THE TAURANGA SEAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19142, 7 October 1925, Page 13

THE TAURANGA SEAT.

ADDRESS BY MR. MACMILLAN. COUNTRY PARTY RIDICULED. LABOUR AND THE STRIKE. [By TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] TAIJB ANG A, Tuesday. The silting member for Tauranga, Mr. C. E. Macmillan, opened his campaign in the Tauranga Town Hall last evening, the M ayor, Mr. B. Dive, presiding over a good attendance. Mr. Macmillan dealt with the fusion negotiations and said that so far as the difference in policy'between the Reform and Liberal Parties was concerned. as Mr. Wilford himself had said, it was a mere quarrelling over vain things. Mr. Macmillan said ho stood before the electors not only as a candidate for the Reform Party but as a candidate for a "fused" party of Reformers and Liberals. The Reform Party wus in opposition to the Labour Party, but the electors should clearly understand that the Reform Party was not in opposition, and never had been, to the humanitarian proposals of the Labour Party. The line of demarcation between the two parties lav principally in the fact that the Reform Party stood for the Arbitration Court while the Labour Party stood for direct action in the form of strikes. The present position in New Zealand in connection with the shipping strike was a striking example of the methods preferred by the Labour Party. The whole income of New Zealand was in jeopardy. An endeavour had been made to ascertain the views of the. Labour Party in connection with this strike, the peculiar part of which was that the strikers' own officials in Britain had agreed to the terms against wiiich the men were striking. Labour Under Suspicion. It was therefore a strike against their own officials, and there was rather more, than a suspicion that the Labour Party in the Dominions had had a good deal to do with the present trouble. The Prime Minister was taking steps to endeavour to have the matter settled. The candidate dealt with one or two planks in the Labour Party's platform, pointing out the serious menace to the country if such a policy could be carried cut. The correctness of his assertions would be best established by noting what forces opposed the Prime Minister in his endeavour to secure the regular transport of our produce to the Home markets. What is the Country Party? asked Mr. Macmillan. Nobody quite knew. Those who professed to represent this Country Party would assert that it was run by the Farmers' Union. It w-as nothing of the sort. The annual conference of the Farmers' LTnion on at least two occasions had turned down the proposals. Disgruntled Body of Men. The Country Party was simply a body of men in the Auckland Province who were in revolution because at the time of the slump they tried to tench the late Mr. Massey his business.' and because he refused to finance them in the way they wanted they had been disgruntled ever since. They had tried to induce the Farmers' Union to take up their view of the matter but had failed. Mr. Macmillan dealt with the various points in the Government manifesto issued by the Prime Minister, and expressed his adherence to the policy laid down. He endorsed every portion of the platform, and if returned would assist Mr. Coates in realising his aims. A few questions were put and answered. Mr. H. A. Sharp moved a vote of thanks and confidence in Mr. Macmillan, as representative for the Tauranga elect mate. Speaking to the motion, ho said be knew Mr. Macmillan had secured the goodwill of his fellow members in Parliament, and had honestly done his duty to the district. Ho had attended to all local requirements in a thoroughly satisfactory manner and the reason the" speaker was moving the motion was that he felt confident that the Tauranga electorate and the whole country intended to support Mr. Coates. (Applause. ) Mr. J, C. Adams seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr. Macmillan well spehk at Te Aroha on Wednesday evening.