STRAIGHT FROM THE SHOULDER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19813, 3 December 1919, Page 7

STRAIGHT FROM THE SHOULDER.

MR RUSSELL AND LABOUR NOISY MEETING AT LINWOOD. The Hou G. W. Russell was unsparing in his denunciation of his Labour critics, when speaking at Linwood last night.' After dealing trenchantly with the failure of the Labour Government in Queensland, Mr Russell, amidst uproar and a. storm of interjections, concentrated his attention upon the local Labour candidates. " Around about Christchurch," he said, " you have four or iivo Labour candidates who haven't had enough business experience to justify anyone placing thetn in charge of an orange shop, Tex alone the government of the country. I want. New Zen land to be prosperous and not have gunning taxation upon the masses of the people, such ns had to bo imposed in Queensland after Ryan and his crowd had mes-cd things up. What you want to see is that business men arc placed in charge of business affairs." (Cheers and groans.) The candidate said that it was not possible to talco a. man from the ordinary avocations of life and put him in charge of the affairs of the country. Such men did not possess that practical knowledge which was required, nnd they were bound to mess tilings up. Dealing with the parties before th-» electors, Mr Runsell said that the first was the Liberal Party, the party to which he. had always been attached and in support of which ho stood belore the electors. Tho second was the Reform Party, under Mr Massey, which had scrambled into office in 1912. \Y man was standing for Avon aa a supporter of that party, but ho understood that the prominent Reformers of tho electorate did not recognise him. The. third party was the Labour Party. (Faint cheers.) "Very weak, aren't they?" remarked Mr Russell amid laughter. "If Messrs Soinple, Holland, and that crowd get into office you won't be ablo to own your own houses," added Mr Russell amidst applause, and upl- - "You don't think it's true, but I'll proye it to you." (More uproar.) " The first, objective of tho Labour Party is the nationalisation of tho means of production, distribution and exchange, which I am strongly opposed to- The Labour Party if they got into power would rob you of your initiative, that helps to make men and women of you. You will all become socialised. All merchants will have to close; all shopkeepers will have to close. Tho only things which won't ho socialised will he the newspapers and tho breweries. (Laughter and dissent.) My friend over there with the nice white collar and black tie won't be able to dress liko that under socialism. He will have to come out with a. red tie. (Renewed laughter.) And you won'the ablo to dress as rou plea so or do as you like. How <3o you like that? How do you liko it? These fellows will tell you how you're to live anl even/would tell you what kind of coffin you're to have after you're dead." (Uproar.) Mr Russell paused for a few moments to let his audience reflect on his words. ''■ These wild-ent, wild-eyed, S'unnysido Socialists who are coming before you will do all that." ho continued. "Is that tho crowd you're going to send to Parliament? - ' (Loud and prolonged cheers and groans.) "Talk about a bull iu a china, shop, ladies and gentlemen ; it's nothing to it." added the candidate amidst the uproar. " You asked for it, and I've given it to you. You are just like a lot of marionettes; I just pull the string and it sets you going." (Renewed applause and dissent.) ''.Now I'm going to talk seriously to you," declared Mr Russell. "What have, the Labour Party done to help to win tho war? 1 challenge anyone to name one Labour candidate standing for the. House who did one thing to assist the country in winning the war." (Uproar.) At this stage there was a heated altercation between a persistent interjector entrenched near the door and members of tho audience as to whether he should bo "heaved" out. Tho mterjeetor won and stuck to his seat. Continuing, Mr Russell said that tho Labour Party did everything to hinder the Government during the. war and then afterwards came along and proposed fresh gratuities for the soldiers in order to try and catch their votes. Rut the soldiers wero not going to be led astray by such camouflage. Amidst further uproar, Mr Russell said that the people wero not going to tolerate the revolutionarv doctrines proncfied by the Labour Partv but were going to Iks governed bv la'w-abid-1 i"g citizens; not direct aefcionists. 1 ■'■■ I