A CHALLENGE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15993, 9 December 1919, Page 5

A CHALLENGE.

SIR JOSEPH WAED SPEAKS OUT. RED FED FUSION BO6ET The right of a politician, publicly. t<J meet criticism levelled against him w%4 the plea upon which Sir Joseph Wart* speaking before a crowded audience at Leeeton on Friday evening, issued a vigorous reply and a challenge in respect to an editorial article in a Christchurch newspaper of the some morning. Sir Joseph opened by saying that he wished to speak of a deliberate lie that had appeared in the columns of the Christchurch Press. He would like to ask the directors of the Press if they paid a man to tell a deliberate lie for* the puipose of influencing an election. We invited the person to whom he referred to oome out into the open andi take action against him for the statement he had made and was going to make. Since Parliament had risen, he had addressed 33 meetings—the present) was his thirty-third—and never once had. he taken on improper advantage of, o® said anything against an opponent. In making his statement, ho wished to make it clear that he was speaking without any heat, without any excitement. t without any anger. \ He was doing it deliberately. Sir Joseph then quoted tfaf following passage from the Press;—• fc The support of the Beds in Parliament has been pledged to the Liberal Leader; the arrangement between the Reds and the Liberals, although denied, is a fad;, and is doubted by none but very simple people. It is the duty of all good citizens to make impossible the grasping of power by a. combination between the Liberal Party and the Reds, and they can do this only in one way: by voting directly against the Wardite candidates. Only thus will they effectively rang© themselves against the forces of disorder of which we had a manifestation last night.” Such a statement, Sir Joseph, continued, was a deliberate lie. In tha House of Representatives he bad made it clear that he would not take office if ho had to depend on the support of extremists in Parliament. He had said so in public, and in the presence of the extremists referred to. He bad said in public that he was against direct action and force. He was the only leader who had put an opponent against Mr Holland and Mr Fraser, and an Independent) was standing against Mr Semple. Tha Labour extremists in Parliament, when they opposed public men, chiefly directed themselves against him. He bad pnfi up Liberal candidates against them, and in one place had refused to put up two men, because if he had done so the yplit probably would have let the extremist in.' That man, the editor of the Prcae, which professed to be a decent journal, must know the position. Ho (Sir Joseph) would say that the directors who professed to own an organ that was a guide to til© public were responsible for th* deliberate lie that was meant to mislead.

“i want to tell you at once," Sir Joseph added, “that I am the last man in tlie world to take exception to public criticism on my actions. I have been ‘criticised as one who has been in a leading position in this country practically for the last thirty-two and a half years, and I say that no man ought to bo in public life unless he iff prepared to take criticism; but when you find a deliberate attempt such as vs made here, and is intended to, be used over this country to mislead, yon are entitled to call attention to what at least ought to be the recognition on the part of opponents of fair treatment of publie men, no matter how strongly they may condemn them.”

“I want: to say to you as well,” Sir Joseph addl'd, “that in another portion of this very journal the paper it actually recommending- in ono of the seats in Christchurch the course to bo taken by Reformers. In this they ana deliberately misstating the position in respect to myself, and I will read it to you, so that you may judge the position and that there may be no misunderstanding:

“The Hon. G. W. Russell has stated that he will vote against Mr Massey on a no-confidence motion. This means thftt ho will join with Labour to put Sir Joseph Ward in charge of the Government. Once on the Treasury benches. Sir Joseph Ward may be trusted to manoeuvre the position so as to retain his hold. A vote for Mr Russell in Avon is therefore a vote to eject Mr Massey from office. Under the circumstances, Reform voters in the constituency cannot be expected to support Mr Russell.’’ “That is an advertisement,’’ said 4 man at the back of the hall. “Excuse me,” said Six Joseph Ward, “it is a local in the paper on page six of Friday, December 5. “Isn’t there ‘a-d-v-ti at tho bottom of it?” persisted the interjeetor. “No, there is not a-d-v-t’ at the bottom of it,” said Sir Joseph. “Good man, Joe,” said a farmer, and the audience applauded the speaker vgorously. “In placing my policy before the) people,” Sir Joseph added, “I do nob aak for consideration from my opponents, but this deliberate attempt, which hag been made more than once at a general election when public fatters were bcangj dealt with—well, I don’t feel disposed tofbe under an imputation of that kind, which is untrue. I have never once discussed the political situation with Mr E. Holland, on the West Coast, against whom I have put an opponent, nor with Mr Fraser, in Wellington, against whom also I have put an opponent. I have never had a consultation with either of them. There is no such arrangement as suggested, and I have never made any agreement as to tho future with either* of them or with any of the others; and that is the truth. Those who make these statements can go to those men who have had my candidates put up against them, and I am prepared bo pflblidy challenge the editor of the Press, and the directors of his journal, who are beluStd him, t» this extent—that I shall put up £SOO, ta be paid to any charity in Christchurch, that any independent, persons may select, if they will do the same, and if they come out into the open and make » charge against mo for the statement* I have just made regarding them, and I shall pay the sum if they prove what they said by subpoenaing the members with whom, they declared, I am mmftfijittod in this election. (Applause.) This is a fair course for any man ‘to adept, and I shall leave it at that.”