Manawatu Daily Times The Prime Minister

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7085, 6 December 1929, Page 6

Manawatu Daily Times The Prime Minister

Speaking at Day’s Bay in support o! Mr. J. Kerr’s candi ■ dature for the vacant Hutt seat in the House of Representatives, the' Hon. W. A. Veitch, the Minister of Labour, Mines, and Transport, stated, incidentally, thftt at last he was able to say the Prime Minister was making definite progress towards convalescence. He had passed through a very trying time, made all the more trying by his insistence upon keeping abreast, of everything that was going on in the political and administrative spheres; but he was now gaining strength and there was every reason to hope he would be getting about again shortly. Probably his recovery would have been more speedy had he eschewed politics and business altogether; but that, said the Minister, is not the way with men of his temperament, who keep pn working the whole year round and seem to enjoy their jobs no matter how arduous they may appear to be. Mr. .Veitch’s reassuring remarks were greeted with warm applause from a gratified audience, Members' Bonus Referring to other matters in the course of his supplement to Mr. Kerr’s address, Mr. Veitch said he was quite ready to bear his share of the blame, if blame there were, foiv the addition ‘of £IOO to the honorarium of members of the House of Representhis year. Personally, he was not concerned about the payment, as Ministers of the Crown did not participate in the additional honorarium; but he knew enough about the financial difficulties of many members of the House to realise that the payment was justified. It had to be l’emembered that the increase applied only to the current year, and that, few of the members, if any, had spent as little as £l5O upon the recent election. This would have left even the most frugal member with only £3OO, and from this sum he would have to meet subscriptions and other incidental demands, as well as the maintenance of two homes, if he happened to live out of .Well-, ington, as nine members out of ten did. Three Cornered Contest The three cornered contest for the vacant Hutt seat in Parliament is producing some lively personal exchanges between the three aspirants for the occupancy of the Hon. T. M. Wilford’s shoes. Mr. H. F. Johnston, the Reform candidate, whose chance of success lies in the splitting of votes between United and Labour, is concentrating his attack upon Labour and dealing comparatively lightly with the United candidate, all of which is good tactics from the Opposition’s point of view. Speaking at Eastbourne on Monday night, however, Mr. Johnston seems to have somewhat overstepped the confines of his capacious brief. He told his audience that if Labour came into power it would seize the savings of the poor and needy deposited in the Post Office Savings Bank, and then would go on to the Public Trust Office to secure the money of the widows and orphans deposited there. That, he declared, was the policy to which every man swore allegiance when he became a member of the Labour Party. Labour Retorts Naturally when Mr. W. Nash, the Labour candidate, came to address a large audience from the same platform he had something to say concerning Mr. Johnston’s astounding assertions. He declared that the Reform candidate, who was not lacking in ordinary intelligence, had made vicious, libellous and absurd attacks upon the Labour Party which he must have known to be as false as they were ludicrous. Mr. Nash paid a very high tribute to the service and the management of the Post Office Savings Bank and the Public Trust Office, and expressed a hope they never would come under the influence of the captitalistic or the proprietary banks. Labour's effort, at any rate, would be to extend the beneficient uses of these institutions and to extend in every Avay possible their value to the community at large. Mr. Johnston, who had been apprised of Mr. Nash’s intention to contradict his statements, speaking in another part of the constituency, declared that whatever the Labour Party might say, its policy was one of confiscation.