ELECTION NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21037, 23 November 1931, Page 11

ELECTION NOTES.

ELECTORS' PRIVATE WARS, WOMEN AND OBSTRUCTORS. "If you canna' behave yoursel' gang ooft and let a decent body ha.'e your seat." The speaker was a mild-looking little woman in the body of the .Jown Hall at Mr. Coates' meeting. Her fongue proclaimed her nationality and her demeanour was adequate' proof that !>he was not in the habit of administering public reproof. But this was beyond endurance. She "couldna thole" any longer the raucous interjections of the man just-behind her. They were inapt enough to annoy a much less logical mind than that of a keenwitted Scottish woman. They were mainly "Wat about the Hospital Board?" "Yes," added another woman, who supported the lady from Scotland, "and he smells strongly of liquor, too." Such exchanges went on in many quarters of the hall, and at least one elderly man, in danger from high blood pressure, issued threats of personal. violence if booing neighbours did not be quiet. One woman, who would have been more at home as a teacher in a girls' college than in argument with strange men loudly antagonistic to Mr. Coales, told one of them that he was a Bolshevik. "Nothing of the sort," said the man. "You don't want a job; you want this dole," retorted the lady. "Shut your mouth," said the man. The lady was seen to grasp her umbrella firmly, but remembered in time that that sort of thing is not done. A seat having been vacated, a woman took it. "Who is speaking?" she asked her neighbour. * "Mr. Coates," was the reply. "Oh—boo, booo—" and her contribution to the evening sras practically s continuous boo. Within one man's hearing four of the had foreign accents.

LIFE OF PARLIAMENT. Shortly before the end of last session there was a growing opinon among a section of the House that the term of Parliament should be extended from three to four years. At least one supporter of this move has been found in Mr. F. Waite, Coalition member for Clutha, who discussed the question at his opening meeting. In reply to a question Whether, in the event of the Coalition Government being returned to power, the Coalition would remain in force for three years, the full Parliamentary term, Mr. Waite expressed himself as being first of all in favour of a four-year Parliament. It was impossible to say how long the Coalition would last, but he thought it would continue in existence for a considerable time. In the present state of the 'country, if the electors did not support the Coalition, the House would be full of Independent members, who he considered would bo a positive hindrance to a Coalition Government.

FIRST AUCKLAND ELECTIONS. Eighty years ago, on November 18, 1851, were held the first elections to take place in Auckland. By a proclamation issued in tliat year Auckland was elevated to the pqsSion of a borough, with a corporation—the first to be created in New Zealand—to which was given the powers of self-government on all'matters of local interest. The elections resulted in the return of the following:—Messrs. Edwin Daw, Archibald Clark, Patrick Dignan, F. W. Merriman, A. B. Abraham, James O'Neill. S. Norman, T. M. Haultain, J. A. Hickson, A. Macdonald. Joseph Newman, William Powditch, William I. Taylor and W. Mason. The honour of being chosen as the: first "Mayor of Auckland fell to Mr. Clark.

THE SOCIALIST PLATFORM. The New Zealand Welfare League writes:—We have carefully read Mr. Holland's speeches and also the manifesto of his party, which defines what they call the "policy of the party," and we find that in neither speech nor manifesto ,is the party's platform disclosed. The official objective is "the socialisation of production, distribution and exchange," and the platform aims at nationalisation and public ownership of everything—in short, it is unadulterated Sorialism as admitted by Mr, W. Nash recently. The candidates and members of the party sign the following pledge "to faithfully uphold and wholeheartedly work for its constitution, objective, platform and decisions, and no other." Thus Mr. Holland ami all his party's candidates are pledged to carry out a Socialist platform and objective which they carefully refrain from disclosing to the electors. * Instead of advocating their real platform they put forward something quite different, in order to catch votes from non-socialists, and if returned on this moderate programme they must, under their pledge, put the undisclosed policy into operation.

THE HOURS OF WORK. 'T am inclined to wonder whether or not we shall have to consider the advisability of reducing the hours of work," remarked Mr. G. C. Munns, Coalition candidate for Roskill, at Mount Albert on Saturday evening. A voice: You should not be standing as a Coalitionist, then. Mr. Munns: Perhaps it sounds like rank heresy to some of the people who support me, but unemployment is such a serious world-wide problem and machinery continues to displace so many workers that one seriously wonders if a reduction in the working hours would be of benefit.

NO PLEDGE GJVEN. The Coalition candidate for Roskill, Mr. G. C. Munns, speaking" at Mount Albert on Saturday evening, declined to give a pledge that he would oppose reductions in pensions should any proposal to that effect be made in Parliament. "It is too easy in these days to give a pledge and then get to Parliament and find you are forced to break it," he told a questioner. "I will not commit myself, for I would prefer to be guided by the state of the country at the time aiiy such proposal is made." The questioner suggested that economies by reductions in pensions of any kind should be made only as a last resort and Mr. Munns concurred.

FREE USE Or METAPHOR. Metaphor is frequently employed by political aspirants in their campaigns, and at Clevedon on Saturday evening the Labour candidate for Hauraki, Mr. C. R. Petrie, made recourse to military, Biblical and legendary analogies to illustrate his points. Stressing the necessity for a forward policy at this stage of national affairs, he said the battle of the Marne offered a military precedent. An unexpected move by tie French troops had caused the German;; to pause, falter and retreat. Similarly to-day a step forward would cause the depression to be scattered and routed. " The molehills impeding our progress have been magnified into mountains by pessimists," continued Mr. Petrie, "but we are told that faith can overcome mountains. But faith without works is dead, and if we have f.iith and set to work now we can reduce the mountains to their true perspective, and walk over th em the horizon where prosperity lies. Dealing with industrial developmen Mr. Petrie asked electors to support £ * policy that would induce t lay a bigger and t 2ie goosd I:ion policy was seekl j D years gonn that, had laid tliesa eggs W b bj* a