Untitled

Temuka Leader, Issue 3474, 3 August 1899, Page 1

An Opposition Banquet. Captain Russell, leader of the Opposition, was entertained on Monday evening at a complimentary banquet at Hastings. The guests numbered close upon 300, and included Messrs Rolleston, Bollard, Moore, Carson, Hunter, Crowther, McGuire, Fraser, McLean, and J. W. Thomson, M.H.R’s, and there was a full representation of the district and a large number of ladies. The greatest enthusiasmprevailed, Mr Rolleston receiving a welcome second only to that accorded to Captain Russell. Replying to the toast of the evening, proposed by Mr Pitzroy, the Mayor, Captain Russell said he had been twitted with not taking the gloves off, but if that involved following the tactics indulged in by the Government he thanked God he had not done so. He reviewed the Russell military land grant,and characterised the attack upon him as dastardly. He paid a high tribute to the self-sacrificing work done by the present Opposition, and said they had really been more successful than they got credit for, as it was due ouly to their careful criticism that many of the measures now on the statute hook hac| been put iqto workable shape. Bfr Rolleston, in replying to the toast of the Parliament of New Zealand, referred in eulogistic terms to the able manner in which Captain Russell had led the Opposition.