MR. MICHEL HONOURED.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1839, 27 August 1913, Page 7

MR. MICHEL HONOURED.

GREAT GATHERING.

PRESENTATION BY ELECTORS. THE MARCH OF REFORM. (By Telegraph.—Speotal Correspondent.) Creymouth, August 26. Preparations for tho reception of Mr. H. L. Michel, Mrs. Michel, and family wero in activo progress to-day, tiro object, of course, being to do full honour to the mail who had loft a telling mark on West Coast political opinion, Tho number who assisted was very great. Dr. Win. Mackay, chairman of Mr. Michel's committee, and Mr. Wm. Morris, _ one of thoso who presented a requisition to him to contest tho seat, wero uiiablo to attend tho gathering owing to indisposition. In Mr. Morris's caso the disappointment was groat, as ho and his had taken the initiative in persuading Mr. Michel to become a candidate. Long before eight o'clock l tlio Opera Houso was packed with a thoroughly representative gathering, including a number from outsido centres, and also from Hokitika. Oil the platform were 'also Messrs. D. Jones, A. Gilbert, and H. Lawrence. Tho chairman read tlip following from the Prime Minister:— Oil behalf of my colleagues and myself I wish to express our sincore regret that, owing to extreme pressure of Parliamentary work, Ministers aro unablo to bo directly represented at your gathering tonight. 'We are all very pleased i that you ( . aro being given honour where honour is deservedly due. No man is better entitled to tlio thanks of his friends, both personal and political, than Mr. Michel. Tlio' ■ strong light which he put up for the Grey election is more highly appreciation throughout tlio Dominion than perhaps tho people of Greymouth imagine. 1 hope that the .function will be a great' success, worthy both of the man and of tho party. (Signed) W. F. MASSEY. A largo number of other telegrams and letters were also . received, and were read by the chairman. ' The Presentation.' Tho chairman said that the name of H. L'. Michel, was a widely estcomed ono, and the West Coast, from the Uuller to tho farthest south district in tho Grey electorate, had showed this, • but Greymoutli_ particularly so. ■ Withtheir .organisation completed, arid the electors standing together, they would roturn him at the next occasion. But for an unholy alliance, his would have been tho victory on July 24. In tho late Sir Arthur Guinness's time, the Reform party never lieodcd to put forward a candidate, but, with his death and.tbo Speakership vacant, they would have scored by an immense majority, but for that v allianco which ho had alluded to. They would realise that, in Mr. Michel, they had no. better • champion of their object as tho Reform party could not procure a moro ablo representative. if ho camo forward at next general election they .would so combine as to have it impossible for anyono to defeat him. Without a word of unmerited praise Mr. Michel was, without doubt, , the most able man to represent them, and lie' had proved this dtiring the.recent campaign. His following had grown materially, and if they continued to do so they would presently create a very strong party. After making reference to the clean methods adopted in the course of his candidature, the chairman said that tho desire of Mr.». Michel's supporters was to mark this by a token of respect. For thirty years ho had been well known on the West Coast, and not a speck, had appeared to blem-. isli his good liamo. Ono minor attempt had been mado to besmirch him, but ithad ended in smoke. The presentation, was the outcome of voluntary contributions, and ho had pleasure in handing tho guest of the evening a. purse of sovereigns. Mr. Michel's Spoooh. On rising to respond Mr. Michel had to remain bowing for a lengthy period. Eventually lit! said that to deliver an nddress on-political! mat-tors might have been easy, but, to such an enormous gathering who had paid him such honour, was a different thing. It made him ..feel his shortcomings ■in sncoch, but he would say that, now that he had made, their acquaintance through that campaign; ho felt sorry that, tliev had been defeated in their cause. Tlio fight had not only boon a local but a. national ono. It bad been watched with the keenest interest by the whole Dominion, and had demonstrated the fact that tlio Reform' party had a strong majority in tho Grey, and that this election" was the forerunner of a wholesale victory in the near future. The election had rendered a great service to tho. present Government by showing that there werewelldefined parties hr.ro. Ho had had four previous opportunities of acknowledging defeat, but, this time, he felt that they had now a majority of West Coast electors behind them. The two doctorates had 12,000 between the two districts, which wero • entwined in ea'ch other. Ho was proud to say that be had been plared at the top of the poll in the three principal centres —Hokitika, Greymouth, and Reefton. (Cheers;) Thero was an unwritten law that, where tho Speaker of the Houso represented an electorate, tho Government did not nut a candidate in tho field.. .- Now that tlicv had placed a candidate' in'" the field they had nroved that their policy was supported here. Only one of the six papers on the Coast lias advocated his candidature. The five papers had distorted facts and tho principles of tho Government, abusing them without reason or argument. The local bodies of both electorates- wore opposed to him, too. Referring'to the second bfillot-, ho pointed out tho danger to electorates of a candidate being defeated by two weaker parties combining to defeat tho stronger party.'. The speaker wont on to refer to tho accusation of having (cither himself, or his committee or supporters) stirred up sectarian strife. That had no foundation in fact. Ho hoped that the day was far distant when a candidate would bo penalised for. his religious opinions. That, however, had been laid to his charge by a littlo paper called tliij "Guardian" at Hokitika. He was, however, pleased ,to seo that this week's "Tablet" had been just enough to admit that he had nothing to do with the insinuations of bringing up this question. Besides, this the Greymouth correspondent to the "Evening Star" (Dunedin) had tfclegrapiied to tho effect that Mr. .Tones had stirred up religious strife, which was also false. Tlio election had demonstrated that the workers of tho district wore wntelling tho course of politics. Mr. Webb had said that ho was tho representative of tho working class, but ho (Mr. Michel) had polled 2811. votes. Allowing Pll for business men, 2000 had voted for liiiu.

Mr. .Tones, Reform organiser, also spt'liP. He was received with cheers, ami got n very cordial reception, mid afterwards cheers were given for Hie Prime Minister.'

The iiicptiiiß then ndimirnod to the Drill lT'ill ami Druids' Hall, and those ninnnodiniis hnildinus (the Drill TTnll holdiii!; 1(100) were not l;tr;ic enoujjh to hold the larp:e attendances wlicro dancinc conoludod tlio evening's proceedings.