Page 7 Advertisements Column 4

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4819, 24 November 1902, Page 7

MR W. BARBER’S POLITICAL PLATFORM. . TO THE ELECTORS OF REWToWN.

T ADIES AND GENTLEMEN— J-4 As very many of you may find it inconvenient to attend my meetings and 1 cannot hope to meet you all face to face, I take this means of placing my political platform clearly and briefly before ycjj. I am a supporter of the present Government. 1 support it—1. BECAUSE it is the exponent and advocate of Liberal principles. 2. BECAUSE its Legislation has kept Noiv Zealand in the van ol progress in Liberalism. 3. BECAUSE it lias advanced the well-being of t he industrial com-' munity by replacing strikes with Compulsory Arbitration. 4. BECAUSE it has elevated and improved the material condition of tlfo workers. 5. BECAUSE, by bringing down • the rates of interest and procuring cheap money for. the settlors, it lias furthered tho cause of land settlement. C-. BECAUSE it has developed the trade and commerce of the colony and stimulated its exports hy finding fresh markets and fostering its industries 7. BECAUSE during tho regime of this Government Now Zealand has enjoyed eleven years of unexampled prosperity, and is still in a condition of solid contentment and holding its way on a course of steady progress. I strongly support tho speedy settlement of the waste lands of tho colony, and bringing tho settlers into close touch with their markets by a spirited policy of reading.. { Tho North Island Trunk Hallway must bo pushed on to completion with the least possible delay. Tho present To Aro Railway Terminus should he extended to Island Bay with a view to a rapid ferry service between that place and the Terminus ef tho South Island Trunk Railway at Pieton.

I am, yours faithftillv, . W. BARBER SOME OF GODBEB’S POLITICAL OPINIONS! 1. Ho is in. favour of R EDUCING THE DUTIES ON THE NECESSARIES OP LIFE. 2. Thoroughly believes in a DOCK FOR WELLINGTON. 3. Believes in HOUSEHOLDERS HAVING A VOTE IN ALL MUNICIPAL MATTERS i. Ho is in favour of the RE FEREND ( UM. 5. Hie is a SUPPORTER OP THE POLICY OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT, which has clone so much for the Workers. 6. He thoroughly believes in, A FAIR DAY'S PAY FOR A FAIR DAY’S WORK. 7. Ho favours PURCHASING LAND NEAR CITIES FOR THE ERECTION OF WORKMEN’S HOMES.

NEWTOWN ELECTION. To the Editor of the "New Zealand Times/' SiK,— A letter m your issue of the 2ist instant signed “W. H. B. xmi-per" assumes a great deal too luucn. xno public are not so euauy misled. as Hie writer seems to imagine, xld aa-ily staves, i was selected oy an absolute majority as tno canoiaave to ne supported uy uie League” (Biuorai and Lauuur ± ecierauon, iNewtuwn Brandi). i\uw, sir, tnereoy nangs a tale, and it is time tills tale —the true tale —01 that wouderiul meeting were tofU. Tne lacts are cliese: Tlie in wrtown .branch of tno Liberal and liabour i’edorauon has over IUU members. Xliere were 6i4 people present on tlie occasion referred to by Mr .barber, ci wnom only I to were members of the Branch prior to that meeting. Twentyseven were introduced, nominaceu, elected, and exercised their vote —such a vote!—at that very meeting.. Of the 27 novitiates sixteen were found not to have paid their entrance and qualifying' fee after the vote had been taken, result declared, and joy had thrilled the manly bosoms of Mr Barber's phalanx. A youthful supporter and protege of Mr Barber’s thereupon produced sixteen silver coins of the realm (“bobs”) and at once, and heroically, placed the sixteen lambs in good standing—AFTEß THE VOTE HAD BEEN TAKEN! What Arcadian simplicity! ! And the writer, forsooth, expects an intelligent constituency to regard such an “absolute majority” as of some weight in the scale of public opinion. “Absolute majority” indeed! “Absolute foolishness,” at least, ■ if not something oven worse than that. The nature of this unique “absolute majority” was duly appreciated by the Executive of the Liberal and Labour Federation, and for Mr Barber to lecture the Executive on its dereliction of duty, its unconstitutional and unwarrantable interference, etc., is not in good taste, to say the least of it. And it is not good reason for Mr Barber to . _ (» il • j_l L T'Via Vicn_ confuse things that differ. The absolute majority” and “Liberals of the electorate” are not the same. The first is a manufactured article; the second is a natural product, reliable, and incapable of artificial imitation. In addifli/O"nhsolnfo maioritv” tio’n'to the'precious “absolute majority” the Executive considered reports from Brooklyn, Mitchelltown, Kilbirnie, Roseneath, Island Bay, and Makara, in addition to those from Newtown itself, and these reports were so strongly favourable to Mr Luke that the Executive felt assured that though Mr Luke should retire, even then Mr Barber would not have the remotest chance of winning *!h©. seat. And the Executive was cognisant of the facts of Mr Luke's political history, his splendid self-sacrifice, and proved loyalty, of the way he had shown his devotion to the Party on three previous- occasions—twice by standing aside and once by attempting the impossible. Has Mr Barber given any evidence of his real adhesion to the Liberal cause? I doubt it. But now he has a chance of doing so—by not persisting in his efforts to defeat the Government candidate. Mr Barber has given an incomplete quotation from the Premier's letter. Had he read a couple of lines further on he would have come to what the Premier wrote m reference to Mr C. M. Luke, viz.—“THE GOVERNMENT RECOGNISE THAT TOTJ HAVE A PRIOR CLAIM. THE CHOICE HAS THEREFORE FALLEN EPON TOIL'' Sir. that is how the matter stands, and that is clear enough. I expect: that now all true Liberals—every loyal supoorter of the Government—will rally to the' standard of the man nf its choice. «*T>d that man is CHARLES MANLEY LUKE. I am. Sir. Tours fa’thfnllv. ' T. WALLACE. Secretary Newtown Branch Liberal and Labour Federation.