLY TO MR FRANKLAND.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 441, 7 November 1908, Page 3

MR STEVENS IN REPLY TO MR FRANKLAND.

[TO THE editor.]

Sir, —I have read in yonr issue of November 3rd a letter from Mr Frankland in reply to one recently written by me with regard to our respective political positions as candidates for Mauawatu, and, in reply, I desire to assure Mr Frankland that nothing was further from my mind than to cause him pain ; but I was, and am still, amused at his attempt to lead the electors to believe one half is greater than the whole. I did, and do, desire to further explain my view of our respective positions; and if Mr Frankland will persist in saying that where there are two candidates allegedly on one side, and only one candidate on the other side of politics, and assuming also that the two candidates divide the whole of one side, and the candidate on the other side has the undivided support of the whole, as against one half of the divided party, can it be said that one half is supporting the other half. Would not the united whole of these two halves be stronger than one half? Mr Frankland states in his letter that he proved himself a Government supporter by retiring from the contest at the last election and thereby enabled the whole of the Government support to be gfven to me as the Government candidate, and thus assisted to win the seat. If Mr Frankland has not, as he says, attempted to dispute the fact that the Government is not supporting him, how does he account for one of his most prominent supporters having made the following statement: “I will be meeting the Prime Minister and am going to ask him If the followers of the Party can please themselves about voting either for Mr Stevens or Mr Frankland ? ” On learning this, I telegraphed to the Prime Minister, and received the following reply : “If the person you name makes such a request to me, I will advise hini that you are the Government candidate, and that I sincerely hope all our friends will support you. ” Can Mr Frankland now say that an attempt was not made to make the electors believe that he was being supported by the Government? Mr Frankland states that he spent both time and money freely in helping to secure my last election. I very much regret that Mr Frankland has so long delayed in making it known to me that he spent anything on rhy behalf. Had he informed me of the legal amount which he expended he would have had my cheque for the money immediately, and if he will now render me an account for any monies legally expended by him, it will afford me great pleasure to reimburse him for his outlay. With reference to any personal injury which may be done to me if defeated, as alleged by Mr Frankland, I should like to assure him that in no case have I ever considered myself personally in the matter of a political contest, and have given my services in the interests of my party. I have never by any subterranean methods sought to be appointed to the Legislative Council. I have never expected because I supported a particular candidate at one election that he would stand down in my favour at the next election; but there are many candidates, including John Ballance, to whom I gave many months in supporting, but never in the hope that I was to receive any personal reward by assuming that any candidate would stand down to allow me to contest the following election, such as has been the erroneous presumption of one candidate whom I know well. My last act with regard to a possible conflict between two of the same political opinions for the same

seat was to approach Mr Arkwright who had previously contested the Rangitikei seat. I called on that gentleman and said that I believed him entitled to the first call by the party, and that in the Liberal interest I would with pleasure stand down if he would contest the seat. He thanked me tor my generosity, and said in return, “ No, I shall not contest the seat; you formerly represented the district, and I believe you are more entitled to the support of the party than myself, but I will give you all the support which lies in my power.” And this Mr Arkwright generously did as a loyal party man. And on account of the many times he had supported the party on this coast, at each contest polling within a few votes of his opponents, and because of Mr Arkwright’s political integrity and ability, I recommended that he should be called to the Legislative Council, and I never regretted my recommendation in that respect. As Mr Frankland has in my opinion done himself an injustice by not asking me for the re-imburse-meut of the money he expended I trust that he will no longer delay to do so.—Yours etc.

John Stevens