LIBERALS AT KAIAPOI.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 28, 10 March 1914, Page 3

LIBERALS AT KAIAPOI.

IN REPLY TO MR FISHER. Again last night Kaiapoi was made the scene of a further round in the political contest. When the Hon. D. Buddo,' M.P., left the Dominion, he appointed Mr George Witty, .M.P., and Mr .George Forbes, M,P., to be his stewards. The first item of their stewardship made public was their appearance last night. They spoke in the same hall as the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, to whom they -were replying. /The meeting, • which included a "rather greater portion of ladies than usual, was most orderly and undemonstrative. .-. ..„ ; ,, .»..„•!: ..>.;•. . ./'■> --'■' ■■' • ■

Mr K. Wylie, Mayor of Kaiapoi, took the chair. In introducing, the speakers, he said" that evidently politicians, both of Eeform and Opposition, considered Kaiapoi a place within polical knowledge. He .was informed; that Mr Buddo had left the speakers in charge of his electorate. It was the first time "eltnW liad spoken, in Kaiapoi. This election, it was clear,/was to be a fight to a finish, and Kaiapoi would be" the battle ground.

A HAED --TIGHT.. Mr Witty assured them that there was to be- no doubt that the- election was to. be a hard-fight; but a cjean fight, with no lies and no misrepresentation. As the representatives of Mr Buddo, they deemed it their duty to the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher. One would have thought a Minister would have gone to an electorate -where the sitting member .was, not to one where the, member was away. (Applause.) There were many electorates —Eiccarton or Huruhui, for example. He would confine himself to Mr Fisher 's speech,, quoting from the inde-pendent-papery THE S"UN. (Applause.) They were told" of Mr Fisher's good quarter of an hour with the prohibitionists. The member for the . district was a true prohibitionist and no sham. Mr Fisher had referred *o the Liberals and the prohibitionists as though they were qUite apart. If Mr Fisher so strongly objected .to brewers, why did he so strongly favour those who held brewery shares? In any case, a brewer, if chosen by a constituency, could do nothing unless a majority in the House were with him. There, in Kaiapoi, a brewer was said to have been a chief canvasser for Eeform: if a brewer was not fit for the House, he was not fit to be-a supporter. Mr Fisher had said he did .not come as a Minister but as an ordinary member. Mr Fisher had come because he thought Kaiapoi would be a soft seat for him to "win. He had coquetted with Nelson, with Motueka; and the speaker did not think he could win Wellington again. If the country was prosperous, it was not due to this Government, but to the conditions brought about by the cheapening of money by the party in power before, and the efforts of the people themselves. (Applause.) As to Mr Myers, it was not the Ward but the Mackenzie, Government that put Mr Myers into a Ministry. The Liberals had broken the land and money rings, and. had lowered the price of coal by the. opening of State coal mines. When in again, they would break more, as they had broken the insurance ring. He complained that the Hon. James Allen had altered the rule which made Government borrowers insure with the State office: This because Mr Allen had friends in the fire insurance business. As to Mr Fisher's remarks about . the Union Company, die had done nothing to break it, and indeed had not mentioned it since last election to the coming of Mr Fisher had said he would "never belong to a freehold Ministry, but was now with one which would sell even the endowment la*uls. The Minister had referrd to Mr Isitt, "The Lion of Christchurch North—the Soaring Lion", but he had not gone to"the lion's den, where he might have been scratched. Ot was so that Mr Isitt sat'beside a brewer, but was that Mr Isitt's fault? And in any case that brewer had said they might put a tax on beer if only they would put one on land also.

ALLEGED INTRIGUE. The Reformers did not get there through the people but through intrigue, lying, and vilifying one of the whitest men, Sir Joseph Ward, and the influence of '•' rats.'' What was a "ratV-ra long-tailed undermining creature. He alleged that those who "had put ther'party in power had been paid. Mr, M 'Kenzie by tlieV High Commissionership, and another by the sale of mineral lands. The speaker theii ..continued the 'allegations, as, to the to room'for'men" wh"(Tliad l>een on some

Reformer's committee. If. they could produce a man who had hung on longer and harder than Mr Fisher in hope of a place, he would give a pound to pay the expenses of his next meeting in Christchurch North. "In fact, a badger is nothing to his hanging on!" The speaker still waited a reply from the Government to a question and a notice, of motion asking how many of those who now drew the military pension were already on the list of those who drew the old age pension. Mr Fisher had referred to the pension as encouraging the thriftless; even those who had spent their money on tobacco or 'liquor had. paid their share of the taxes. The aim should be to aid the poof, help the needy, and raise the whole people. Again, Mr Fisher had said it did not matter who had introduced the old age pension, but who put it into force—arid that had been done by the and Ward , Governments. Those who took the pen"-j sion took it as a right and not as a I pauper's dole. Mr Fisher had said he would riot be content except with the freedom of -the home. That was not- at all what was intended and would be impossible unless they would put on a heavier graduated tax. Re r ferring to the recent strike, he said it~could have been settled, but the Gqr vernmerit had' riot meant to settle it; it had kept it. dragging on to be used as a lever against the party which op; posed it. They had had. the newspapers against them and against their leader, Sir Joseph Ward A Voice: Why not libel? Mr Witty went on to say that he had been in the strike titouble, to which Sir Joseph Ward had referred in the House, and had never seen worse tomfoolery in his life. Stones had been thrown, arid it was then the "specials" should have acted instead of drawing off one hundred yards and riding back through women and children.

A Voice: Kill any? ANANIAS AND HIS FAMILY.

In Mr Fisher's own supplementary estimates there was an item of £27 for cigarettes and tobacco for special mounted constables. It was known that Ananias and his wife were dead. In the face of the Minister of .Marine's answer to-a question on the point of this tobacco he could merely say that they must have left a family. There they had a deliberate lie in his statement that it was the first he had heard of it. Thfe man was not a common member, but a member of the Ministry—and he believed they were all tarred with the same brush. Mr Fisher had condemned Sir Joseph Ward for the gift of the Dreadnought, but that, had been a" good thing, as it had brought us before the Old Country'and the whole world. They had grumbled because the people had not been asked. Now, this Government would bring in not a Dreadnought but a whole navy! If they were to get a navy which would stand against Japan, it would take all the money they had. It was alleged then that the Defence, system cost £500,000 and that Ward was responsible for it. Under Ward it had not cost that, and it was only under this Government that it had cost so much and had threatened to break down under its own weight. The Hon. James Allen had said in effect that we should bring out English officers and they would play polo and it would be for "the good of the country. As to the prosecutions of defaulters, these were poor boys who had been prosecuted again and again, while sons of the rich had gone free. The scheme should be universal and all should be equal and all drilled in the same camp. Also, the expeditionary force —how much would it cost?—£l23,ooo.^ A Voice: Is that the Auckland force! (Laughter.) Mr Fisher had stated that he did not think the Labour problem would ever be settled, but it wbuld be when profit-sharing was tried and the labourer got the value of his work, and gave work for his wages. A decision arrived at by conference should become an award at once. The labourers to-day looked for more because of the education ,the Liberals had given them. He preferred the labourer to the man who had been born with a silver spoon \n his mouth. The former was. more likely to appreciate what had been done for him. ..

SUPERANNUATION. The casual labourer should be given a steady wage and a superannuation fund, as being the person most in need of it. And this could be done. Reverting to the Union Company, Mr Fisher had had on the Shipping Bill a chance to get to the Union Company, but had not done it because his colleagues would not let him. It was clear that we should get hold of both the ferry service and the colliers. A voice: Where's the scheme? Mr Witty, continued that the party was wise not to .bring ■ down a scheme, which would be stolen by the Government, it. had others.- It was -essential -that the • Governments :shjoiahi bring down a tax which would open up

the land. "in conclusion they would go through the land to tell the people that the party in power was there because it had intrigued to get there, and because it had done many things in defiance of its pledges. He reiterated that men would never have got on the land but for the legislation of the Liberals; and when they got there they turned and became "Tories." His party intended to get back and then would govern the people for themselves. He asked would it be possible to get a more humane man than the late Mr Seddon, or a man kinder to the working man than Sir Joseph Ward, or a Government more Tory than the. present? When the Liberals got back again, they would make this one of the finest countries on God's earth.

The. chairman,,. i hen introduced-'Mr George Forbes, suggesting that the man who had been interrupting might go away,' and asking a fair hearing from all., ' ;:-.'• ' /FROM HURUNUI. V Mr Forbes declared that he had every respect for their member, Mr Buddo, who was honoured in the "House, and was a 'f white man." His elections and his politics were examples to others. The', speaker objected to personalties, but' r when a man went round misrepresenting like the Minister of Marine had' done it was necessary to answer him. It had been said that the Liberals were de»d. It would be found

after the next election that they were as much alive as ever. It had been alleged that a change of Government was necessary to secure freedom from party control and influence; they would see how that had worked. The great Liberal institutions which had been built up in the face of opposition were being handed over to their enemies., It was said that there was no room here for a Liberal party; the country did not want a Conservative party; nor the extreme revolutionary doctrines which were being circulated. The most of the workers were sane and realised that progress to be worth while would have to be upon slow, sure, and steady lines. Mr Forbes then referred to the appointment of a man to the Westport Harbour Board, and Mr Fisher's remarks in Christcliurch as to why he had believed a Royal Commission alone could re-ar-range things ' there. He read the charge record against the man who had been appointed by the Government. Against him there were six counts, of obscene language, assault, drunkenness, selling liquor after hours, and playing an unlawful game — : and that was a' man the party of purity haVl chosen. The speaker then continued the allegation that men had been retired from Land Boards because of their political colour; aid the Massey Government had denied this. He quoted the alleged case of Mr Boyd of Kaikoura, who had been retired, he said, at the his term, to be replaced by a supporter who lived 50 miles' out'off the district, so that the whole of the previous member's district was disfranchised. Such'things ran now-to,a greater extent than they ever had under Liberalism. Reverting to administration, Mr Forbes went over the enquiry he had instigated into the working of the Public Trust Office, criticising the constitution of the com-* mittee, declaring that it had included a rival firm's representative, and a prominent lawyer, because the Office had been doing legal work at a lower rate "than the other lawyers of the country. He then reiterated the whole of the allegations that the Hon. Mr Herdman had suppressed or attempted to suppress the report of the Public Trustee. There had been a conspiracy of the lawyers to prevent the Public Trust Office doing work at a reasonable price. The Public Trustee had been discouraged when he had been endeavouring to lower the cost of law work to the people. A voice: Give us facts—quote from "Hansard."

After a •little exchange of remarks between, the speaker and those who were interrupting, the chairman called for order.

Continuing, Mr Forbes said that in the case of the Public Trust Office Act it was alleged that Mr Herdman had dropped all the clauses which-the Law Society of Wellington had objected to. This was the work of Mr Herdman and the Massey Government. The Office was. being .'carried on entirely for the benefit of the legal profession. The State Fire Insurance, established in the face of opposition had brought down rates by fully 1/3. He repeated that the first thing the Government had done was to remove the proviso that those 'who borrowed from the Government "should insure with the State. | Since, there had been a general increase, but in regard to the special department referred to there had been a falling off. | He upheld the idea any business the State could influence should be sent to its own office. Instead the. Massey Government had , issued a letter that people -should be able to. insure -where 1 they liked.'./-■;, --..,"■ - v ■■ '■.;'-■ ■'■ .. ■* -: : : '.'-■" ~ [ ! Voic&: rijjlt, to(>t '■"'•" " :J

LAST SESSION'S DOINGS. ' Mr Forbes then dealt with the stone-' walls on the Estimates on the accepted lines, followed by Mr G. W. Russell. He treated also with the Hauraki leases, alleging that mineral rights would have passed to Mr T. W. Rhodes, one of the '' rats,' ', as well as to the The Liberals had to sit up b' nights to watch this party of pure administration. The Massey Government did not represent the people of the country, but -the wealth of thecoratry. Wealth was a very powerful thing, and it took "all the Liberals' efforts to watch it. With regard to the repeal of the second ballot, clumsy as it was it allowed in most cases for the will of the majority., to be ascertained, while the old way,: might not. The Massey Government had relied on the fact that it wouM have an advantage in a single ballot contest where rival progressives would split the vote. He alleged that at this time the reformers had endeavoured to work up a,bogus sort of protest o#side the' House. ..

As to personalities in _eleetiSn addresses, a few j days ago they had had a speech by Mr G. Wi Russell, one of the ablest speakers the Opposition (had, one of Sir Joseph Ward's lieutenants. Lately gone to Hastingpand had spoken theref"<*The Hon. Japes Allen, the Minister of followed him and had referred *tp> him as '' Ricketty.'' And this from the member of a party which had .always alleged that criticism was abuse. He did not think this was right from a Minister of the Crown. The Opposition were carrying on the - work of the country, and should not be belittled. Inebnelusion they "had come there to show thjem ishd failings!of the present party, aiid the 1 danger of allowing the affairs ''of" the country to remain in its hands. ''lt was like leaving children in the hands of a cruel step-mother-r—a cruel stepmother who had tried to kill them at birth —from such a stcp-iftother .would they get a square deal."/ hoof was showing through; att their Legislation. The Liberal Patty- had a* splendid record and a gyeaife future, an<£ next time he was sure shat thj&3T woflld' 1 be returned. The fight v would be as hard, as it was in 1891, and the opposition, of the Press as bitter. A voice: You can't catch the votes^

The person who had .been interrupting asked whether the speakers favours, ed the examination of immigrants before they left Home. Mr Witty: Yes —physically and morally. (Laughter.) In answer to another question, Mr Witty said that if the Liberals had put some brewers into power it had also put in more prohibitionists. He cited the Hans. G. J. Smith, J.'.T. Paul, J. Barr, and Geo. Jones, members of the Legislative Council. Other questions having been answered, a motion was proposed and seconded that the speakers should be thanked for their address and for their efforts to block retrogressive legislation, and trusting for the speedy return of the Liberals.

There being no amendment, this was carried by acclamation.

The'meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman.