COLD POLITICS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22262, 9 November 1935, Page 15

COLD POLITICS

OPEN-AIR MEETINGS FOUR LABOUR BPEECHEB CANDIDATES' HARD WORK Visitors to New Zealand at election time have been known to say that the inhabitants take their politics seriously. To judge by the crowds of a hundred or so* who stood in the cold breeze for an hour or more at four open-air Labour meetings last night, New Zealanders have a good appetite for' political oratory. There was little coming and going; nearly everybody who had arrived at the start was there at the finish. 1

| The candidates' voices were quite equal to the strain of shouting against tho roar of traincars and motor-cycles, the hooting of horns and all the other noises incidental to Friday night. Ono of them asked for indulgence because he had throat trouble, but this did not seem to cramp his style or tako any vigour from his denunciations of the Government's wicked past. Speech Prom a Lorry Mr. W. T. Andcrton, the party's candidate for Eden, would have carried off the endurance prize had offered. Question-time included, he spoke for nearly an hour and threequarters from a motor-lorry backed against the deep verandah of a Chinese laundry at the foot of Valley Road The lorry was well equipped with a chair for the chairman and a bearing a jug of water and a glass. It was also adorned with a calico sign, which propounded a question and supplied the answer. "Why follow? Let us lead with Labour!" The candidate had his critics in the audience, though they wcro not particularly unfriendly. "Give us some policy," called out one of them, after listening to a long attack on the Government, with apparently much more to follow. "I have been giving you our policy," rejoined the candidate. "But it's cold now," protested the elector. "It may be cold and bleak, but it's necessary for you to know the facts," replied the candidate. "Wo know them," said the interjector in rather scornful tones, and let tho question drop. How Credit is Made A little later the candidate got into an argument with a man who seemed to see some virtue in the Mortgage Corporation because it was likely to help, the farmers. He wanted to know what Labour would substitute for it. The candidate replied that the necessary credits would be created through tho State Advances Department. "How?" asked the mterjector promptly. "How do you create credit now?" queried the candidate. "Ho doesn't know," Volunteered somebody from the crowd. The candidate explained that Labour would take over the whole currency and credit system, measure the productive and consumptive capacity of the population and then provide the necessary credit and purchasing power for everybody. At question-time numbers of people seemed to want information on various points, and the chairman had to tell ono man that he could not make a speech. "If you want to make one, y6u can have this stump when the candidate has finished," he said. The r.nan did not avail himself of tho offer. An Unwanted Band

Mr. A. S. Richards, who is seeking re-election'for Roskill, used as his platform a lorry placed near the corner of William Street and Dominion Road. A benzine lantern provided him with light for reading occasional documents, and he received a very attentive hearing. Between 30 and 40 people assembled to hear an address given by Mr. A. G. Osborne, who is standing for Parnell, at the corner of Benson and Upland Boads, Remuera. The wind blew in cold gusts across the open intersection, but some of the audience were able to listen from the shelter of shop fronts. The candidate's perch was a box at the edge of the roadway, in a position more oc less exposed, but he recited a list of indictments against the Government in measured, unhurried tones that betokened indifference to the night chill. A Salvation Army band in the vicinity provided unintentional competition with the first part of the address delivered by Mr. F. W. Schramm, Labour candidate for Auckland East, at the corner of Station Street, Newmarket. A number of people wore waiting in sheltered doorways and corners before the candidate arrived, and when he mounted a box in the lee of a wall they quickly gathered round. It was not long before the audience numbered about 100, and they stood and listened patiently while a.bleak wind blew down the narrow thoroughfare. MEETINGLABOUR CANDIDATE [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] "WAIPUKURAU, Friday Mr. H. M. Christie, Labour candidate for Waipawa, was given an attentive hearing by a largo Waiptikurau audience, when he outlined tho Labour policy, including State control of the Reserve Bank and tho stabilisation of prices. Tho Mayor, Mr. I. W. N. Mackio presided, and tho speaker was accorded a vote of thanks.