THE ELECTIONS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 204, 2 October 1914, Page 9

THE ELECTIONS.

! ■ '■'< ■ l *—" """■ •** —■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■—■— ! ADDRESS BY MR G. W. RUSSELL. ;! j At a meeting of the Progressive i j Liberal and Labour Association on j ; Tuesday evening, Mr G. W. Russell, j M.P., delivered a political address. Mr ; ! T. S.'Dacre was in the chair. j Mr Russell said the whole of the \ Liberal Party was sorry that the elec- I : tions were being forced on within the | strenuously objected to such a proceed- | jing, and the whole responsibility of hold- i ling the elections at this time rested I i upon Mr Massey. The recent truce be- 1 j tween the political parties was all in I i favour of the Masseyites. The truce i was scrupulously observed by the Libe- 1 ral Party, and their organisers were | withdrawn, but the same thing could I not be said of the Government Party. I j The elections would take place in less I than 10 weeks, but apparently the Go- I | vernment had no intention of closing 1 | the session. In fact, to prolong the ses- § j sion, and so prevent the Liberal leaders 1 ; from putting up a fight, Mr Massey I j shut down Parliament last week for two g J days quite unnecessarily. This was char- g j acteristic of the Government ineptitude. 1 j Business men and workers were all pray- I ! ing for the return of the Liberals to I j give the country a start again. The Go- 9 j vernment had "failed to keep the pro- jg j mises made at the last election to re- I duce expenditure and to curtail borrow- 9 ing. When the Reformers came into power they immediately stopped 10 out of 23 lines of railway in course of construction, but the first year ; they obtained power to construct seven new ! lines and the next, year three new lines which could be mostly classed as political. These lines covered-180 miles, and -i would cost £2,000,000 to construct. The Government had promised to reform the Legislative Council, and they professed j to have ; done so, but how ? They had appointed 17 new Councillors for a term of seven years. The first election in 1917 under the new Act would be for ..only; 20 members. | It might be asked, said Mr Russell, ; , what were the chances of the return to ■ power of the Liberal Party? In the j words of Mr A. E. Glover, M.P., he I would say, "There is a radiance in the ! East." At the last election's the work- i ' ers had been dissatisfied, but they had ' had their lesson, and it had been a bit- j ter one. All over* the Dominion the Liberal Party was growing in popularity and he was confident of the result. There was no doubt that attempts would be made to divide the progressive forces by raising side issues like the Bible-in-schobls question and the prohibition majority. Possibly also, in some seats, attempts would be made ta run SocialDemocratic candidates against tried and proved Liberals, but he did not consider that the great-majority of the electors would"consent to any vote-splitting at

the elections, but would vote solidly on the dominant questions, "Liberal or Tory," "Ward or Massey," and hewas convinced that three months hence Sir Joseph Ward would again be at the head of. the Government of New Zealand. Mr Russell sai' 1 the entire responsibility for the Liberal policy was on the shoulders of the leader of the party, and he would declare it in due course, but not until Mr Massey had declared his.