CANDIDATES' ENGAGEMENTS,

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14842, 6 December 1913, Page 15

CANDIDATES' ENGAGEMENTS,

Mr M. J. Miller will address the electors at 8 on Monday evening, in the Lyttelton Oddfellows , .. Hall. Dr. Thacker will speak at 3 p.m. to*m^Radcliffe will O Ws Akaloa at noon to-day, and at Okam s *%?&£& will address a meet-

ine in the Opawa Methodet Sunday school flt 750 this evening. Tho membcrTof ki* Woolston Committee will meet in , 6choolr oom after his and other Social Democrat speakers will give addresses at Vicw!*\ouare r at 8 tb?s evening, and to*°j™* S? in"the Woolston at 3 The Woolston committee will meet this afternoonjit White's st^re. t fhe course of his addrees at L Thursday night, Mr J. B. 9P aW said that, if elected, he Lanrenson » the Govemment on TniiSleacoxnotion. = <m LAURENSON'S POSITION. TO THE SDITOB OF "THE PESS3 » o- After iir Laurenson's extraor,."'~"Wormance Su at Opawa last dma^7 no room for doubt evening, 7 o JrL their clear course on whatever as y eaaon % into the camp; ho will vote "no conRed icd. camP, t crisis aga ; nst SG!vernJnl which is stoutly upholdLd he is opposed to the abolishthe Feieration of Labour. So Vs°l Blue fa right, and I beg to him for his weU-timed, logical, rtenSrate letter in your issue of SSa? fi upholders of law and order SrSrttelton electorate can honestly do i thine at the poU, and that is ? Inte for Tlr Mifler, .the man they and for no other. All favoarine the Red Federation have a cSf of candidates in Mr Xt- and the other two I There*'fnTdo'utft about that We must work hard and vote solid for Mr Miller.-Yours, QUIBBIJSG> Opawa, December sth. MX McCX)MBS'S POLITICS. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PKESB." Sir,—l enclose herewith a letter sent to the editor of the "Lyttelton Times," which he informed mc he was nnable to publish because it contained the terms "professional agitators and "parasites." I altered these terms, and sent the letter again to the-editor of the "Lyttelton Times," and he has again refused to print it.—Yoars^ tc., PRACTICAL POLITICS. [ENCLOSURE.! . Sir —Mr McCombs's politics, in his capacity of Parliamentary candidate, as reported by you at Woolston, and Mr McCombs's harangues, and those of his paid colleagues as apostles of the gospel of the Red Federation—these vary. Sir which Mr McCombs are tho electors'of Lyttelton asked to accept? Mr McCombs the candidate and his electioneering colleagues are meek ana lamb-like; Mr McCombs and his friends as R«d Feds, were very lions for noise, and their printed journals wore not nice. Why this change? Consistency is a very desirable virtue, and methmks we must not swallow Mr McCombs without prior examination. ■ On Friday last, when selected as the candidate of the ''Social Democratic Party," Mr McCotebs is reported, to have said that if he won the election, "it would be a victory for the Federation of Labour." On the following Monday, at Woolston, the same Mr McCombs denied that he was the Red Fed.'s delegate; he stated that there on behalf of the "Social Tternccrats." Now, Sir, this looks very_ Ike a game of fast-and-loose. A candidate who shuffles, however adroitly, is no fit man for Parliamentary honours. Does Mr McCombs endorse the programme and methods of the ■ Federation of Labour, or does he notP Electors have a right to a clear, and unequivocal , answer to this.question. .Will Mr McCombs etate just what is the "Social-Democratic Party?" Will Mr McCombs deny that it is the political? side of the Federation of -LabourP 1 believe that he cannot do so; I know them to be one and tho same thing. That being so, I admire this gentleman's colossal impudence.in declaring that night at WooLston that he favoured arbitration for industrial disputes. He is really a humorist, if a grim one, at. the presont time; and apparently tho humour was too deep for his Woolston audience, as the latter gave him a vote of "thanks" and confidence. An audience comprised chiefly, of people more or less injured by the present strike! Certainly he is a humorist, for . immediately after Mr McCombs declared for a policy of freetrade, and this at Woolston, whoso people exist chiefly by employment in protected industries. And he got a vote of thanks "and confidence." Death has. been described by someone as "the grim humorist," Mr McCombs surely had a confiding audience at Woolston. Where will the employees in the tanneries, in the soap and candlo works, in the boot factories, in'all our various protected works and industries go, what will they do, when men who thjnk like Mr McCombs get into power? They will find it very difficult to .compote in New Zealand under our present conditions wit Tithe cheap labour of Asia and Europe. Sir, it astounds mc that in this country and in this enlightened age, such a man as Mr McCombs can command a serious hearing. This or any other country must havo honest, plain-dealinsz add.'practical mcn 3 with progressivS' ideas .and a high sense of public epirit" and public duty,—it must have its best men to govern it, if it and its people are to prosper and to progress. I do not think that Mr fills the bill. His precious Red Federation has temporarily achieved one of its avowed objects by smashing Trades Unionism; it has given. Labour a set-back which years will not recover. The Federation of Labour's declaration is war to the death with Trade Unionism; and the declaration of the Red Feds, is complete destruction to the democratic constifu* tion of society; and so,'on the political side it calls iteelf the "Social-Demo-cratic Party." More humour, albeit too deep for som© minds. Sir, the Federation of Labour is pernicious, root and branch. I refuse to believe that the majority of mon and women of what "Professor" Mills Mi Seraple, and the rest of the well-paia expounders of the Red Fed. doctrine so often refer to as "the workir" class" —I refuse to believe that these can b» caught and held by the cheap claptrap of Mr McCombs. I believe that they will turn him down,on Tuesday next. The members of "the working class" are not all fools. —Yours, etc., PRACTICAL, POLITICS. December 3rd, 1913.

MB LAURENSOX'S M-ETI-XG. TO TUB EDUOS OP "THE PiIESS." Sir,-—At Opawa we had evidence of the. impuaence with which the Red - euerationists seek- to run the affairs of the Dominion. Tlioy go to a n-ee->----iflg a** the invitation, oi a candidate, who naturally has a%*eriect right to select his own chairman, and because he happens not to do just as they wish, Six Hunter and Mr Voyce move for the appointment of another chairman. Mr Scott would have been quite within his rights to have ignored their resolution because in the first case n, was only asked who were in favour of it; and those opposed to it never given a chance to vote, and scoondly, it was none of their business, and their remedy, if they did not like the wav the business was conducted was. w> leave the. meeting. Things fiLm-S" 9 J° a p ? ett 5* If the rowdy element is to do post as they like where ™Z*tL%' aß **"«ein_ the howling ?f?AS3!2 seconder have made ?het>m.--?i t ?U\^ 6 m6mb t Them as "W* them ETE-WITXESS.

LTTTELTON Ha^JrORATE! JTO THE EDITOE OF „

make a lew remurtes as to tne aoove. 1 am now a iiiun tery lax adrauceu W-yc-ars, aad 1 hare been xeszcicnt iv tn la lor upwards oi tairty years_ I have seen political battles fougut ana wan very often upon duect i&sUos wiucn r.ere prounneut in tue political juena at that time. But I never thought 1 suouiu iive to see the prfc&ent suw M the turmoil and the anarchy wnicn prevails in our midst. I am old cnouga and well remember the trade outrages or Siuflield, when a Royal Commission was held, when lives and property were at the mercy of those outrages. ■» also remember the great strike m London, which paralysed trade io r about twenty years, and the,loss to the working man and his trade .unions has never hardly recovered ltselt. Personally, I yield to no man in this community m tho love, the admiration and the respect I hold for tho legitimate working men of this country- * say they have as much right to combme together for their mutual interests as the employers have for theirs, and I believe if it were left m the hands of those parties alone the present unfortunato state of affairs would be sottled without delay. , It is through the actions of these socalled agitators, who as a rule have little or no direct interest in the country, but too often are foreigners in our midst. They are here to-day and if, peradventure, they are not successful in their aims they are gone to-morrow, and so long as they use violent, passionate, and degraded language to the cnnitnlists of this Dominion, so long will class hatred exist, and I appeal to the good sense of the worlcingman of this Dominion to abstain from such hatred.

I attended Mr Miller's meeting at Opawa on Wednesday evening, and I must say in the whole of my experience 1 "have never witnessed suck disgraceful conduct upon a certain section of thoso who evidently had been sent there for the express purpose of heckling and insulting Mr Miller. If these sort of tactics are to take place at our public meetings, no respectable candidate will dare face an audience. Now, you have a choice of five members, one of its number representing the 'Red Feds., who has distinctly stated that he is out for the purpose of representing their plank. Surely, gentlemen., we-do not want a repetit'on of this last month's turmoil, but do, for God's sake, and the prosperity of the I>ominion, send into Parliament a member who will represent the general interests of the community. I believe and think that Mr Miller, who possesses great local experience, will make a very n-eful member, and if you return him he wjU go to strengthen the hands of Mr 'Massey and his party to uphold free and pure government, and to give man a square de^ti. If this election should return the member who is opposed to law, order, and government, then the fault will lie with the eWtojg alone, and on whom the blamo will <-p4/.—Yonrs otc. JOHN CHAS. JONES.