Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14854, 4 December 1911, Page 4

Electoral. ; mHE pEOPLE .V. lyj-ONOPOLY. TO THE ELECTORS OP AUCKLAND EAST. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN'— Whether wilfully or otherwise, Mr. Myers completely misses , the poi^ "->"«*» reply to my '•manifesto in Satur lays HERALD. 1 am not making any _attaok upon Mr. Myers's personal character My position is that, on the sound urnciplo that any judge or magistrate who is personally interested in a case is not a.fit am. proper person to sit in judgment on that case, any man connected with monopolies and combines, his interests in which are necessarily directly opposed to the Interests of the public, is not a fit and proper person to represent the people in Parliament, where he will be called upon to choose between his own interests as a monopolist ana his duty to the public. For, however good his intentions, and I willingly credit Mi. Mvers with the best intentions, his persona interest may unwittingly blind him to tne true interests of the public. To say this is not. as Mr. Myers seems to think, the same as " saying that if he is elected he will be sure to abuse the confidence of his constituents, and sacrifice their interests for his own private Rain." any more than the contention that a judge should not sit in judgment on a case in which he is personally interested is the same as saying that ho win be sure to abuse his position as judge, ana sacrifice the interests of justice to his own private gain. Such a contention would involve no attack upon the judges personal honour. And my contention involves no attack upon the personal honour of Air. Myers, as I am sure he will recognise, when he thinks it over quietly and judicially. The greatest issue before the High Court of Parliament at-the present time is that of the People v. Monopoly, and no mani no has monopoly interests, especially large monopoly interests, is a fit and proper person to have a seat on the Bench, that is to say, in Parliament, Several monopolies stand'at the Bar. but the monopoly more immediately on trial just now is the liquor monopoly, whose case cannot truly pe out of the hands of Parliament and in the hands of the people" unless, and until, tne inequitable three-fifths majority and four years' interval provisions have been swept away. As a wealthy brewer, therefore. Mi. Myers, especially at the present time, should not have a seat on the bench. I repeat that I am not opposing Mr. Mvers on personal grounds. I have not a word to say against him personally, l am fighting him because his interests as a brewer and as a shareholder in various monopolies and combines—liquor, land, trams, gas, meat. coal, etc.—are diametrically opposed to the best interests of the people. If the Archangel Gabriel were in the same position 1 should oppose him on the same grounds, and just as strongly. Mr. Myers's replies to the three points I raised in response to his challenge amply illustrate the dangers to which I desired to draw attention—clangers inevitably involved in the holding of positions of public trust by men whose interests as monopolists are opposed to the best interests of the public:—

(1) It is a serious matter that the Mayor, the Chief Magistrate ex officio of the City. should, because of some fancied insult to himself as a brewer, oppose a proposal to placard the city to call public attention to the verv grave dancers of alcoholism. No doubt Mr. Myers's hot resentment of this ' proposal as a personal affront contributed largely to its unanimous rejection by the Council, and has similarly influenced sunsequent decisions. (2) I was aware that Mr. Myers was not Mayor when the Electric Tramways < undertaking was handed over to a private monopolist company. I made no "slanderous insinuation," and none was intended. What I wish to know is, what was his position in , regard to the matter? Was he then—and is he now, for the matter of that—on the side of the general public, or on that of the private monopolist company? (3) I submit that it is for the public itself to decide, and that, by a bare majority. what is in the best interests of the public. And, in my opinion, the very fact that a man can bo "convinced that it is in the best interests of„ the public" that a minority (certainly, not above the average in intelligence and character) should rule the majority on this Vital liquor question, is in itself quite enough to show that he is not a fit and proper ' person to he trusted to look* after the interests of the public. It is most certainly not in the best interests of the public that tho accursed liquor traffic, which (see Friday's HERALD) is responsible for untold poverty, crime, and degradation," should, because of the three-fifths majority inequity, still continue its devastating career in 64 out or the 76 constituencies in New Zealand, whereas, under bare majority rule, it would, by the 19C8 polls, have been closed down 2_ years ago in all but 16. Yours very truly, ARTHUR WITHY, 'i Liberal-Labour. Bare Majority, Anti-Mono- ■ polist Candidate. '. " ' ■ /./' P.S.— wish it to be distinctly understood that I have no connection*whatsoever with the pro-monopoly. " Auckland East Branch of the Liberal and Labour Federation." The very fact that it is on the side of monopoly at once stamps it fas no true Liberal and Labour organisation. It is evidently of the same class .as the Liberty League, the Citizens' League, and the Sports Protection League. DAQIiiH "PIEOTOEATE. TITR. "DASIL TIEWETT, THE INDEPENDENT LIBERAL CANDIDATE, Will Address the Electors as follows: — TUAKATJ HALL-TUESDAY. sth December, at 8 p.mA V C EL AND CENTRAL. • r..'A. E. GP"™ Will Address the Electors at OT. JAMES'S TTALL, ON WEDNESDAY, DEC. 6, AT 7.30 P.M. Mr. P. J. Nerheny will preside. Ladies Specially Invited. Tl/TANUKAH ELECTORATE. . M R. "RALPH 'jy S TEWART. V LIBERAL CANDIDATE. Will Address the Electors as under: TO-NIGHT (MONDAYV-OTAHUHU PUBLIC HALL. , DECEMBER sth. TUESDAY-PARISH HALL, ELLERSLIE. DECEMBER 6th. WEDNESDAY-OPEN-AIR MEETING, FIREBELL, ONEHU.NGA. .?' MEETINGS AT 8 P.M \

p AG LAN THLECTOEATE. : ■-%;■ M E. ALLEN B __, OPPOSITION CANDIDATE, Will Address the Electors at BUCKLAND-TO-NIGHT (Monday), 7.50. WAIBAMARAMA-TUESDAY, sth Dec, 3 p.m. GLEN MURRAY-TUESDAY. sth Dec. 7.30. RAGLAN-WEDNESDAY, 6th Dec. 7.30. TITANUKAU ELECTORATE. M E J. B. M OETON Will Address the Electors as under: TO-NIGHT (MONDAY)—Parish Hall, Ellerslie. 8 o'clock. TUESDAY, , December '• s—Public Hall, Otahuhu, 8 p.m. WEDNESDAY. December Public Hall, Onehunga, 8 p.m. ... Ladies Specially Invited. XJfTAITEMATA ELECTORAE. M R - W- F. M ASSEY - ' LEADER OF THE REFORM PARTY, Will ADDRESS THE ELECTORS At the POST HALL, DEVONPORT. TO-NIGHT (MONDAY). DECEMBER 4, At 8 o'clock. Wm. Handley, Esq., Mayor, will preside. Front seats reserved for ladies and their eS A OI special 'bus will meet 7 o'clock tram from Takapuna at corner O'Neil's Point Rd , returning to Lake after tho meeting. TTfAITEMATA __ ELECTORATE. M' A LEX ' JJARRIS. OPPOSITION CANDIDATE. Will Address the Electors as under: — BIRKENHEAD. Foresters' HaII—TUESDAY. December 5. at 8 p.m. DEVONPORT, Three Lamps-WEDNESDAY, •? December 6, 8 p.m. , ~