OBSTRUCTIVE TACTICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19149, 15 October 1925, Page 13

OBSTRUCTIVE TACTICS.

j LABOUR INVADES MEETING. j ADDRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. j ; ADVOCATE OF LAW ANO ORDER. j . < hie of the noisiest election meetings: i held in Auckland this year was addressed | by the Reform candidate for Auckland I West., Mr. S. oldfield, in the Church jof Christ, Ponsonhy .Road, last night, j Labour supporters turned up in force, | and the candidate, who is an uncompromLi nig opponent of that party, devoted liis | whole speech to an attack unon its policy ! and the bona fides of its leaders. Tim I address was punctuated with interjections, ! uproar and demands from the chair for a ! fair hearing. The candidate was not dismayed. " I ! don't mind so long as you can hear me," ihe declared. "I'll tell you one thing: jAH this tc.ls me that the. Labour Party | ii! Auckland West has got the wind up. . 1 heard the other day that the Labour ' people were squealing all over the elector- | ate, and now I know it." A Voice: Three cheers for Savage. The cheers were given. Somebody then railed for three cheers I for Mr. Oldfield, and these were given I even more lustily. ! The chairman, Mr. E. A. Perkins, had j to endure a good deal from the Labour I obstructors when introducing the candi- | date. " He's a good boy," he said, "and |we ought to put him in. He is proud of the flag and the Empire I A Voice : The' red flag '! | Mr. Perkins: He stands for the flag |of the free and the brave. He is the j official Reform candidate. A Voice: Let's hear him, then, i Other Voices: Sit down. Ring if. You're not selling poultry now. Mr. Perkins: He is a man with a future. He's got a good looking audience in front of him. and I propose we give him a good reception. (Applause and laughter.) The candidate began by repeating what he had said at his first meeting, that the I present was a greater crisis than that of j 1914, and that a section of the people | were out to destroy law and order. There was much uproar, and the chairman warned a tall man standing by the door. The man nodded good-humouredly, | and someone else, told the chairman to "keep his head 011." A little later Mr. Perkins invited somebody whom he described as "the gentleman with a voice like a foghorn" to keep quiet. The candidate was accused of talking "sob-stuff" when he denounced the teaching of agnosticism in Socialist Sunday Schools. He declared that he wholeheartedly supported Mr. Coates, who stood for law and order against attacks by the revolutionary Socialists. He had been told by a Labour supporter to state his own platform, lvecausc the Reform Party was on trial, and not to attack the Labour platform. His reply was that as 5766 people in Auckland West had voted thi'ee years ago to put a Labour Government into office he felt justified in regarding Labour as on trial and in attacking its platform. A Voice: It's never had a trial yet. In the middle of a stormy interlude about the shipping strike, the chairman rose and remarked, "I'd be glad if someone would tell me the r,nme of the gentleman who is making all that noise." A Voice: Trotsky. (Loud and continued laughter.) lii inviting questions at the close of the candidate's speech, the chairman spoke in praise of the latter, provoking much loud interruption. "Noise is not argument," he remarked. A Voice: Then don't jazz. (Roars of laughter.) The candidate, who had held his ground without the least dismay all through, and had been heartily applauded by many supporters, answered a number of questions. This was the quietest period of the meeting. No vote, of thanks and confidence was moved, but Mr. Oldfield received hearty cheers, as did his Labour opponent, Air. M. J. Savage. THE WATTEMATA SEAT. MR. OSBORNE AT NORTHCOTE. The Labour candidate for Waitcmata, Mr. A. G. Osborne, addressed about 250 electors in Masonic Hall, Northcote, last evening. The Mayor of Northcote, Mr. 0, A. Deuxberry, presided. Mr. Osborne, who received a vote of confidence at the close of the meeting, denied a statement by his opponent that the policy of the Labour Party was produced only oti the eve of the contest for electioneering purposes. He asserted that the platform and policy of the Labour Party had been before the people for years, and came up for revision at conferences year by year. It was not framed by tlie leaders of the political Labour Party or by industrial leaders, but by the supporters of the party themselves. He claimed that, was a democratic foundation for the Labour policy. Mr. J. A. Lee, Labour candidate for Auckland East, said the Labour land policy referred only to 1030 estates in New Zealand exceeding £2O,(XX) in tinimproved value.