Mr R. M. Gatenby at Castlecliff

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11725, 28 November 1905, Page 5

Mr R. M. Gatenby at Castlecliff

Mr E.. M. Gatenby addressed the electors of Castlecliff in. the Public Hall last evening. Mr A. Bell occupied the chair. Mr Gatenby prefaced- his remarks with a statement re Mr Willis's statements with respect to the kind of tenants the State would be likely to -get in the Workmen's Homes, expressing his pleasure at -hearing Mr Willis say that his remarks were not intended in the way they had been taken, and were not in any way intended as a reflection on working men. Ho emphatically contradicted a, rumour that had been circulatedi to the effect that, if elected, he would join the New Liberals, saying that he could give an honest v and unqualified support to the policy laid down by Mr Seddon in his Opera House speech. Mr Gatenby" declared his support of all legislation to prevent trusts and combines, and to foster production , and , local industries, and went on to express his agreement with the native land policy of the Government, provided the natives were paid a fair and honest price for their land. Mr Gatenby then dealt at some length with Mr Haselden's statements re free trade, and showed where that . gentleman, was utterly wrong in regard to his expressed policy of making New Zealand a producing country only, leaving manufacturing to the Old Country, and declared his emphatic belief in tho fostering of colonial manufactures. He again declared his belief in the freehold, and that no more Crown land should be sold, -saying that, in his opinion, as many large estates as possible should be bought for closer settlement. He believed thoroughly in the Workmen's" Homes scheme, and hoped very soon to see it extended from the large centres to the smaller boroughs. He vigorously defended the borrowing policy of the Government, showing how nearly all of the loans were spent in reproductive works, while the .rest of the money was 'indirectly reproductive. The jre^cent increase jML, the. ..wages, .of ;the

lower paid railway hands, was, he said, due to the efforts of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. The State Fire Insurance Department, he approved of, but thought it was not run 6n proper lines, and as far as the State Coal mines were concerned he believed in them, and looked forward to "seeing them sending cargoes to Wanganui, though that must necessarily be a matter of time. With regard to the Liberal split, the day after he announced himself; he said, in the course of a friendly chat with the editor of the "Herald," that in the event of several candidates, there should be a selection by the party. He later on, on the 17th of September, put in a proposal, which was in rather a crude form, not limiting the candidates to any particular number of supporters, and which was laughed out of Court. Then Mr Seddon suggested that each candidate should appoint a delegate to select 100 each of the Liberal electors, Mr Seddon appointing a fifth, to scleipt another 100. He (Mr Gatenby) rejected that scheme as unfair, "because no man, or no small /clique should' select the Party's candidate, that being the right, of 'the Party itself. But he submitted a fair proposition, which would cover the whole Party, details of. whbh were recently published in the "Herald," and in which '3ie stipulated for 1500 names to be put in by each candidate,- the two receiving the highest number of votes to be the ones to contest the seat. He was quite prepared to submit to tho vote of the Party, and if he had to st-md down, he- would go on the committee oi one o£ .those selected, and wprk "eyes out" for him. The number was reduced later to 1250, and it was suggested that tho Premier bhould not 'select any one as a Government nominee. These 'proposals were then submitted to a meeting of the four candidates. Mr Williams agreed to them, saying that there were a few points he did not agree with, but he would accept them for the sake of the party, but the others absolutely refused to agree to any* thing, so that he and Mr Williams could not be blamed for the split, and when tho electors went to the poll, it woxild Toe> well for them to remember that he "and Mr Williams had done all in their power to avoid a split, and save the seat for the party. In answer to an interjection that such a poll would not he secret, Mr Gatenby said that the ballot papers would be absolutely plain, except for the consecutive numbers, and the scrutineers' initials, and it would be -absolutely impossible for any one vote to be identified. Mr Willis had absolutely refused to accept this, though he had been willing to accept the Premier's suggestion, which he (Mr Gatenby) had declined, as it practically "meant giving Mr Willis two votes to the other candidates' one, as he was the Government nominee, and the fifth scrutineer was to be appointed by the Premier. Mr Gatenby then went on to express his strong belief in Unionism, pointism, pointing out that he was the only one of the candidates to express his belief in tho principle of preference to Unionists, which was a point for working men to remember. Mr Gatenby then repeated his opinions in regard to. State Aid to Catholic schools, which, he said, was only giving them back what they had already .paid into the Consolidated Fund. He was aware these views' were unpopular, and would lose him a lot of votes, but they were his honest opinions, and he would not go back on them, and the electors had their own remedy at the ballot box. Other denominations did not ask for State aid for their schools/ asking only, for a referendum on the subject of Bible reading in schools, which he was quite in favour of, being in fact entirely in favour of the referendum in regard tq all" questions. -He declared his helief in having all members of, . local bodies elected on the Parliamentary franchise, as well as in the Absolute Majority Bill, as tending to give fair representation. Mr Gatenby,. who spoke for an. hour; then resumed his se,at amid ■applause, being accorded a vote of thanks for his. address, the usual courtesy »to the chair, concluding the meeting.