MR. JOHN ROBERTSON AND THE PROHIBITIONISTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1333, 5 December 1914, Page 3

MR. JOHN ROBERTSON AND THE PROHIBITIONISTS.

At Mr Robertson’s meeting last night Mr John Hannah asked the candidate why he was absent from the House when the second division on the Licensing Bill was taken. Mr Robertson said illness was the cause of his absence. He went to Auckland after Parliament rose at the end of the week, intending to be back in time for the next sitting, but he was taken ill in Auckland, and this delayed his return. From Auckland he telegraphed, stating that he would not be back for Tuesday’s sitting, and advising where telegrams would find him. He was returning by the express, and was in his sleeping berth at Tautnaranui when a telegram was handed to him, asking him to telegraph authorising a pair being obtained for him on the Licensing Bill division. He wrote a reply authorising same, and gave it to the guard to get through. The guard handed it to the stationmaster at Ohakune to put through on the railway wires, as the post office at this place was a mile from the station, and in any case would be closed, as it was ten o’clock at night. At Taihape the guard received a message from the Ohakune stationmaster advising that he was unable to get Mr Robertson’s telegram through, Mr Robertson said that these wires were now in the possession of the New Zealand Alliance.

Mr Robertson, in dealing further 1 with the matter, said that, whereas a resolution passed by the Otaki No-License League asking for an explanation of the absence of his name from the division list, was freely published in the press and was sent out through the Press Association, bis reply did not receive the same publicity, only an extract being published, and that after some time had elapsed. As the League did not publish the whole of-bis letter he forwarded a copy of all the correspondence to the three papers published in the electorate. The Otaki Mail and the Levin Chronicle gave publicity to same, but the local paper refused to publish it. He said that this paper was the only one that had made an attack on him in its leading columns in connection with this matter, and it was also the only paper that had refused to publish the correspondence between himself and- the League relating to the division list. The editor was a member of the Otaki No-License League, and had attempted to use the League for political party purposes. He said that on Monday a committee from the League had conferred with him in reference to the publication of his letter, and had afterwards passed a resolution regretting that the League had inadvertently done him (Mr Robertson; an injustice in not giving his letter publicity as promptly as it should have done. He understood this resolution was to be published iu the newspapers in the district.

THE OTHER SIDE. The above is Mr Robertson’s charge. Now for the other side. Mr Robertson’s absence from the vital division on the Dicensing Bill aroused the indignation of the Otaki No-Dicense Council, which met at Shannon on Wednesday, July 29th, when the following resolution moved by the Rev Mr Randerson, and seconded by the secretary (Mr Andrew) was carried unanimously ; That this large and representative meeting of the Otaki • Electoral No-Dicense Council, while recognising that there may have been completely satisfactory reasons for the absence of Mr John Robertson, M.P., from the division list that killed the Dicensing Bill, in view of the tremendous issues at stake in the successful passage of the .Bill, ip view especially of robbing the people (as the defeat of the Bill entails for a further term) of their just democratic right to decide the issue on a reduced handicap, that this meeting regrets Mr Robertson’s absence from the division, and requests him to explain bis failure to record his vote. The salient points of this resolution were sent per press association to the district papers. Mr Robertson expressed annoyance to the President per telephone that the resolution had been published without first communicating with him and made other accusations and threats against the Council. Then followed correspondence from Mr Robertson to the Council which was considered by the Council at a meeting held at Levin on September 16th. At that meeting, after carefully considering the matter, it was decided to publish the following explanation from Mr Robertson touching his absence : I journeyed to Auckland the Saturday prior to the division in question to fulfil an important engagement, intending to be back in Wellington on the Tuesday afternoon. On the journey north I must have caught a chill, as I was violently ill immediately after my arrival in Auckland and was confined to bed during most of my stay there I was unable t 0 J eave Mdnday evening as intended and only managed to leave <m Tuesday at noon, arriving in Wellington on Wednesday Wellington time thereS when the Licensing Bill before the House, I was travelling towards Wellington a this I hope will prove a satisfactory explanation of my absence from tke division on

Clause 2 of the Bill. This explanation was published iu the Herald the Saturday following, September i9lh> Herald being the first paper to give the explanation publicity. Some considerable time after this we received a long screed from Mr Robertson, who had built a sermon on the facts we had previously published, and which we did not consider of sufficient public importance to insert. His letter was published iu the Otaki Mail and Horowheuua Chronicle, which papers had not previously published the explanation which had already appeared in the Herald. Mr Robertson began to cry out that the Otaki No-License Council was being used to punish him politically in reference to the matter, and the Council again reviewed the whole position at a meeting held in Levin last Wednesday week, and a select committee was appointed to draw up a statement tor publication in the press. Mr Robertson was interviewed in the meantime, and the following is the outcome; — Resolution passed at the last meeting of the Executive of the Otaki Electoral No-License League held at Levin on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd 1914: “The attention of the League having been called to the fact that considerable dissatisfaction has been created among Mr John Robertson’s supporters in this electorate by reason of the manner of the publication of the League’s resolution demanding an explanation ot his failure to vote on the Licensing Bill in July last, and whereas his explanation, immediately supplied, was not accorded the same publicity, the League acknowledges that it failed to do justice to Mr Robertson, by allowing so long delay to occur before publishing what it considerrd the essential part of Mr Robertson’s letter, and would have no objection to publishing the full text of his letter now, but as Mr Robertson has already published the whole correspondence iu self-defence there is no reason to do so. It is only fair to point out that the affairs of the League, in common with so many other matters of public moment, were seriously dislocated, aud even for a time completely suspended, by the war crisis, which developed early in August. ’’ The foregoing are the facts so far as the No-License Council is concerned.

CHARGES AGAINST THE HERALD. Mr Robertson has made on the public platform and to private individuals, serious allegations against the editor of the Herald, to the effect that he has used the No-License Council for party pelitical purposes, and to punish him politically. We give this statement an absolute denial, and challenge Mr Robertson to prove (1) That the editor of this paper has influenced the Council or any member thereoi either iu or out of session, either tor or against Mr John Robertson's candidature ; (2) that the editor has used the Council for party political purposes. We will give Mr Robertson and his lieutenants a free hand to prove the truth of his allegations. He has a reputation for ferreting out things, and now is his chance to formulate a definite charge before election day.