REDUCED STRENGTH

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 175, 25 June 1926, Page 6

REDUCED STRENGTH

' THE LABOUR PARTY. HOW THE DAWN BROKE. fßv Telegraph. —Special to Standard.! ■ y WELLINGTON, June 24. Tallowing Mr Holland in the debate on the Address-in-Reply this afternoon,: Hon. W. Dowme totewart after congratulating the mover ami the seconder .of the motion on their speeches, proceeded to reply to the speech delivered by the Trader of the Opposition. He congratulated, the Labour Party on having advanced so far as to be m occupation of the official Opposition b »s“ > A°g th©°leader *all gtS SS’ ft” Mr Holland lad gone through the country with the proud boast that he was going to sweep the Government from the - Far from that being the case, he himself had come back with greatly diminished forces and his occupancy of the Opposition benches was not brought about by any increase ?? the strength of his own party, but by the weakness of his neighbour, the National Party. Even now be occupied those benches merely by good luck because he had “fluked” one supporter at Lyttelton on an election petition and by another stroke of fortune had pot a minority representative in at a bv-election. But for these two strokes of fortune he would not now be occupykg tWpo.iti»» h© did. Although t>o hon. gentleman went through thq country proclaiming that he was go* toe to have a great victory, and that tbl Reform Party had committed every crime in ■ the political calendar, and would be swept away by the incensed populace, he had com© back fewerin numbers, while the Government had greatly increased its majority. Mr Holland: On a minority vote, th M?Stewart: The hon. . gentleman savs that every time we come back, and we come back in greater force every time. He went to the oounti V with 17 members and came back with 11, since when- ho got another couple by accident. Then the hon. gentleman was careful te refrain from telling them that his party had come hack with largely reduced majorities. xi< knew that the verdict of the country had been overwhelmingly and em< pliatically against them, and when tha election was over there followed a deathlv silence from the hon. gentleman. * In vain /the press clamoured for liis views oh the election. Mr Holland: I made a statement to the Press Association, and it was never sent out. Mr Stewart: The, lion, gentleman bad other opportunities of making a. statement, but he did not do so. At any rate, I failed to find it. Then ho went to Australia. Mr Holland: You- know I went to Australia on’ account of my wife s illness. That is hot a creditable statement, for you to make. Mr Stewart: If the hon. gentleman takes exception to it, then I offer him a thousand apologies. Yet in Australia he took part in many functions and civic receptions and made all sort* of statements so that he must lay himself open to account for not having referred to the New Zealand elections. I do not suggest that n© was trying to escape from the results of’the election. He told them that'at last the dawn was breaking in New Zealand for the Labour Party. (Laughter). , , ~ Sir Maui Pomare: It broke all right. (Laughter). ■ Mr Holland: I Certainly said the Labour Party, had made a great advance. , _ , Mr Stewart: As long as the Labour Party continues to advance on the lines it did at the last election I am quite content. (Laughter). I must say I am disappointed in his speech to-day. Whenever he seeks for something fresh to say against us all he says is that we have not the confidence of the country. I have watched with interest the changing phases of his attitudo towards jniblic affairs and perhaps I see- more of what is going on in his mind than he sees himself. I remember when he said there was nothing to be gained from party action; I remember when in this House he demanded conscription and called to us all to fall down and worship at the shrine of Lenin and Trotsky. He always spoke of the good work done in Russia. Fortunately, tlie public have long memories as to the sayings of the Labour Party, and even those of his party who-have come back have come back with reduced majorities. Mr Holland: I told them the facts. Mr Stewart: I cannot understand tlmn how he could say- the dawn of a new day w.as coming for thq Labour Party when the ReforiTi majority increased to 47,222 with five less seats contested than ill 1922, while the Labour majority to 32,000 though it contested eleven more seats.