BOWLED OUT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2316, 25 November 1914, Page 6

BOWLED OUT

MR. ISITT IN TROUBLE V • ON LICENSING QUESTION; A REMARKABLE STATEMENT (By MesTftpiif-Speoial Correspondent.) Christchuroh,' November. 24.. ■The action of Mr. L. M, Isitt in going- into the Kaiapoi- electorate to assist in the fight •, against Mr. ; David Jones, who favours the bare majority, in the'licensing .polls, is the subject or much comment m Christchurch -North. , At Woodend last night, where , he spoke against Mr. ..Jones s candidature, Mr. Isitt was confronted wit}j a statement he made in the Garrison Hall, Dunedin. at an important No-License Tally, presided over by Mr. A.- .S. Adams, and, addressed by ; Mr. Adams, the Revs. Dawson and Gray ; and others on June 5, 1913. The object of. the meeting • was ■ to' further ■ the campaign to secure pledges 1 from voters to support only candidates who would , remove the handicap, as tiio Alliance considered it on that occasion.'' , Mr. Isitt said: "He. (Mr. Isitt) believed in the right of the majority .to determine "an issue and he wanted this battle decided on equal terms.' He was prepared to vote for any decent man who was opposed to him in general politics if he knew, that the man would take this handicap off the people." When asked last night *o rerancila this plain statement with his action in entering tie • Kaiapoi 'contest against the candidate who stands for ,the removal of the "handicap," and not tTie mere reduction of it, Mr. Isitt said his action- was perfectly consistent with the attitude taken up by the New Zealand Alliance which at the annual convention decided to support the man favouring a- reduction .m the percentage. The Alliance recognised the unwisdom : of binding its members..to the bare majority issue alone. Seeing there-was no hope of that being carried by Parliament', tihe Alliance wanted to obtain as greatly reduced a majority as possible and under ijiat decision suppraters were entirely free to use their own discretion in casting their votes. This new and surprising statement may affect the voting m several seats. The "Press" thus notes tho implications of Mr. Isitt's reply to the ques-' tion put to him: "When confronted with tins statement last night, Mr. Isitt's famous aptness of. rotort failed him. Even ho cannot mako a. success of the political dualism to which his career lias brought him. Mr. Isitt, the Prohibition ' stalwart, and Mr. Isitt, the Wardist politician, were bound to como to cross purposes. His reply to his questioner last night : wa-s no reply at all. He left unshaken the glaring fact that his hatred of Mr. Massey or his affection for Sir Joseph Ward liave led him to leave his sincerity open to serious question. We do not know whether his reply was merely the reckless answer of a man completely and unexpectedly knocked over, in which easo' he. can. reckon with his friends in the Alliance, but if his answer was tho truth, and not. the sort of thing'his Dunedin. statement "now turns out to bo, it is very important. In Avon, No-License voters have been led to believe that they must support Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Isitt's statement shows that these voters have been misled, and that thoy will do their duty, to the No-License cause by voting for Mr. Acland. The same tiling applies, in Christchurch North. On Air. Isitt's own words those electors have been defrauded and imposed upon who had been led to believe that loyalty to the Prohi-; bition. causo forbade tlhem to voto for jMr. Toogood." ■ .- " : -