“TURNING DOWN.”

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14467, 4 December 1914, Page 4

“TURNING DOWN.”

What ars sometimes known as “sympathy voters’' must feel somewhat puzzled just now. Mr Hogan, in his speeches, complains that Sir Joseph Ward has. turned him down, and thus works the “sympathy plea.”' But it is rememberod 1 -that when the selection of an Opposition candidate was in question, with a view tfl prevent vote-splitting;, Mr Hogan himself turned his own party down,'and refuse: 1 to be a party to any arrangement. Then,, after months of silence, he further turned his party down by coming- out as a votesplitter at the elevent,h nour. For him to quote the figures of last election in an endeavour' to show there is no split is futile, for the simple reason that there is no guarantee that the party division: will be the same this election. " Bveryone knows . that a certain number of-timid, souls have been scared over to the Government side by the “Bed Fed”-cum-strike • bogey, and this may niean some strengthening of the Tory vote. Mr Hogan turned down his own party, and therefore has, no cause to complain of being, turned down himself. ...

WHAT NEXT? Says the Christchurch Press;—“ That, is the very real menace of the Wardist Party, to-uay—it stands definitely for nothing ll\at is likely to block its. way to, office, it will, if necessary; : accommodate its views to suit lj:he Federation of Labour or / anyone else, as it has in the past changed its views on iinportant policy questions for ho better reason that that it 1 seemed- probable that the change would give if a tighter (ipld on office. It wants pffice at all costs.” Well, what about this? asks the Lyttkton Times: Mr Massey' on, August 9th, T913: 1 have stood for, free, secular and compulsory education even before I ehtered~Patliament 20 years ago,' and I stand for it now. , ' ■ ■ j Mr Massey on September Ist, . 1913 : So far as .my town view is concerned, 1 may tell you this: As far as I am, personally concerned I am in favour of moral and religious -teaching in the public schools of This country. A man wh.o on August ,9th in any one year is staunch for secular education, as the result of;2p years’ contemplation, and who on September Ist is in favour of religious teaching. in schools, as the result of 21 days’ beant-searching, cannot be regarded as a statesman. He is an acrobat.' • And now the “Reformers” aro throwing hand springs to catch the organised Bible in* Schools vote all over the country. "They y^nt,office at all costs!” STATE OF THE TREASURY. Mb Pieani and flue Chronicle have stated that the Treasury' was nearly empty when the Massey Government took office. Similar statements Have been repeated all over the country by Reform candidates, and must be perfectly familiar to most of the electors. But as a matter of fact the Massey Government’s first year of office—that is, the financial year 1912-1913 —was a. record, year for' .expenditure, although the first Reform loan did not become available until after the, close of that year. The Ministers,' in other words, were able to spend at an increased paco in spite of the fact that they were dependent non the financial provision which had been made by their predecessors' in oince. 11l presenting the Public Works Statement for 1912-13, the Hon." W. Fraser said:

Notwithstanding these precautionary measures, the toial ■ expenditure of the past year on public works was not only, in excess of that of the previous year, hut was actually the largest in any single year for over 30 jfears, and amounted to the very large sum of .£2,711, 068—namely, .£2,593,365 out of the . Public Works Fund and allied, special accounts, and £117,703 out. of the Consolidated Fund.

Now, if the Reform Ministers could spend money in this generous fashion without raising a fresh loan until the end of their first financial year, how can it bq-.true that they were faced by a shortage of available funds when they took office?,. The .Mackenzie Government was in office during the first three months of the 1912-13 financial year, and the figures show, clearly that the Liberal Ministers left their successors in,'.a very strom* financial position. ” , 1

FURTHER PROOF. This matter of Reform expenditure .during tho 1912-13 financial year was me’nticned in-'the House of Representatives by Sir . Jpsoph Ward, who slipweiLclcarly, how entirely dipsndciit the'’Massey’ Government had'been .upon! the provision made by the Liberal Ministers. The loader of the Opposition stated, and the Ministers did not attempt to deny, that, the first lean rhoney raised by Mr Allen in. London Jiad not become available for expenditure' in New Zealand., until after the close of the financial year in which .the public works expenditure 1 had been “the largest in any single year dor over thirty years.’’.". Sir Joseph placed the,position, clearly: ~ The loan was only ■available after the end of the financial year. The honoural.lo gentleman (the Minister of Public Works) says that the expenditure for the finfinc’al year was the largest on record for over thirty years, and yet he says, in effect, he was restricted owing to tho absence of borrowed money. He clearly implies that the borrowed money was not available to him during the financial year. ■ Clearly he was relying and working on his predecessors’ finance, and the loan raised by his Government had nothing whatever to do with it. Tho Reformers cannot get away from tho facts, and their efforts to do so are merely entertaining. , They have claimed proudly that the expenditure during the 1912-13 financial year constituted a record: they cannot then say, with any chance of being believed, that they did not have tho money to spend., THE PATEA SEAT. Though Hawkins’ stock may be rising in Stratford there is a big slump in Pearce stock in Patea (says the Eltham Argus). Mr. Morrison, in his own quite, workmanlike style* has been making steady headway, and has made such progress as to instil fear into the hearts of the local Reformers. A fortnight ago Mr Morrison was held very cheap, to-day there is consternation because it is recognised that he is. improving his position daily. He has created such a. flutter that the Prime Minister himself was sent for to speak on’ Mr Pearce’s behalf. And, not satisfied with Mr Massey speaking at Hawera, they have even thought it necessary for him to speak at Waverloy as well. This is a ,great compliment to Mr Morrison, the novice, that it should be deemed necessary to bring tho Prime Minister up to the district to fight for his Reform candidate. It is now highly probable, we should imagine that Sir’Joseph Ward, or some other leading Liberal, will visit Hawera to sneak, on behalf of Mr Morrison this would be only a fair quid pro puo, and would add additional interest to Jie Patea election. There is evidently going to be some warm work there.

reform promises. The Cbromdo .and other Eeform organs and candidates have endeavoured' to bol- ’ er j upMr , Massey in his contention that, le has-kept his election pledges, and that ,® ta i lds alone- r xlere' is no 11 ,{ or broken promises and ) edges the Massey record doss stand done and unassailable. The Massey Gov-, ernment promised _ to reduce borrowing’ •o curtail expenditure, to reduce’the cost it living by decreasing taxation, to bring in a measure of local Government, to in■roduce a town-planning Bill, to promote industrial peace, to bring in a measure Toviding against sickness and unemploynent, to introduce a substitute for the jecond ballot, to abolish the present system of Parliamentary grants to local jodies, reduce expenditure on public uii.drngs,- abolish legislation by exhaiislon, Ihese are among their.'legion of ■hedges. Hava they kept them?- Not one. ■■■ , jV. .- v .

REFORM NAVALi POLIGY. Though Mr Pirani lias mads a few feeble attempts to justify the attitude of the Massey Government towards naval matters, Ministers themselves are fairly reticent about the question. At least one member of the party, however, is saying frankly that the local navy scheme .is entirely unsound. Addressing the electors at Dunedin the other evening Mr G; E. Statham said that for New Zealand to attempt a local navy on the lines of the Australian navy, and even on a much smaller scale, was completely out of the question, “Tire question of finance settled it out of hand. Here we had a population all told of slightly over 1,000,000 people, counting men, women and children,; and it seemed to him that the, taxation per head to keep up any sort of a local navy could bo 'absolutely prohibitive. ...” He hoped and believed- that when this great war was over the Admiralty would have ships and to spare to place in the Pacific. He thought that we should let bygones be bygones in the matter of naval defence. Probably a definite settled policy with regard to a Pacific fleet would he agreed upon between Canada, Australia and ourselves acting under the guidance and advice of the Admiralty. If we settled upon tho . amount we could afford to pay and spent it in accordance with the advice of the Admiralty we could not go far wrong. A local fleet pf our own was impossible for many years to come.’’ Mr Statham is evidently in the wrong camp. THE FISHER FIASCO AT NAPIER. The Minister for Customs—the gentleman who succeeded in getting lor tne Governor the right to import all he requires free of duty, although every working man in the country has to pay duties—came to Napier to make a “Deform”' triumph. According-to the Napier Telegraph, he went away wiser than when he came. He learned that Napier ia not to be caught with chaff. He discovered, without any possible chance of doubt, that his efforts to belittle the reputation of Mr J. Vigor Brown as member for Napier and as supporter of the Liberal party, wore mot by a huge audience (threefourths of whom were evidently hostile to the speaker’s views and tactics) in ouch a manner as to prove to him that he had far better have stayed at home to look after his Ministerial duties on the one hand and his own election chances on. the other. As the meeting progressed it became so evident, to tlio&o who had engineered the visit, that it would be useless to attempt to carry the vote of confidence in the Massey Government which had been prepared,, that the dictates of a sound prudence were followed, and no motion of confidence was risked. Towards th© end of the meeting the speaker’s flippancy, his attempted “funniness” as pun-maker, and what not, so palled upon the audience that if any attempt ko pass a motion of confidence in tho party he pleaded for had been attempted, it would have been derisively thrown out. Yet the Press Association report sent away is so contrived as to make outsiders suppose that. Mr Fisher came for, 1 came to, and scored, a tro'raondous triumph. Those who know what a fiasco the gathering was, as an effort to detach voters from the member for , Napier, may learn how things may be ! misrepresented. The Dominion, for example, publishes a report supplied by the Napier agent of the Prose Association for morning papers—that is, the Herald.—which suggests that Mr Fisher came like a warrior and wont away like a conqueror. As a matter of fact lie received exactly the “welcome” such a champion of political inconsistency and of questionable Government appointments might expect to.get, and, speaking metaphorically, he wont away with his tail tucked between his legs. i | A CHALLENGE. Dr. Thacker has handed to the editor .of the Christchurch Star an envelope containing a list of the names of the holders of wheat amounting to 12,000 bushels. These men are sta.ed to he necessitous farmers residing in tho Metbven and Duusandcl districts. They arc waiting for a rise. That is to say they are taking advantage of the present national crisis to line their pockets at tho expense of, the most necessitous section of the community! Dr. Thacker has issued a challenge. If his statement is not true —if the men whoso names ho has written down are not holding the wheat specified—ho is prepared to contribute .£IOO to the Belgian fund. He would be quite safe to have another sporting shot, says the. Star, and to lay ten to one that the individuals in question arc each and evervone of them “Reformers” after Mr Massey's own heart. That probably explains why it is that Mr Allen ia convinced _ that it is not possible to force them into the market. Meantime, the Government is sending abroad for supplies. That is to say, it is sending money , ? ut of the country to buy i stuff which I is beinor hoarded in the country under •; an arrangement by which .the consumers 1 were taxed to "protect”, the producers. The next politician who suggests protection for wheat grower., will, he firmly but kindly requested to have bis head road. 1 ■ j MR. MASSEY COMPLAINS. Speaking at Grey Lynn last night, Mr Massey declared; “This election beats anything I have ever known in the-direct tion of misrepresentation.” Poor Mr Massey; how terrible it ia that he should have such a short memory, and cannot recall the fact that “Reform” fought the last elections on the “sticky fingers” calumny, and that it undertook, if given twenty minutes at the Ward pigeon holes,' to prove the grossest corruption. The socalled -Reformers have had twenty -months in which to carry out that search, and no doubt it has been a most careful one, but it has revealed nothing, except that the Liberal regime was marked by tiro strictest integrity and the highest form of sound administration, What makes Mr Massey squirm now is not misrepresentation, but the knowledge that tho charges laid against his Government are too true. . There is no occasion for tho Liberal party to dos;re- twenty minutes , at the, pigeon holes to unearth the broken 1 pledges—the AVcstport Harbour Board scandal, the Eoyd Garlick appointment, the canteen scandal, and many other sins of omission and commission which mark the . trail of the Massey Government’s ~ term of. office. . . THE BARGAIN WITH THE “RED FEDS.” The Chronicle harps this morning about the alleged alliance between the Liberals and the “Red Feds.” Does it forget' that at last election Mr Massey placed h.is seal of apm-oval on that body. In the Otald Mail, during the last election campaign, Mr Massey, asked by telegram, as was shown by an advertisement in that paper, all Reformers to vote for Red Fed Robertson as against the Liberal candidate. Mr Massey’s telegram was that lie trusted that the Opposition (the Reformers) would join with Labour ia ousting the Liberal Ministry. Mr

Robertson, of course, after that, got the Conservatives’ support, and won the election. Tho Massey party alsb voted for the election of Mr Payne, the member for Grey Lynn. Again, to assist the election of Mr Fisher, the present Minister of Marine, a circular was printed and circulated'last election to the effect that the Massey vote was going to Robertson in (Raid and to Payne in Grey Lynn, and urging that the same alliance should be maintained as regarded Wellington Central, the scat for which Mr Fisher was standing. This same Mr “Rainbow” Fisher, when addressing the electors, just after the results of the first ballot for Wellington Central had been declared, as a Wellington newspaper report showed, said, “I want the support of all those who have supported my worthy opponent, Air Young. Now,-having made my little speech, 1 will ask Mr Young to address you.” This Mr Young was the President of the Federal ion of Labour soon afterwards, and one of the strike leaders. Such were, the trickeries anti devices of this wonderful Reform party, the party of purity. Is it not the height of brazen impudence and almost the limit of political hypocrisy for the mouthpiece of Reform in Wanganui, after Reform’s actions at last election in supporting Red Feds and putting them into Parliament, to pretend to he concerned about Red Fed candidates getting into Parliament?