THE PREMIER AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12844, 30 November 1905, Page 5

THE PREMIER AT CHRISTCHURCH.

A NOISY MEETING. . A MIXED RECEPTION. (By Telegraph.) [Special to the "Timaru Herald."] CHRISTCHURCH, November 29. There was a huge audience to hear the Premier at the Canterbury Hall to-night. Thousands were unable to gain admission, and the hall was packed from floor to ceiling, but the crowd was not -as unanimous as the vote of confidence in the Government at the end of the meeting would lead the reader to suppose. Air Seddon's arrival at the Hall was the signal for a storm of hoots from the crowd outside, and he had the utmost difficulty in getting in. His reception inside was better, but mixed, and for the first hour he was subjected to a running fire of interjections, interruptions, cheers for Mr T. E. Taylor, and 'Mr Mastsey, counter, cheers and general disturbance, but the Premier !:os nor the strongest lungs in the Ministry for nothing, and he gradually talked the noise dewn. A large posse of police were scattered throughout; the building and their .services were called into requisition to eject some of the disturbing elements. The Premier's speech was on the lines of the others he has made in this campaign. The story of the corkscrew and the Worcester sauce was again set--off against the Mapourika trip, but it failed to tell. The audience yel'.cc!—"Eunkum," "Give us po- 1

Htics" and similar interjections, until he was compelled to go on to something else. The only new ground he broke was upon the land question, -when he told the audience that he called the Land Commission good generalship, as it had bluffed off the land agitators until election dav. The policy of Sir John McKenzie. *he said, was still the policy of the Government intact. He appealed to figures to show what had been spent in Canterbury other provinces. He attacked Mr Massev< for his alleged opposition to the Advances! to Settlers legislation, and hit remarks about compulsory acquisation of estates. In his remarks about the Leader of the Opposition the audience was by no means with him, and a storm of Noes greeted him when he went on to assert that tie policy of the Opposition was to revert to the old system, to restablish the Railway Commis.sioners, to arrange a buffer between the people and the Civil Service, in the shape of a Civil Service Board. Per Press Association. The Premier addressed a crowded meeting in the Canterbury Hall to-night, some two or three thousand people being unable to gain admission. The meeting was very disorderly at first, and the speaker was subjected to continued interruptions, but the meeting became more quiet as the address proceeded. At the close a motion was carried by acclamation, congratulating the Premier on his speech; and expressing appreciation of the many beneficial measures placed on the Statute Book bv the Liberal Administration.