ELECTION NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19148, 14 October 1925, Page 13

ELECTION NOTES.

ALL THE DIFFERENCE. " After all Mr. Jones, what is th<i difference between the Reform Party ancl the Liberals?" This was a question addressed to the Government candidate for Marsden by an elector at M&'ongakaramea. Mr. Jones replied: "One is in power, and the other is not." A HEW GUY FAWKES. "Well, election day rs coming round," confided Mr. J. A. Lee-, M.P.. to a meeting in Auckland East last night, '"and on November the fifth, I hope, we shall be able, with joy in our hearts, to go to the Domain and burn the Reform Party in effigy." THE ROOT OF THE STRIKE. " Tell us something about the shipping strike," said a questioner at Hon. P. F. Bollard's meeting at Raglan. " Right," replied Mr. Bollard. "It I had my way the agitator would he hounded out of the country quick and lively. It is not the men who caused the trouble, but the agHator who misled the men." AN EVIL INFLUENCE. The evil influence arising out of the shipping strike must not be lost sight, of, said Mr. J. A. Young. M.P., at Tauwhare. He regretted that mJluential members of the New Zealand Labour Purtv were doing things calculated to prolong a dispute. that should be settled in England, and not encouraged in this country. NO HALF-WAY HOUSE. The outstanding issue before the -people to-day was whether they stood 'for » self-contained Empire under the I'njon Jack or for internationalism under the Reel Flag, said Mr. J. A. Young, at a meeting of his Hamilton supporters. There was no room at the present juncture for a, half-way place in the- politics of the country, and the forthcoming election would place the people on side. NO TAX ON BACHELORS. At one of his meetings, Mr. R. MeCallum, the Liberal candidate for W'airau, was asked if he favoured a tax on bachelors. He replied that he did not, as "the, poor beggars had enough to put up with." Any way, he added, to suggest that it was necessary to tax bachelors in order to compel them to marry was casting something of a reflection on the charms of the maidens of the. Dominion! A HEARTENING NOTE. " We all feel very sad about the hard times the Old Country is having at the present time," said the Prune Minister, when addressing a meeting of women at Invercargill. "But let me. say there have been slumps and depressions in the past, and on every occasion the AngloSaxon race has overcome them, and seen prosperous days again. Every one of us has confidence that we will see brighter and better days in the future." PARTY WITHOUT A POLICY. C'f the policy of the Liberal Party litti* could be said, remarked Mr. J. G. Armstrong, Government candidate tor Huruiiui, last week. They accused the, Reform Party of stealing their policy, but so far as he could see, the Libera,s had no policy. A party could not expett to be returned by the country unless it had a policy, and he had gone carefullv through Mr! G. W. Forbe's address and had not discovered a vestige of a poht >. HAMILTON LIBERALS GONE. Although urged by the National 1 ,u L >' in Wellington to stand as the National candidate for the. Hamilton seat. Mr. H. W. Milner, of Matapara, is not receiving much encouragement from Hamilton Liberals. He has no committee, < and appears to be playing a lone hand. A Hamilton resident, of 30 years' standing, when asked what had become of the Liberals in Hamilton who some years ago returned a member to Parliament, said: " They have seen the error of their way and have become supporters of the Reform Party." TAUGHT BY EXPERIENCE. An old opponent of the Reform Administration was Mr. Campbell Johnstone chairman of the Raglan County Council. He attended the meeting of the Hon. R. F. Bollard at Raglan as a supporter. Addressing the meeting, Mr. Johnstone candidly admitted that experience had taught- him that his opposition to the present member was wrong. As far as he could see there was no one in Parliament who was better fitted to control the Government than Mr. Coates. To support Mr. Coates it was necessary to supportMr. Bollard, and he now did so. RECORD AS BRITISHERS. On Monday night. Mr. S. Oldfield. Government candidate for Auckland West, criticised Mr. ,3. A. Lee. M.P., Labour candidate for Auckland East, for, as he termed it, boasting that he intended to win. He suggested that boasting was hardly a British habitSpeaking last night, Mr. Lee remarked that if Mr, Oldfield were willing to put his record on the table, and he (Mr. Lee) | did the same, it would be found that in the past few years he had been at least, as British lis Mr. Oldfield. A little later, Mr. Lee referred again to the other candidate, who. he said, had called the Labour Party rogues and outlaws. "Mr. Oldfield must have been a little hysterical." he remarked. "He will be more hysterical beiore this campaign is over." MR. LEE AND MISS MELVILLE. "Does the candidate know a member of the Labour Party who is _ a, New Zealander and has fought in the war ? asked a Labour supporter of Mr. J. A. Lee, M.P., last night. "That evidently applies to some remarks made by Miss Melville last night." said Mr. Lee. * "I do not think Miss Melville knows the facts, or that she would take the trouble to get them. I would like to ask her whether when Sir James Parr is defeated in Eden, she would like to have him as king ot New Zealand, or whether she. would still prefer an English king. I am a New Zealander myself. I am loyal to British institutions in New Zealand, but I am also loyal to my comrades of the Labour movement. All the Labour candidates were born in the British Empire. , I believe only seven members of the Legislative Council were born in New Zealand, Mr. Massev was not. That was the least of his offences; he was none the worse for that." The questioner remarked that the candidate, through modesty, no doubt, had notanswered the second part of the question. Mr. Lse: Well, T did not lose my arm through being run down by a garden roller' in Victoria Park at midnight." SETTLING THE LAND. " It has been said we are out tor the large landowner," remarked the Prime Minister, in a speech at Bluff. " The fact is that.in the last four or five years very few people have been trying to get on the land, but- on the other hand many have been trying to get off it. You may have ail the* bursting up legislation in the world, but unless you have people wanting to <;o on the land the legislation will not be much use." One of the Audience: Why not take the land at valuation ? Mr. Coates: Wo could get hundreds and thousands of acres of land at Government valuation, but ycu cow'" not get settlers to go on to that -and. Unless settlers can get the land at a price at which fhev can make a living it is no use to them. We have, to remembei this is a period of deflation, but it is passing and as soon as it goes an > >s possible to get land at a price at which a living can be assured it- will be tm c *> talk about taking land at Government , -valuation.