ELECTIONEERING AT STATE'S EXPENSE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1547, 17 September 1912, Page 6

ELECTIONEERING AT STATE'S EXPENSE.

RECEIVED SERVICE TELEGRAMS. THE "WEST COAST TIMES" FOLLOWS TO THE MATTER. ,(By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent) Hokitika, September 16. Tho "West Coast Times" will say.tomorrow:— We con. readily understand the sensation which die reproduction of the received service telegram caused in Wellington on Saturday. In the capital city it would jnppenv .inconceivable that such use.of tlio Public Service for electioneering purposes could bo possible. Wo, would like to uiako it clear that we did not say that the member .for. Westland sent a Eußlic'Service telegram from Wellington, but what wo did take exception, to was that he should have asked the postmaster -at Fergusons ,to "tell nil his. friends as far south as Okura" about some electioneering business. And why only his friends? Now there are only three ways that Fergusons could tell all the member's friends •'as;far south as Okura. Firstly, by pay-, ing. for the telegrams lihuself; secondly, by making'tho telegrams collect; thirdly, by public service telegram. Fergusons office sent them by the last-named way and .the other postmasters, and. postmistresses followed that officer's-example. It is perhaps os well. to mention that from to Hari Hari, twenty-threo iriiles; from''Hari'Hari to Wataroai eighteen miles; from .Wataroa to Okarito, seventeen miles; and from Okarito' to Okura down to which .place the message was asked to.be sent is. forty-five miles or .a.total distance of one .hundred and thirty. miles from' Hokitika. One of -the received service telegrams whicll fell into oiir hands was distributed at Hari Hari some twenty-.thr.ee miles from Fergusons', and the' Postal Department look upoii these as irregularities, and-we have been given the assurance that such a thing will not happen again. Tho facts admitted are these; The.surveyors were sent down to South Westland just before the election and they were recalled a dav or so after the election bad been decided, and nothing has'been done'.since. Nobody denies this. It is", now contended by the member's friends that the .surveying party wont' to survey the' MikonUi Bridge because such -was necessary for the- railway. What a thin vara! Let us ,see ' how ■' this works put. . It -is not. disputed that ' tho sum of .£SOOO was'promised bv tho Liberal Government. ■ "Promised"-that was all. -\o\v. the funniest ;p,irt about the bridge yarn is that'the river over which tho bridge is to be built is four miles from the present terminus of the-Ross railway—four miles only. Bnt'what we are wondering is why it was necessary to survey the site for the bridge four'miles away in order to spend. ,£SOOO on railwav extension, which expenditure, as everybody knows, would only have carried tlio rails a few''chains south of Ross, and not within miles of the site of the proposed bridge. We are told that the telegram was not a telegram but a mere conyersation, and yet there are over a dozen offices 'between' Fergusons and tho Okura. The facsimile which we reproduced is more than a conversation,' and is held by tho Department to be an ' irregularity. These service telegrams were distributed in what quantities wc do not know. There was absolutely no check upon them. Unlike an ordinary telegram they have no' checking number, and could have .been reeled off by the dozen. Anyhow, copies of the telegram fell into our hands, and 'we. are not surprised that, people in other parts of the Bpminion should be staggered at. the reproduction of. the 'service telegram. Wo "declare emphatically'that the surveyor trick' was an electioneering bribe held out to gull the electors, and it succeeded beautifully. But more lias rot to be told. Not one pile has been driven in tho construction of the bridge upon which tho surveyors are said to have worked. So what was the haste over' the surveying? 'Whilst net one sod has been lifted in tho construction of tho railway, for which the paltry sum of £5000 had been promised. But Mr. Sed' don's telegram went further. He asked Fergusons "to tell all his friends down as far south as Okura" that provision had been made for extending the railway "south of the Mikonui." If Mr. Scddon can construct over four miles of railway out of .£SOOO, he should take over the control of the railways at once. There _is naturally some surprise in, connection with out neat exposure. It is always difficult to get possession of documentary evidence of irregularities. We shudder to think of what happened under the cloak of secrecy. We need bring no more damaging evidence of electioneering bribery which was behind the telegrams than to state what everybody in this district knows to be cold facts. There is still no bridgo over the Mikonui, and no sign of one, and there has'been no extension of the rails south of Ross, and there is no sign of any extension; and all this after nearly twelve months have elapsed since the service wires were sent, and distributed among the electors of South/Westland. This is not the first time we have taken exception to the misUS9 of tho State service for electioneering purposes. When the supporters of tho member for Westland entertained him in. June last, we strongly opposed the abuse of tho telegraph services for party purposes at the "social" in question". Apologies wero received from most of the Mackenzie' Ministers, and tho sole purpose of the telegrams was to gain a. cheap advertisement for the party, this, too, at the expense of the country. The chairman read many'telegraphic apologies, and nil those from Ministers were sent in memo. form. The members of the StopGap ' Ministry wero not satisfied to send short apologies, but some of them went so far- as to indulge in little speeches by telegraph. Nine Ministerial messages | were received, totalling in all 835 words. Below we append the little list of electioneering telegrams sent at tho country's expense:—The Hon. Thos, Mackenzie, 149 ivords (urgent memo.,' take precedence), ; tho Hon. Thos. Mackenzie (56), the Hon. , \. M. Mvcrs (141), the Hon. W. X). S. Mncdonald (120), tho Hon. J. A. Hanan j (102), the Hon. H. G. Ell (69), the Hon. , lames Colvin . (G7), the Hon. Dr. Buck ■ (6S). the Hon; George Laurenson (64); , totij words, 835. The then Prime Minis- ) ter's second telegram deserves special \ notice. "It ran into' 149 words, and was ' handed in at; Auckland after nine o'clock ( jn the night of the "social," being mark- ] ;d,. "Urgent memo., take precedence." ' rhat is to say that the whole, of the tele- t rraphic business between Auckland and l ffokitika was hung up'whilst the Prime ( Minister sent to tho faithful gathered at I Hokitika such rubbish as: "I am keeping | ;he flag.,flying in. the north"; "I am ] leased you are paying a tribute to my f lear friend, Mr. Seddon"; and similar o Tash running into 14!) words. Is it any 3 yonder, that ' the party responsible for .nth tactics should have been found out md sent about its business?