CHANGING DONKEYS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 510, 13 November 1928, Page 22

CHANGING DONKEYS

ADVICE TO ELECTORS MR. GREVILLE AT NORTHCOTE "Reform is on the run in Auckland City,” Mr. R. H. Greville, United candidate for Waitemata, told a tiredly tolerant audience at the Onewa Piclure Theatre, Northcote, last evening. “Mr. Coates received an S.O.S. in the week-end, and has dashed up to Auckland to help his Labour friends.” Ths Prime Minister, Mr. Greville explained, would rather see Labour win than the United Party, since the latter was full of vigour and would stand for the rights of citizens in a manner totally unknown to the official Opposition . Mr. Coates would speak in City East and Central and in Grey Lynn ostensibly in support of his candidates, who could not win outright, but actually in an endeavour to split votes with the United Party, allowing Labour to win. “An advertisement a few days ago in Auckland papers advised you not to change horses in mid-stream,” said the candidate. “In this case the horse is a donkey, so you must support the United Party and so change horses or, as it were, donkeys.” In upholding the proposed loan of £70,000,000, mention was made of the total borrowings of the Reform Government during the last ten years, a total of £75,000,000. “And hardly one penny of this has gone to the primary producer, who would benefit greatly under the United loan,” added Mr. Greville. One million pounds, he explained, would go toward railways, a huge part of the remainder being for the farmer on long-term mortgage at 58 per cent. Main trunk railways only would be developed, small branch lines such as the Southern one which carried only a few cattle and 1.1 passengers a day along Its three miles being scrapped. Question time brought only four “triennial growths,” as Mr. Greville termed them, from a politically weary audience. These, however, made up for the antipathy of their fellows by their verbosity. Under fire, the candidate announced he was in favour of a transport board for the marine boroughs. The harbour bridge, he said, had received a great advertisement in the present campaign, every candidate in the city and suburbs being now pledged to fight for its erection. There were some dissentients, but a vote of thanks and confidence was declared carried by the chairman, Mr. A. E. Greenslade.