PRIME MINISTER’S TOUR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19442, 30 October 1925, Page 6

PRIME MINISTER’S TOUR

VISIT TO HASTINGS AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. CONFIDENCE CARRIED WITH CHEERS. [Per Press Association.] HASTINGS, Oct. 29. Mr. Coates arrived this afternoon and was met at the Railway station by the Mayor, Mr. H. M. Campbell (the Reform, candidate for Haw Ke’s Bay) and a large number of tho public. Ho afterwards motored from the station to his hotel, preceded by kilted pipers, crowds giving hearty cheers. In the evening he addressed an overflowing house in tho theatre on the lines of his other addresses.

In the course of his speech, when speaking on economies made in the railways, an interject or said: “At the expense of tho employees.” Mr. Coates: “I’m not built that way. You refer to the cut. Do you think that you were tho only people in the country’s hour of trouble that should not have suffered! It was right that everyone should bear their share of tho nation’s trouble.” (Applause). The meeting was enthusiastic, with practically no interruptions. The speaker was frequently applauded and at the close of his address the applause was loud and sustained. A vote of thanks to the speaker and confidence in himself and Government wUs carried with few dissents. The Primo Minister was loudly cheered by a crowd as ho left en route to Napier.