MR. ROBERTSON'S POSITION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1383, 8 March 1912, Page 3

MR. ROBERTSON'S POSITION.

Sir.—lt is terrible io think that in these „ (roublous times that man has such little v l consideration for his pledges to the people whom he represents in Parliament. I (: am referring to"Johu Robertson, M.l'. far fi Otaki. This person was, as we all know, nominated-bv the J'laxmill Employees f . t'niou. lie got into the sfCDiid ballot on .;. their vote, and then the shoo pinched. | How was he eoing to-beat the Government , candidate (Mr. Field;? Well, knowing , t.iat no true follower of Mr. , would vote far the Government, and also > that we would not vote for Labour, supporting Sir Joseph Ward, Hart., he there- t fore pledged himself to Mr. Masscv to „ vote on a no-confidence motion against ~ the Ward Government. So far so good. y The Opposition vote put him into the ~ House. We believed in'him. but, alas, to ( . what end:- We hear that the fiaximll i hands have relieved him of ins pledge, ~ owing to the stand taken by that honest '| and true-spoken paper, Tiik Dominion, in n the recent trannvav fiirro. Now, s:r, that , is absque rot and quibbling. At the meet- , ing of flax bunds in Palinorston North they i relieved liobertson of his pledge, and t al»a thev wound up the mooting with - three groans for Mr. Massey. and three groans for Tin: Dominion. -May they in l a few weeks utter six groans for their t own misguided'selves! Tho beauty of this j pledge business is that I suppose two- ] fifths of tho men present at the meeting ( in Palmerston did not belong to this e!ee- ] torate, for men came from as far away as ( Bangitikei, Tnkapau (U.K.), and Master- , ton. Yet thev can tell the member ior , this district what to do. Also, it is stir- [ mised that one-fifth of the men present i had not got a vote; also, Hint about 1)0 out of every hundred have not got a spark : of interest in this country beyond bleed- | ing their cemploycr for as much ns they ( can, for as little work ns possible. Also, to tho best of my knowledge Mr. Robert- ■ son never nledged himself to them, .but to , us, the Opposition, and if he plays false | to us then Lord help him.—l am, etc., i TRUE OPPOSITIONIST. , TThis letter has been delayed in pub- ] lieation. It was written during the ses- • sion.] / ]