MR. ATMORE'S MEETING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2014, 23 March 1914, Page 6

MR. ATMORE'S MEETING.

. (To tlio Editor.) .Sir, —As chairman presiding over the raceting by Mr. li. Attoore, M.P., in the Town Hall last night, 1 feel impelled to. pro-test against the re* port of tho proeoedings appearing in your newspaper. Not only was it inadequate to the extent -of being misleadißK—"that is t-o say, it gave no idea of tho _ real strength of tho speech as a criticism of tho Government—but it was full oi gross inacc-uracies, every one of which was disadva-ntageous to the speaker and to Liberalism. , 'Sour reporter omitted to -state that nearly 4.000 citizens were present. He states that Mr. At-fliof* failed to reply to ijiterjecters; that Mr. Pishe-r's name was cheered;_ that ther©_ was frequent uproar and disorder, «ausing serious- interruptions; that 1, as chairman, was ordered iq sit down or bo coupted out; that the resolution hostile to the Massey 6<;vernmeiit was "declared carried"as though thefo might have- heoa some - doubt; and generally the acceuttt given m yonr papbr appears to have been de- . signed and calculated to mislead .your readers. Tho facts are that there was praotic-a-l-l.y no hostility to Mr. A'tinore,. The gailiering was a political one and not a prayer meeting, and there was certainly A J.ittlo -exchango of repartee, hut there was iiat one instance in which Mr. At■inove failed to respond, and hi my opiu* ion to 'fiivo a little better -thaß he got. f Tljefe was no- disorder and the speaker ;. Was never embarrassed in the slightest ■ degree. As to 31r. Pisher-s name being cheer-* ed, let me say, and anybody who was present can confirm this, that almost every tinio Mr, Afenoria m-ention-Ed ths name oA a member of the GovciTitnent tiro name was not cheered, bat rather, jeered-, and tlio hostile demonstrations were so general and emphatic that Sir. Atmore had to appeal to the audience to esempt Mr. Prasor, life* declarer! .to; be ih-o straightest man in tho Oabiiiet; .Why '-yotir newspaper shon!d_ have given sueli an improper and prsjucliced : aeeo-ttiit of the proceedings is bftyo'nd .my ■po*er't& fathom ; , nor do I seek to'learu your mqtivtg, Hy (ibject in writing is,: in the capacity of ehairman at tho meeting, to correct the erroneous sta;tenients» if I inay be so permitted s . ihrongti tho columns in which they -appeared.-"! am, etc. t J, J. M/GRATH. March 20. [Our report did not. profess to cover all that Mr. Atmofo said at his -meet- ■ ingi but it did cover tho priilcipal fea* : . ture.s of the meeting; and, quite as much sjpace was.,devoted to it. as thismerits of tlio speech ftf the sta-iidinf: of the speaker warranted. 'Witii Mr. M'Srath's opiniwus we have jio i quarrel. , As a .-supporter of the "Liberal' 1 Party lip may possibly have found: much to admire in the. abuse which the member for Nelsoar showered on the Government. But wh£U lw. attempts to ciiallenge the facts as_ recorded in our report we cannot permit his stat<jmeiits to pass. linanswQred, Despite his! sweeping allegations the oaly definite assertions he ventures to make by way of contradiction of oti.r report are: (i) That thero was practically no hostility.to Mr, Athiore; (2) that in not one insta-nee did Mr. Atinore fail to an» swe'r interjections; (3) that there was no disorder; (4) that Mr. Pisher was not cheered. Sttan.geiy enough, in all these, matters Mr, M'Grath is in error, : So -far as tire AiiSwiaring of interjeetions' is , ooifccrned, Mr. Atmoro certainly did aaswer a great number, as was shoivii in our depart. In only two cases, according to our report, aid he omit to do so, and in otto of these we distinctly recorded that Mr. Atmoro. did-not hear the interjection. The point, of cfltifse, is a trifljiiig one, and is really not tforth diicussittg, bnt if Mr. M'Crfatli will ittm to the "Post" and "Tirtics" ro^. ports he will so© thero interjections to which no replies are made. On the question of hostility to Mr. Atmoro it is sufficient to say that nowhere- in out report was thero the slightest reference; to hostility beyond tho meut-jb-n of interruptions and disorder. On the contrary we stated that tho speaker received a fair hearing., As to disorder, it is ■ a little staggering to find Mr. M'Grath vcntn.riiig to state that there was ric disorder. He will hardly deny that T Atmore's spHWh was at times inter- ; runted by noisy clamour and that tho j potieo had to bo called on in at leas, I two instances to eject persons from the \ hall. If ho does' deny this, bo should read tho reports of aw. Ho will ha.rdlv. contradict tho following J extract from tho btgMy'edonred reportof tho local Wardist journal :— "Mr, Atmoro (resuming): "There is a s-nwll sedtton oil those six seata over there (pointing to the, right of the hall) w'ho have organised ati attempt' at disorder. I'll have u> ask the police to put them out if they -cannot keep quiet,_ I'm »._ going to have the rest of njy audi■elice interrupted by them.' (Load applause.) Almost immediately a.n----otbo-r roterjectioii came froni fa: quarter, and the offender was immediately <!JMtal, much to tho delight of "tho audience." This is taken from tho "New Zealand "Tifflfcs' report, and was but one- of several instances. Now for Mr. Ms-her being cheered, Hero is what the "Even-- j iag f'ost" report sayss-^-"Cheers and counter-cheers were given .when. Mr. Atmoro utter, the names of various politicians, the Hon. Mr. .Fisher's- pamo evoking most applause and most a... sent-. 5 ' Will Mr. M'Grath ■ state that t' "Post" was also in error? Our report mentioned both the- hostility and the r piausc, adding that tho latter predominated, Mr. SFG-ra-tli is, of course, entitled to his opinions, _ but he. should not confuse his impressions with facts.. Nor should bo lis to take 'th mombcr for Nelson- seriously as a factor in the polities of to-day;]