AFFAIRS POLITICAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14307, 1 June 1914, Page 3

AFFAIRS POLITICAL.

GY DIOG ENFM

The fil'd thing that I have to notice this week is- that there aid three' ,-Ekiimonds in the field—three I mean whd href -using the pen-name of. “Diogenes.” Of these I think I was the-first to adopt the name, and if would suggest ..therefore that the other two (if two there be)-, take, a glance through the pages. of, a classical, dictionary. They will, I imagine, find plenty of ■ uoms-dc-ptunie .without overlapping and consequent confusion,

Affairs political I- r Plenty of them,, thouo-h the general election' Is still scVeh months distant.- And If the pace, is hot row what will it be" as the day of b&tttd draws .hearer?-,- Jldr.-.-ilot it 'even now. 'First, We'hftve the “Flying Squadron” Of Liberals bombarding the ‘ fortresses of Torydorh and putting the .supporters of Massey and Go, On. tn<i defence. .True, ..the guns of tile came- no nearer to Wanganui than' Ardmoho,:.but that must have been, near onouglrdf the D.T.’s pf the Chronicle, is anything to judge by. L. jVT. Isitt is a . Knight whose valour and vigour, are not to be neglected, no matter whether his 1 theme fie politics or prohibition, and it was an ugly thing for the Wanganui • Chronicle of all papers in New; Zealand I (;o endeavour to belittle him by oompar’iiig him to U once-famotts bift now. played- ‘ out actor reduced to playing in the “smalls.” Gut the Thunderer of Wick- : steed Place might' have known that the , Squadron had: carefully mapped out their i itinerary, leaving Wanganui for their Leader, Sir JosCfph Ward,;" At any rate, most thoughtful‘people know, and, in : any case, everybody -knows' it now. Isitth Aramoho' address was a masterpiece of oratory and of clear aiid reasoned denunciation of the ihisgoveriiittCrtt. of Tiiikerdom. The speaker had chapter apd, verse,, and name and date, foi‘ everything lie said, and he Carried the meeting with him almost to - a man. Onhf MdsSeyite; who' was sober, found when about half Way through. 1 that he could stand i\p more, aud left. Another, with hot''enough sense left to .follow'shitj' remained and tried to interrupt, only to bring down upon himself from the speaker a rebuke which wohld liavo made, most men want to disappear Into their boots. .

The exposure of the surplus . business was as beautiful as it was Complete. The late Mr Seddon’s finance, as everyone, knows, frequently showed , a substantial' surplus of revenue .over expenditure, and' «o did that Of Sir Joseph AVriVcl, but these were laughed to scOvn by Mesara Massey and Co; iii Opposition', 'lis “bogus surpluses,” “paper surpluses,'” iind' kind 6f sin-pluses except what thhy Were—re'dl 'surpluses. Arid so, it was thought, they really believed, but they didn’t,, Do yon ask me how I know? Well, won din tell what a. .pers'Oii thinks far better by what he does than by what he ‘says; - They said that,the surpluses wove bogus, biit ; what did they do? Later on- they Wanted to raise a loan from the nipney-lenders at Homo, and to-get it'on gOod' terms they told the London phopl'e - that' every yedr back thei'e had been‘ a -mivMlffp' of , hundreds of .thousands of pounds of revenue over tne expenditure in . thefinances of the Dominion, and’ this would show* how' bright an* buoyant' these finances , were. -.All of-which was true -as gosneL. but what a climb down’-: from "tliir position they had takon np in ithelr Op- ■ position days!- . - i-rs-w .. i

A week .or two of quioLand then' came rite he?“ • lUmS °' l /- '• -httle ; : to note. hcio in, criticism of the' splendid -H any statesman ever had a larger or .iqoremnaii, mows meeting in this town, I if flrit a T I?oai ' ost approach to bv L M T«?tl n - mb Ji r addressed vinN « ISlt V n thc DuU Ha!l 18 or 20 years ago.. Every-available ’ foC of sitM spontaneous recognition.' C W el cheered tillthe rclh^. 1 "^ 80 a " d

' iVamr-m'iVi , t!le "'onld- Ijc, member lor Mi ; VV- fromtaira uitavcetl between M,e°ibs'ot 1r?,,®,.V 1 1 i tli ? v 9J' se the speech of. the | . ca^er - dt is very’ likely that Mr : "dl luu intended' to reply to' that speech ■;™ d very likely had ho' had’ fiirf ■ W lv av ° mudc? sol ”e:.show Of doiiict laiid’idcf MV ' Pir;u,i . foulK t that while a andidate may propose his audience may! depose, for that m what,his audience did ■ui no , uncertain way on that occasion, They tuou charge, a I most, from flic fir.,6, and "in a icry sjiort lame Mr ■ Pi rani had forgotten' a, about., «ir Joseph .Ward, and was sl! Ugglmg to keep his breath aliovo water ■ amm ;the torrent ol interjections that came lust dud _ furious from every. side. liisteud’ ■?* r .^ l y?W’.tP % speech of. Sir' Joseph U ard, ( ne .was , more than half his time i to the interjcctipiis pl“ ji is' aii.tlii cnee. That he 'kept' hU ‘and’ made ; whnt may be conceded’ to .bo- a fairly- good’ I lighting speech.,shows that the-yciu-s-. are ■to some extent mellowing the one-time ■ truculence of the cx-inemher for- Ma.nawatu; - 1 ‘ . ;V ,1m ,:

MiyPirani resurrected' a large amount Of aheient. history; and, among other tilings, to|d of his former with v the Honourable Joh.ii Bailancc pf liaphy memoiyj. J ; wonder what: the late Mr.tßiillanco woiiTd think of him if he con Id'! she him now?. .He told them of, his advanced; almost Socialistic, Liberalism.’ I- 'wqifdef what" lip 'has- done with'it. . And hO' told’ them of his views on the land’ qijcpti.bh; which certainly then, did not include granting the freehold to'Croviu tcfiauts'iit the .original /valuation'/ The audience was for, a moment/ interested’ into’ silfepee,'biit’ .fwo questions, oiie from the lloor hnd the other from the circle, broke the spell. The first came crisp as a radish: “What will! Hill Massey, say when he reads- this td-iriol'row morning, Freddy?” and the other with -the imitated drawl .of ran English . snob.:. “Whaht ah- .you doing —iieahah?” • These two trenchant questions."still wait for an answer, and 1 don’t think, tlur. Mr Pirani, with all the ability of which’ ho is so fully conscious, ’ has quite, enough ability to answer them.. ’ . • -

; .The candidate was -on the*, wliolc straightforward,,.but, a floating straw wfll tell which way, a .river is setting, hmPthc floating \steUw>^a^|fnrfiS?ied f 'l)y the ; mail-' ner in which •’IVlr 'Pitani , .answered,, or rather did.not .answer, a certain question, •in.endeavouring, to explain away the opp'oh sition of the the old.-age pensions aud‘ : bther linnianilatiair legisla? tiou of the- Liberalprogramme, ho stated.: that §p-and-so.; anil . hatT Milted for the Pensions Uift.o’n its’second reading, , when , someone,; asked, “What' about the-, third.,reading!!” .. Witlva -snap Jhab renfllled the rP,irani. of > fqrmßr. days,' ho told them he wasn’t going to be die-

tated to as to how he should conduct his o.vta meeting—a very proper thing, too, and exceedingly convenient, seeing that '.hi whole SiassJy phalanx voted .against old ne'e pensions, not on the second, hut On the third reading of the Bill. A very cute move Oh the part of the candidate; tnt none too straight.

Of course there ’ was a , motion at the Wl, but who proposed it or who seconded was onite .unable to' make out. Anowhat was the noting .upon"? 11 was equally in' the dark. All I know, is that when the vole ■ was put W £he •- meeting .someone call'd out : “Three dicers for lid y Ycitch!” and that these were given .without any sort of hesitation or uncertainty, . and the meeting broke up. apparently-m, the beat of humour and tnoroughly satin- i hed with their free' entertainment. ~