RED FLAG AT GON VILLE

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15971, 13 November 1919, Page 5

RED FLAG AT GON VILLE

MR HcILTRIDE’S MEETING,

MESSES HOLLAND AND SEMPLE EULOGISED.

A DENIAL OP “GO-SLOW" TACTICS,

A red flag or a red handkerchief —the symbol of an element in New Zealand politics which has not been conducive to the best interests of the workers or the people of New Zealand generally—was prominent at the conclusion of Mr McHvride’s meeting in the Gonville Toym Hall last evening. It was produced by the chairman (Mr P. Openshaw), and waved by him when he appealed to the audience to 'give Mr Mcilvride three hearty cheers—an appeal, by the way, that met with but a half-hearted response. "What the chairman's object wa« in waving the red signal we are not in a position to say; he may have had a double purpose in mind. The toreador uses a red mantle to infuriate the foe ho is fighting with, hut this could hardly have been Mr Openshaw’s intention. The flag is waved as a symbol of loyalty to the cause it represents, and perhaps-the chairman was anxious to leave no doubt in the minds of the audience that he and Mr Mcilvride were loyal to the cause of the Bed Feds of New Zealand. Or, perhaps, Mr Openshaw waved the red bWiner simply for the purpose of provoking an enthusiastic response to his appeal for three hearty cheers. > If the latter was the object, then it failed lamentably. Hie supposition that the red signal was but a symbol of loyalty to the Bed Feds is supported by the answers given a few minutes previously by Mr Mcilvride to several questions. The candidate was asked whether, if he were elected to Parliament, be would be a supporter of the extremists. Mr Mcilvride said he would answer the question in Scotch fashion by asking another, “What do you mean by extremist He went on to eay that he had been unable to get a definition of “Sane” Labour, but had found out that any man who was earnest in a cause was 'called “extreme.” So far as Messrs Holland and Semple were concerned, these two men had been tried in the balance, and all through their lives they had fought strenuously in the interests of the working classes. They had fought so strenuously, indeed, that they had brought down the anathema of the capitalistic, class. Although Mr Holland was the leader of the New Zealand Labour Party to-day, there was no authority for saying he would be the leader after the elections. There were no “moderate” men m the Labour Party—all wore aiming for tie emancipation of the workers. In answer to another question, as to whether he favoured the “go-slow” policy, Mr Mcllvrido said he could not agree that there had been any “go-slow” policy so far as the workers were concerned, because with the aid of machinery production had been increased a thousandfold. (The workers had never adopted a “go-slow” policy, but the employers had.

Answering a question as to whether the Labour Party was in favour of the abolition of the Senior Cadets, Mr Me-. Ilyride said tbe Party was opposed to military training, and stood for the abolition of military training in schools and the substitution of physical training.

Mr Mcllvride further said, in, reply to a questioner that any man who was not for Labour was against it. They had nothing against Mr Yeiteh. He had been asked to link up with the New Zealand Labour Party, but for certain reasons had not accepted the invitation to become a member Had he done eo he would have been the official Labour candidate —an assertion Mr Mcllvride varied at the suggestion of the chairman, to the statement that Mr Yeiteh’s name would have gone forward to the ballot.