FACING THE MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 510, 13 November 1928, Page 8

FACING THE MUSIC

WAS MR. COATES AFRAID ? CHIPPED BY LABOUR MAN It is considered by Mr. A. S. Richards, Labour man in Roskill, to be a good omen that the Prime Minister delivered two speeches in the Roskill electorate yesterday—a good omen for Labour’s chances for victory there. , Mr. Richards, at Edendale. last evening, said Mr. Coates had been afraid to face the music in the open, so he had taken a garage, which held not more than 150 people, and delivered there his pre-election message to the Roskill electors. “But his party will have to face the music on Wednesday’,” Mr. Richards promised his audience. The candidate covered - the Labour Party’s programme thoroughly, touching upon land, finance. Immigration. social welfare and general administration. He considered that the results of tlie municipal elections in England, providing as they did a sweeping victory for Labour candidates, was the shadow of the coming event in New Zealand. The change of thought in the Old Country would be reflected here, he declared, and if Labour did not reach the Treasury benches on this occasion, it certainly would be in power at the next poll of the people. The unemployment problem bad not been solved by the present Government because it had not been tackled sincerely. Labour’s remedy was the provision of a State unemployment insurance fund with equal contributions from the State, employer and worker. Mr. Richards dealt sarcastically with the utterances of the woman candidate in his electorate, Miss Melville, and replied to her statements on Samoa. She should be careful, Mr. Richards said, before making the wild and unreasoned statements she had done about the attitude of the Labour Party in Samoa. The party’s stand throughout had shown that it was directly opposed to the combine of which Mr. O. F. Nelson was the head because of its operations detrimental to the interests of the Samoans.

In respect of Mr. Munns, his United opponent, Mr. Richards said: “If he can prove by documentary evidence his statement that the Queensland Labour Government has lost £14,000,000 on the railways since it came into power in 1915, I will resign from this contest. The fact is that the Tories handed over to the Labour Goverrynent £10,000,000 of that deficit when they vacated office.”