MR CUTTLE AT ARAMOHO.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15972, 14 November 1919, Page 5

MR CUTTLE AT ARAMOHO.

Mr W. J. Cuttle, the Eeform candidate for the- Wanganui seata delivered a political address at Aramoho last night, when about 100 attended, Major Lomax presiding. The candidate spoke mu ;<i on the same lines as at the Opera House recently. He said that a letter had appeared in the "Herald" saying that he was neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and the writer wanted to know where he (Mr Cuttle) stood politically. Mr Veitch had been asked where he stood and whom he would, vote for. He had hedged on the question, but when finally challenged had finally said he would support t-he Liberal Party. Mr Cuttle said, without any hesitation, he could reply that he would support Mr Massey every time. The candidate then proceeded to give reasons why he should support Mr Massey, whom, he declared, was a true democratic, and had not used the country's money to advertise himself as some other politicians had done to popularise them-' selves. Referring to the fact that he was opposed to party politics, he .-aid that any failure to constitute a National Party rested entirely with the Liberals, and that Sir Joseph Ward was responsible more than any other man for throwing the country into party strife. With regard to proportional representation, Mr Cuttle said Mr Yeitch had spoken in favour of it the previous night, but he wondered why Mr Veitch had not given an hour sometimo to discuss and explain the system, which very many did not understand. Personally, he did not think that proportional representation was going to do what a good many people thought it would. In his opinion, while it would be all right in the centres, it would not work in sparsely settled areas. It would be dangerous in the hands of organised minorities, who would work to get control of the political machine. He believed in a preferential voting system. Every community should elect the man with the best brains not allied to any party, and the chosen members should elect a leader and the Cabinet. This would give the best results. Speaking on, the question of education, Mr Cuttle said he had been reading up facts and figures about education, in order to get the deeper knowledge which the "Herald" had declared he did not possess. He then proceeded to quote figures to show that New Zealand was spending more money per head of population on education than any other part of the British Empire, the expenditure having been greatly increased under the Massey regime, proving that the Government of the day had tried to do something for the education of the children. He thought we ought to be proud of our position, and eevry credit was due to Mr Massey. He went on to claim that the Government had made drastic efforts to control profiteering, and, dealing with the land question, he said he was very pleased to know that the Government had brought down an amendment to the Land Act to stop aggregation. Mr Massey had worked to this end in 1914, and the measure he had brought into law this year would do a great deal in the way i of stopping land aggregation. At the conclusion of his address, Mr Cuttle was asked and answered a large number of questions. He said that if necessary he would vote for Government inspection of convents, he was not in favour of the State teaching the Bible in Schools, he was not in favour of State aid to Catholic schools, he favoured a State bank, he thought it a fair thing that dairy farmers should be paid the bonus out of the Consolidated Fund, he would vote for denominational schools being put on an equitable rating system. He did not believe the railway superannuation scheme was sound; it was, in iiis opinion, one of Sir Joseph Ward's blunders. At the conclusion, Mr Cuttle -was, on the motion of Mr John Forbes, seconded by Mr E. Boyd, accorded a hearty vote e£ thanks, ,