BRIGHT POLITICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19966, 7 June 1928, Page 11

BRIGHT POLITICS.

MEETING AT THREE LAMPS. INDEPENDENT LABOUR POLICY. MR. BARTRAM AND THE KING. If the tone of an open-air meeting at Three Lamps, Ponsonby, last evening provides any reliable index to popular views on matters political, the general election of 1928 will go down to history as the brightest on record. The speaker was Mr. J. W. Hughes, who had announced that he would contest Auckland West as an independent Labour candidate. There was an audience of over 100. Mounting a box labelled "stout after a brief introduction by Jiis chairman, Mr. Hughes waved a sheaf of notes and advanced at once to the heart of his subject matter. His was a humanitarian platform, he declared, preparatory to dealing with the unemployment question. Mr. Hughes wanted to know why the Alliance of Labour had done nothing to assist those out of work. If the alliance had levied a shilling a week over its membership, there would be no need for men to go on relief works at nine and twelve shillings a day. "The gloves are off with me," declared Mr. Hughes, as he proceeded verbally to chastise the action of several Auckland Labour leaders. "Mr. Bartram went Home last year as Labour's ambassador, but he hobnobbed with the aristocracy," said Mr. Hughes. A Voice: He went there to see his mother. "He hobnobbed with Royalty and the money-bags," declared the candidate. "He went to Buckingham Palace to see the King." A man in the crowd thought Mr. Hughes was jealous, and said so. Labour Unions Criticised. Mr. Hughes next wanted to know "where Tom Bloodworth was," and asserted that that gentleman had sold Labour to the capitalists. The electors should see that they sent men to Parliament who would get things done. "You aro the jury and the judge is the ballotbox," said Mr. Hughes, warming to his subject. A Voice: And you are found guilty. After dealing with the sins of the labour unions in allowing retired civil servants to act as tally clerks on the wharf and outsiders to work behind hotel bars on Saturday afternoons, Mr. Hughes invited questions, which readily rained in upon him from all sides. In reply to a man who wanted to know why Mr. Hughes, as a working man, was opposing the official Labour candidate, the candidate explained that ho had communicated with Mr. Holland, explaining his platform, but the Labour Party leader had not replied. Mr. Hughes believed that no man who had not been the secretary of a union for three years would receive the official endorsement. Violent dissent was expressed, and someone wanted to know "what union Jack Lee was secretary of before he went to Parliament." Call for a Motion. Emerging from an argument on respective intelligences, Mr. Hughes urged his chairman to close the meeting. Persuaded by the crowd, however, Mr. Hughes agreed to answer a few more questions. Amid cheers, he declared he was a backer of continuance and would bring in a measure reinstating bookmakers. A prominent interjector advanced to the front, rolling some pipe tobacco between his palms, and another exchange of compliments ensued until the chairman mounted the box and called for a motion. Meanwhile, Mr. Hughes was being advised to give his £lO to the unemployment fund, instead of risking it on the election. The call for a motion brought the prominent interjector back to the middle of the ring with a motion "thanking Mr. Hughes for coming along here, but expressing no confidence in him at all. The chairman smiled and called in vain for a motion of confidence. Mr. Hughes also smiled, and promised to give a fuller statement of his policy later. The call of "three cheers for Joe Savage" was lustily responded to, and a good-humoured crowd gave three, too, for Mr. Hughes before dispersing.