AN EMPTY BOAST.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXIV, Issue 17736, 9 December 1919, Page 3

AN EMPTY BOAST.

One of the points made by Sir Joseph Ward in his addresses has been i that the Liberal Party has been the i only party which has in every case had the courage to oppose the extremists in their strongholds. Mr Massey referred to this boast on Saturday. Mr Massey said that in several instances during the present eleCion where there was a Wardist candidate and a Labour candidate standing, and whei'e it seemed that the only result of a Reform candidate entering the field would be to split votes in such a way as to ensure the return of the extremist candidate he had refrained from encouraging Reform candidates to come forward. It v/as not because he was afraid of opposing the Labour extremists that he had done this. Nothing would havo been easier for him than to have found a candidate to represent the Govrnment in every constituency in the country. On the other hand, there was evidence of several instances where pressure had been brought to bear upon a Labour candidate to retire in favour of the Wardist candidate, to give him a free run in a contest with a Government candidate.