MR W. RADCLIFFE AT LYTTELTON.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14838, 2 December 1913, Page 9

MR W. RADCLIFFE AT LYTTELTON.

Mr W.- Radcliffe, one of the candidates for the Lyttelton seat, addressed a meeting of electors in the Oddfellows' Hall,' Lyttelton, last night. The audience refused to take the candidate seriously, and continuously interrupted him. Considerable uproar was caused by "Red Fed." adherents. The candidate's actual address only lasted thirty minutes; answering questions, however, kept him busy for nearly two hours. Mr M.E. Lewin occupied the chair. ./

Mr Radcliffo said he was, a. Liberal. He was a firm supporter Of the principles of arbitration and conciliation contained In the Arbitration Act, but he had no sympathy'with any attempt to deprive the workers of their" legal rights. Ho believed in the freehold, but considered a £50,000 limit should be placed upon that the graduated land tax should be. maintained, and the endowment lands, both of the State and of local bodies, adequately safeguarded. Mr Radcliffe announced himself in favour of the bare majority. . He was a firm believer in the Defence Act, holding that every man and boy with a stake in tlie country had a right to defend the place. He believed in the training of boys at- school, which made tnem vigorous and strong and able to rise above the ruck. The audience had up to this point refused to take the candidate 6ei'iou3ly ? and he appealed to them to keep quiet. He agreed that it was better for the railways to bo controlled by the Minister than an elected body of men. Ho urged that if settlers in the backblocks did riot havo roads and railways by which to forward their produce to the city, they should bo allowed to construct private railways of their own, as no Government was able to provide all i the requirements of tho people. There ! should bo a clause in the charter grant- ' ing the railway allowing the Government to take the railway back at tho right time. He maintained that tho Liberal policy had been a good one, and worthy of the support of all right-thinking persons. (Cries of. "Rot.") Take tho Arbitration Act. (Loud cries of dissent). Arbitration, the speaker contended, was necessary, in order to allow the parties to a dispute to come together. Labour had admitted this. The Government, when the parties to the present dispute failed to agree, should have said to the men,, "Go back to work. -We shall pay you your wages lost and introduce legislation for tho purpose of submitting the dispute to arbitration. (Cries of dissent.) Mr Radcliffe said he could speak to thm on many more questions, but if they liked he would conclude his address and answer "straight from the shoulder any questions asked him. If awarded the honour of being sent to Parliament, he would stick to his guns. Mr Radcliffe replied to questions as follow:— „ It was the duty of the Government to endeavour to settle the present crisis by calling the parties togetherm conference. If the conference could not agree, the Parliament of New Zealand should become the judge of the case and settle it on the evidence brought before it. In the event of a vote of no-confidence in the present Government, he would stick to the party he was identified with. He was in favour of the Bible-in-schools and proportional representation as, far *•«". n_> understood it. It was a very a***™*? question, and very difficult to understand. If.the most explained it to tbe "\»dience, two-thirds would go away without understanding it. In theory: however P™*"* 10 "** representation was /fry beauWuL was not in favour of the In reply to questions affecting the

"soedals" and the Council's water sup_f_ Mr R_dchffe warned the audience that the" -a* c bold of tho wrong man if t_ _* *£*&£ they V ' ere 6 oin g to Pl _»r.estioned as _> whether ho objected t_ the sum->° mn £ °, f s P_«i-"s" in Lyttelton the candidate said ho had told tho Mayor not to call-in the "specials," _* his life and the councillors' lives would be a hell on earth. The Mayor was, however,.in a very ticklish position! The Citizens' Defence Commit- i tee had been all the time trying to get ! the Mayor to do what they called his duty He <- >Ir R adcl ! ffe > W warned the'Mavor not to fall into the "trap." Theilavor was acting as he did as Mayor, not in his private capacity. There was not a Lyttelton Borough Councillor who had assisted to call in the "specials- He aid not know the individual members of the Citizens'De-. fence Committee. All Civil Servants, p __nt nerhaps a few in high positions, -Si Kreffoll. political liberty. He denied that he had asked the police to be present at. tho meeting. .-.re TOU in favour of the special police; "yes or no?" was the next qa, That'is not a question," replied th© candidate. "Yes it ; s, yelled out a section of the audience. The candidate asked what the questioner meant. . The questioner said he wanted to know if Mr Radcliffe was in favour of the coming of the "specials' to Lyt°Tho' candidate said it was the last thing ho would stoop to.

Jeers. , _ _ "Are you in favonr of a State ferry service?" was the next question. Tho candidate, in a lengthy statement, said he was. "If returned to Parliament, will you agree to the affairs of this country being run i.y the Government or tho Employers' Association?" "You make an assertion, my man, which you could prove no more than a fly. The Employers' Association do not run the country." Voices: They do. In reply to further questions, Mr Radcliffe "said he was in favour of a referendum being taken on the Defence Act:

"Why is it the Ward Party do not stand by you in this election?" was another question put to the candidate. "I have a letter hero from Sir Joseph Ward," replied the candidate, "and if you like, I shall let any person in this audience read it. I am not going to foist mv politics on to you by any cunning device to injure any other candidate for tho seat. Say the word, do you want the letter road?" Cries of "Yes," and "No," resounded from the audience.

"I tell you what I shall do," replied Mr Radcliffe. waving the letter. "If any lady or gentleman wants to read tliis letter, I will give her or him the privilege of reading it privately." 'You have not answered my question." persisted the questioner. "The Ward Party is supporting Mr Laurcnson," replied Mr Radcliffe. "Thov can't sunnort two nominees."

"For the Government to own the whole shin-ping of this country would be impossible," declared Mr Radcliffe in reply to a further ouestion. A vote of thanks to the candidate was bowled down. A member of the audience then moved that a motion of no-confidence in Mr Radcliffe be passed. It was seconded in two or three places, but before it could bo put, the mooting had broken up.

Dr. Thacker addressed a meeting in St. Augustine's Schoolroom, Cashmere Hills, last night, and was accorded a vote" of thanks.