THE NEW PLYMOUTH INCIDENT,

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXIV, Issue 17734, 6 December 1919, Page 5

THE NEW PLYMOUTH INCIDENT,

A TEST OF POLITICAL PRINCIPLES AND VERACITY

THE FACTS DISCLOSED AT LAST

At the Opera House on Thursday evening the following question was sent up to Mr. W. A. Veitch: . , . ~ "An attempt is being made to discredit 3ou by bringing up the New Plymouth incident. Will you give us your assurance that the "Herald's" version of what took place on that occasion is the true one?" . c Mr. Veitch replied "that it was an election for selecting members of Parliament, NOT TO DISCOVER WHO WAS THE BIGGEST LIAR IN- WANGANUI. He told the truth in 1911 and he did not see it was necessary to go further into the question. As a matter of fact, his opponent was going to make some disclosure that there was something wrong in 1911. If he held something up his sleeve he SHOULD TAKE THE PEOPLE INTO HIS CONFIDENCE. He should have said in 1911 that something was wrong or for ever held his peace. . . Mr Cuttle did not know the facts of the New Plymouth incident in 1911, and, not knowing them, and believing that Mr. Veitch "told the truth in 1911," he supported that gentleman against Mr. Hogan, Mr. Veitch at that time being an acknowledged Moderate Labour Candidate. MR CUTTLE DID NOT INTRODUCE THE INCIDENT INTO THIS CAMPAIGN. It was not until the occasion of his second meeting in the Opera House that he refer, ed to the matter at all, and then he only did so after he had been challenged by a question, submitted, presumably by a supporter of Mr Veitch's, asking him why he had supported Mr Hogan in 1914. He then made a clear statement traversing the facts concerning the incident which had come to his knowledge between 1911 and 1914. The Herald did not publish his statement, but challenged it editorially, and virtually accused Mr Hosan of having given an untrue version in 1911, and Mr Cuttle of having re;urrected that vorsion in 1919, knowing it to be untrue. MR. VEITCH'S VERSION. In presenting Mr Veitch's version the Herald said:— Mr Cuttle asserts that Mr Veitch went to New riymouth to see if there were a chance there AS A LIBERAL CANDIDATE, found tb .t he was not acceptable to the New Plymouth Liberals, so came back to Wanranui and stood as a LABOUR CANDIDATE. This was the same *politically-inspired version as was put forward at the time in the futile attempt to discredit Mr Veitch, and Mr Cuttle puts it forward in justification of his offering to stand down for Mr Hogan. THE TRUE FACTS ARE ENTIRELY THE BAVERSE. Mr Veitch DID NOT go to New Plymouth to see if there was a chance. HE WENT BY INVITATION. He DID. NOT go with the desire of being a Liberal candidate. He went on the representation that he WAS DESIRED TO STAND in order to strengthen the Radical element in the House, and to join the new party that was then being talked of under the leadership of the Hon. Geo. Fowlds. When he got to New Plymouth HE FOUND THE POSITION DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WAS REPRESENTED TO HIM. HE REFUSED TO STAND AS ONE OF SIR JOSEPH WARD'S PARTY, and, so far from not being acceptable to the I other side, he found the position not acceptable to him, and— I turned it down. .. . SHORTLY AFTER the New Plymouth INVITATION, the old Wanganui Labour Party opened negotiations with him, and he accepted their invitation to contest Wanganui, with what result everybody knows. THESE ARE THE FACTS, ! though what bearing they should have on the 1919 elections it is I difficult to se~. This statement of alleged facts, and Mr Veitch's declarattion that it is j Mr Cuttle's duty to take the electors into his confidence, leaves him no option but to comply. The facts, fortunately for Mr Veitch, have never hitherto been publ" :hed. Mr Hogan tried to place them before the electors , on the eve of the 1911 election, and endeavoured to read the damning] correspondence which had just th-en come into his possession. Mr Veitch's supporters refused, to allow him to be heard —the scene outside the old Lyceum Theatre when he tried to read the letters and telegrams was a memorable one—and he was inevitably defeated at the poll which immediately followed. He remained content to cherish his own convictions | regarding Mr Veitch and to regard the incident as closed. He was prepared, apparently, to "forever hold his peace." And MR CUTTLE was similarly silent—-until an injudicious questioner, obviously bent on helping Mr Veitch, demanded of him a personal explanation which involved the re-opening of the incident. Then, and not till then, he re-told the story, and—HE TOLD IT TRUTHFULLY. 'Even then it mi^ht have stopped at that had not the Herald foolishly endeavoured to counter the truth with a version which was FALSE IN EVERY DETAIL. NOTE.—It is not a question of what Mr Veitch, o r Mr Cuttle, or the i "Herald," or the "Chronicle now says. THE VERIFICATION OF THE FACTS RESTS UPON DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE—and that evidence 1 is here published for the first time. When Mr Veitch first commenced to look for a seat in Paflianlent he was a resident of Cross Creek, many miles from Wanganui, and from there he wrote to Mr Ell, one of the Whips of the Liberal Party in the House at that time:— . Cross Creek, 10/9/11. f Dear Mr Ell, —I am going to address a meeting of railway men J at New Plymouth on Saturday next, and 1 understand a number of outside LIBERALS will be there. I mean LIBERALS outside the railway service. Ife we can arrange for a REPRESENTATIVE O^ THE LIBERAL PAPER to report us it will give me a preliminary introduction to the public. I propose to deal with the cost of living principally, and would be glad of the Government's figures relative to reductions in Customs duties on the necessaries of life. I have fairly settled opinions on most political questions, but would like to confer with some experienced person, such as Mr Laurenson or yourself, on the matter of compiling a political programme. I will go to Wellington on Thursday evening, arriv- ' , ing there.about 7 p.m., and will proceed to New Plymouth on the following morning. I will go straight to the House and ask for. you. If you are too busy to spend an hour or so with me, will you kindly ask Mr Laurenson if he can spend an hour with me. I am being strongly urged to nominate for Wanganui in the LABOUR interests, and I understand they propose circulating a requisition there. Quite a number of Trades Union men have written urging me to try it.—l am, etc., "W. A. VEjITijH. In one of his recent addresses Mr Veitch stated, so far as can be gathered for the first time, that his main object in undertaking, as he did in 1911, to vote Ward out of office, was to get rid of a. most objectionable Minister of Railways, the Minister then in office being the Hon. J. Millar. In his letter to Mr Ell he wrote:— "I could come to Wellington one day next week, and would be glad to hear from you by wire what day I could meet you, Mr Laurenson, and others you think proper. iNote.. —ALL, LIBERALS.) I would like to have MR MILLAR'S ADVICE IF HE COULD SEE ME when I am in Wellington.—W. A. Veitch." When in Wellington Mr Veitch conferred with Mr Hogan as to his prospects at New Plymouth, giving Mr Hogan, who looked upon him as a friend no indication that he had in his mind any thoughts of standing for Wanganui, for which Mr Hogan was then the sitting member. Later, after Mr Veitch had faiied to win the Liberals' nomination for New Plymouth and had entered the lists against him (Mr Hogan) as an unqualified opponent of Sir Joseph Ward, the leader of the Liberal Party, Mr Hogan telegraphed to Mr Thos. Rapley, who was then organiser for the Liberal Party: "Thos Rapley, Esq., Liberal Organiser, Wellington or forward Kindly write me short account of what took place tea rooms re Veitch and New Plymouth; also state whom he saw up there. —Hogan." — To this telegram Mr Rapley replied as follows, under date NovemDear Mr Hogan,—Your telegram received to-day at Dunedin. In reply I wish to state that I met Mr Veitch in the Parliamentary Buildings at Wellington in your presence, and also Mr Ell's, and T think Mr Poland's and another member of Parliament's presence. Mr Veitch WAS ANXIOUS TO STAND FOR NEW PLYMOUTH, and ] STRONGLY DISSUADED him from doing so, saying that I did not think that an outsider had any chance of being returned. I said, however, that if Mr Veitch was keen upon the contest, notwithstanding my placing the position, I would giv c him a letter to Mr Armitage, the secretary of the Liberal Labour Federation at New Plymouth, who would introduce him to members of the party in New Plymouth. This was done, and he acted accordingly, with the result that he was told that he had no • chance, and'he hadn't, as I told him at the outset. I know nothing more of the position, beyond the fact that Veitch wanted to get into Parliament at any price.—Yours sincerely, T. RAPLEY. Two days later (November 11) Mr Ell telegraphed to Mr Hogan:— Veitch agreed stand Government candidate New Plymouth. Have never stated join Fowlds1 party. Present party doing good work for workers. —Ell. Add to the above the following telegrams, and the case against Mr Veitch is absolutely complete: — Mr Armitage, Sec. Liberal League, New Plymouth.—ln reply your wire Veitch publicly states he went New Plymouth stand new party and not supporting Government. Point is, did he?— Hogan, Wanganui.—Veitch's statement false. He came here to confer as to his chances of election if he stood in interests of our party. Berry, Dockrill, Weston will confirm this.—Armitage. And then, finally, this letter: — New Plymouth, 4th Dec, 1911. Mr Hogan. Dear Sir, —With reference to Mr Veitch. That gentleman visited me on the lCth September, bringing a letter of introduction to me from Mr Rapley. The object of his visit was to ascertain , on behalf of the party if, seeing that we had then no candidate in view he (Mr Veitch) could contest th e seat with any reasonable prospect of success IN THE INTERESTS OF THE PARTY. I went with him to Mr Berry's (president) and Mr Claude Weston's (vice-president), but both these gentlemen were for the moment out. We arranged that he should see them during the morning, which he did, as I ascertained from subsequent conversa-