POLITICAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14464, 1 December 1914, Page 3

POLITICAL.

TOURING THE NORTH. SIR JOSEPH WARD RECBIYED ENTHUSIASTICALLY. BIG MEETINGS - AND HEARTY RECEPTIONS. (By Telegraph.—Special to Heuau).) WHANGAREI, November 3 Q. Sir Joseph Ward was accorded a. most hearty reception in t’ne Marsden electorate to-day. He arrived at Whangarei at 7 a.m. by steamer-and motored out.to Waipu, a distance of 33' miles. AT WAIPU. Waipu is essentially a Scotch settlement and it fitted in with the scheme of things, that it was St.'Andrew’s Day. The local hall was -well filled and the Liberal leader spoke for two Lours. ; . " 'The chairman of"-the County Council, Mr J. E, Mclnn.es,' presided and,' at the conclusion of- the speech, a motion thanking Sir Joseph Ward for paying a visit to the district was'carried unanimously, the resolution exnrcssing confidence in him as leader of the Liberal party, and wishing him success at the poll and an early return to power. At a meeting arranged at. very short notice, the large attendance and enthusiasm disployed, augurs well for Mr E. C. Purdie’s chances against the sitting member, Mr Mander. AT WHANGAREI. ' . To-night the Whangarei Town Hall was packed. It is a very largo building and over 1200 persons were present. - Mr J, S. Mdnnes again presided. Sir Joseph spoke on similar lines to his former speeches. The meeting was mostenthusiastic throughout, and when Sir Joseph arrived in the hall, he was loudly applauded and cheered and his speech was punctuated with similar demonstration. He received a- great salvo of applause and continuous cheering as he sat down after delivering a speech lasting for more than two hours. On ,the motion cf Mr R. Thompson, a former member of the House, a .resolution thanking Sir Joseph Ward for his able address, and congratulating him on his great fight lie is putting up in the interests of progress, and expressing the hope that he will be returned to, power as the result of the forthcoming election, was carried amidst a scene of enthusiasm never before witnessed in the district. The reception recorded the Liberal leader was on a par with those he has received from end to end of the country. Sir Joseph speaks at Hikurangi at half past nine in the morning, and leaves for Auckland at mid-day, speaking at Devonport in the evening. He speaks : at Huntly on Wednesday afternoon and at Pukekohe at night. On Thursday evening he addresses a meeting at Te Euiti. '.- THE WANGANUI SEAT. MR YEITCH AT ARAMOHO. ■ The Aramoho Methodist Schoolroom was filled, last evening when Mr W. A. Veitch spoke, and received a splendid hearing, Mr Sanson was voted to the chair. Mr Yeitoh devoted his opening remarks to an explanation of the present understanding between the Labour and Libera) parties. Last election, under the Second Ballot, vote-splitting could not seriously affect the expression of'the people’s will,' as any splitting at the first ballot could be put right at the second. He agreed that the Second Ballot was not a good system, but it was not so bad as the “first" past the post”/method. The latter being not, only unfair, but the worst system of any, and intolerable from the point of view cf democratic representation. With three candidates, and no proper system of ascertaining the wUjjppf the people democratically, the Liberal and Labour members of Parliament recognised that- it was useless to go to the poll with any chance of winning democratic representation. They therefore came to an understanding that in no district would the Liberals op' pose a Labourite who bad a chance of

winning, the Labourites agreeing to act siinilarly where a Liberal had the chance tb? 'win. They had to do this to prevent the Massey party . reaping a benefit from . their •'dishonesty :in ’rfepealing the Second Ballot without putting something in its place., The Liberal and Labour policies were not alike in all respects, but they were diametrically opposed to Mr Massey’s and; were sufficiently, alike to justify the understanding arrived at. Further, it was agreed between them that,'. Proper: tional Representation would bs carried sp that, at next, election . there would be a fair system for. .all parties. Mr Yeitch continued. that every Labour member ryas in exactly the same position as himself. "What other course was open to them? If a Liberal, a .Labour, and a Conservative candidate were put - up in every constituency, it was a certainty that the Conservative would be returned. The Labour members therefore allied with the Liberals in. self defence, and their position was honorable and clean. ’ How! ’ could they .possioly,,,- ally themseles with the Massey party which was opposed to Labour legislation? - Quoting from 'the local Press in support of what he stated, he; said, that, at last election, he had , said time after time that he would not support Mr Massey, and. that. While not .satisfied with the Ward Cabinet, he .was prepared, to give support to a reconstructed Liberal Ministry, if its personnel were democratic.. That was his'position then. :He had challenged his opponents to state any one specific instance of a pledge' he had broken, and-they had absolutely failed to mention one. He had challenged them to give a single instance of any principle he had violated, and they had failed to mention one. He had challenged them to give .any instance in which ho had neglected the interests- of. Wanganui, and they 'uad failed to give a single one. Yet .the' innendo was still going around that he had' been returned; to support Mr Massey, t r ?-•- Referring to vote-splitting, Mr Yeitch said that several weeks ago, he liad agreed to submit his name to a ballot of the local LiberaL and Labour parties to see who; should ' oppose “Reform.” 'The gentleman who had nominated at the last, moment had-declined to submit to a ballot,; and therefore, without desiring to cast any undue reflection upon him, he had. not acted,fairly in splitting votes at the last minute. He '(Mr "Yeitch) had agreed that, if defeated at that ballot, he would stand down and give the selected candidate a fair run. Could anything be fairer than that?' It'was' a greater sacrifice for the sitting member to' do that than for another man'to do it. Therefore, anyone coming' into the .'contest .at ■the last minute could not assist the. Democratic cause, and such an action could be“ looked at in no otnef way than splitting the vote in the interests of" “Reform.” He submitted that the course for Democratic voters to pursue was to rally • round 1 the man/who had played the game, and who had been willing to sacrifice himself for the common cause. ’ And he was satisfied that that was what they were going to do. (Loud applause.) Tne sympathy of the public was .being shown to him in ..many ways, and the figures now coming in to! his committee showed, that the Democratic electors; were not going to act; fii any manner that would be in - the interests of the “Reform” party. Mr Yeitch then proceeded to outline tee Democratic programme on the lines of previous speeches, concluding a splendid address amid hearty and sustained applause. No questions were asked, and the meeting then, amid another demonstration of approval, ..passed, a vote of thanks arid confidence In/Mr Y!ejtch.:,-,The usual compliment tO/the chair then closed a very successful ,meeting. MR HOGAN AT CASTLECLIFF. Mr J. T. Hogan spoke at Castlecliff last evening when there was a large attendance, and “the candidate -was' given a capital, hearing. Mr! Ghas. McKenzie occupied the! chair.. . . , ■ ‘Mr Hogan said tlmf he liad first: addressed the electors at Castlecliff some nine years ago, when his .views on the main political questions were the same as they were to-day. He believed then as he believed now that the Liberal party was the -best one to support. It was not the same with others, though, as the remarkable spectacle , was, presented to them of some who were bitterly opposed to the Liberal party last election tumbling over on this occasion to support Liberalism on this occasion’. Tnis only served to strengthen the. position he had always maintained. . Mr Hogan showed how the improvement of the people had started with the advent of the Liberal party in 1891. In 1911 the cry was for a .third party, but ..he was against it, though he considered the Labour, platform was absolutely the host. The time was nof ripe, however, for .such a change, and this was proved by the fact, that when the Liberals were thrown out of office owing to the ; people . being misled, the opportunity was not taken by the Labour party, which was swallowed up and had now drifted to --the Liberal party.". He would never be foundstanding against a genuine Labour candidate, but they-Want-ed a man-to. lead thaf .party. Those who talked about belted knights and sham democracy were now swallowed; up in, the same Liberal party which they denounced three years ago. The statements made by these candidates in 1911 were' not correct, as good work had been done by the Liberals, - and he referred briefly to what had been done in , the ..interests of the workers by successive Liberal administrations. He! also declared that the So-called

Eoform party bad 'done nothing, 1 in tlic way of Eoform, and that it was time we reverted to the old state,'of things, ..tjiough ha desired the Liberal'policy to bfe'rhadc more progressive. Dealing with' the published telegram from Sir ' Joseph Ward, Mr Hogan reminded the audience of the result of Ministerial interference in the .1905 election, when the'late Mr Seddon (then Premier) spoke twice in Wanganui against liis candidature,- -with the result .that lie was returned by nearly a thousand. majority. He had always, declined outside’assistance, preferring to plane the issues before the electors, fight his own battles and abide by, the decision. ~ Mi Hogan denied the rumour that sums of money had been offered him ti> stand in order to split the Liberal vote, and said that neither “the trade” nor any mthel 'organisation, had approached hint at alt. He. claimed that .he had proof that hundreds' of. electors in Wanganui were'prepared to vote for; Mr Pirani on account of there being ho Liberal candidate standing, and that they were the principal cause of his coming out. Mr Hogan went on to refer to what he had done during the time he was in Parliament to help this district along, and in this connection, referring to an article in the “Herald,” he asked that journal to state definitely in black and -white what benefits this district had derived during flic last three years and compare them" l with the preceding three years. With regard to the deep water harbour, he declared it would be worth ncithing unless the back

country was opened up. During his term in Parliament ho had done everything he could to open up the back country, and bring trade to Vy nngamii, and tjrat would bo his policy in the future. In this connection he thought advantage : should be taken of the Local Railways Act (which he said was a measure which should prove of great benefit, and lie could not understand the opposition shown to it), and have a railway constructed between here and Raetihi. If that were done they would be able to bring the produce'from the hack country right to the - Main . Tiumk to Wanganui, and thus iriake full use of our, harbour. . He condemned the present method of collecting money to ,pay the cost'of the. way, and contended tllat .the man who had the most to be protected should pay most. He favoured superannuation as a matter'of right to every,'labourer, and pensions fo"r cripples, invalids, and others totally incapacitated. Dealing'with preference to unionists, Mr Hogan explained his views on this question. Preference, should be given onlv , when there is a majority of workers in the union, as it was a wrong principle that a minority should dictate. In conclusion, Mr Hogan 'said he agreed to stand at the urgent request of "many of his supporters, and he placed himself in the hands of the people. It was for them to say wnether he should be returned to Parliament again or not, he left himseP , entirely in their hands. 1 Mr Hogan resumed his seat amidst applause, and having stated in answer to a question, that he was , " ot ia favour of State control of the ,liouor traffic, Mr S. Jarrett- moved that tins meeting accords Mr Hogan a -hearty i vote of thanks for his able, manly, and j straightforward address; expresses'satis--1 that Mr Hogan has come out in , Liberal interests; and confidence that ho will regain the seat, and represent us for a further term as the Liberal member for Wanganui. Mr E. J. Holley : Mcon y f ’d : the motion, which was carried unanimously with enthusiasm, i In returning thanks Mr Hogan said the resolution was very gratifying, especially rn vxew of the fact that an attempt : was ■! h J l "? L ado as T 1905 to--keep him but ot the House. It was very evident that r°tf W° U ? ht th, man S Yard party and wont down IV ij three years a S° was tire man who should go, „p with it on this occasion if it was going up. The resolnffou was- also gratify,ng because this was a locality of uorkers; He nad always acted in the , workers interests, and, if returned, would fnTtl ’ 6 ™ tie Sam , e loyal BU PP or t as during the six-- years he was in the House. tire meeting. a S . to .^ e ° hair col,clude < l