THE ELEGTIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2325, 5 December 1914, Page 8

THE ELEGTIONS

an4 : :Pßessx;6mments.;, [ ■■■'. .Mr. JR. A. Wright,"speaking at KaX tori..'said that one .of; the first duties. ; .of" tho ! Reform Government' was, that of- strengthening.: the... superannuation : funds. I)uring its'; 'first.year of office > it had to pay £25,000: into -the Public / Service Superannuation Fund, and au . additional- £10,000. into- the, Teachers'.. .:; Superannuation, Fund, both: of which .' .were left in the financially unsound ;: condition of :the Continuous Government. .'■ .The Hallways Superannuation iFundwas' also' being strengthened. iThie brought the annual contributions «f the Gpvernnient to;the three superannuation' funds up to £115,000, as £55,000 paid under the : financially unsound scheme. adopted 'by. tho o.i Ward Government; 1 : .. • / ,' ' ■The Hon. F. M. B. 'Fisher made Some ..telling remarks last -night when referring to the criticism levelled at-the . Government for,, importing the General iManager of Railways. /• The country lhad been, deprived of the best brains in. «,the past, ho said, because the . State : Would not. pay ;a proper price. It was ' b popular thing to say Mr. Hiley was : .paid;£3ooo a year. An English rail.jvay company, with , a capital of £35,000,000, as we had here, would pay J a manager £10,000 a year, and be'glad ;to get a good man. He believed that ■BS far as Mr; Hiley was concerned, he vjrrais a very efficient man. . ;:;; A: voice:: Are you efficient ? j;:■■■'.•Mγ. Fisher: Well, there are some peo- : pie who don't like being paid by effiocienoy, because they,woiiid etarvej and ■ (Whenever they hear'of a. man being adequately paid they feel. envious; and : ; want to have a share. , ! The' Govern■ ment wanted every man to get efficient ; pay for the work he did, but they want.'ed him to .do efficient-work for the pay Vie got. (Applause.) ;;■,■ ■". '..' ' ■ .'. A voice: Do you earn, yours?' ':'■'■■„':•.'. v ; -Mr., Fisher: Yes, I' ;do. '.'l.really think : ii>;is; worth the money l-get'to .'come here• arid;hear the silly remarks made by the; like of you. (Applause.) : He said he would not like to go to meetings and not hear those eilly remarks, (because it lot' the country understand ■■' (what it would ho like if it was run by ;' the makers of; them. (Applause.) ■-.

■/ 'At his meetirig in St.i Paul's Church- •■ room, Tinakori Boad, last night, Mr. ;H. G. Holland said he was in, the field .weeks before Mr. Turnbull obtruded to , split the "Progressive";vote. Every- :'-•_: wsdy knew it - was an open (secret that v.rthe rank and file of the Liberal Party !had no eay in the unfortunate selection .-'of Mr. Turnbull, and that he would v shave been withdrawn were it not for ■■'; the timidity of the Liberal-leaders, who :, iwere afraid'of the effect of the;cry of I '"Bed Fed."; upon! some of .their rich fcountry supporters.. So now-Mr. Turn'3bull had to be led like a,lamb,to the ; ielaughten'.:' .:■':■.i „,/,;'',-- ;' ■;..: : .; ■:'■■■"■ '';- . 'After deaiihg for over- half an hour >ith the work done by' the Reform Government'! for; Labour, .the.' Hon... F... M. Xiß: 'Fisher'; finished up his.', remarks last night by {referring to tho Printing/Department," and showed the reforms.car.- , 'tied put there. "I-want to say," he teoid, "although it might/'be. considered egotistical, but I take some pride in ; ithe fact that the 500.employees, when ; the-time-came to hand overthe office to the Civil: Service Commissioners, met togetherJ'aiid presented'me with a handsome illuminated address)"and told me jthat in tTie first twelve months of my : office they had Had more reforms than .an the past 25 years. (Loud applause.) •,'■; On/the- top 'of rtliaf.it'cannot bo said that nothing ■ was dono for- Labpiir:" ;'{Applause.);;. ;/ .:■', ':- : ,v .'"ThelGpvernment's action in 'apqint--sng political .opponents to seats in'the .Upper-House is-' unique' in the politi- ' cal history of..this country," remarked '■'■Mr.- R.,A. fright; Rofo.rm: candidate for the : : at : a ' meeting .;, at ; Karori. It'was another indication '.- of ; 4Jie ; Gfoterhmeht's. ■ determination that : lnerit .ahd;not; favour , should ■ be'.the -;■ dominant. cohsideratioh in .'such ■ mat-' , : ters.. 'No-doubt it. has caused a' great [ deal:of;'resentment, among the Ward '■ Party,, because it helped to more vividly impress the public with the unfair and indiscriminatiug .tactics of the ;iWardi3ts; in .the bad old days.-. •'..' :

> : ''Sir Walter Buchanan was asked at his '■Belvedere-.meeting,if 'the present Government piirchased the ; land that ithe first sod was turned upon for the -Mar-. : tinboroiigh. railway. ■'~ :. ■ ■ ';.''•' ... .: Sir Walter said he vwas very pleased the question had been : asked. This matter'.was being 'made a political one -by his'opponent. It had been said the iwidow who ownedthis land had not been approached upon this matter. That was 1 contrary to- fact, and tile lady was very pleased to allow her land to be taken at compensation. In any case it was not -necessa-ry for any Government to approach anyone in regard to land for railway, instruction,-, except after: tho survey, levels, etc., had been completed. Then the owner was approached and[.tho /land takon. Th<i Act /was very clear .-upon the matter and any person aspir> ing to political honours should know, this full well. . ,

"What about child labour,?!' asked an Interjector at the Hon. R M. B. Fisher's meeting last night; ■ ■ ■Mr; Fisher replied that; no child labour was imported into New Zealand. .Hβ referred' to the Government's boy labour'immigration , : scheme, and quoted from the report of the' Cost of Living Commission, signed by" three' Labour men.' The report said that: the country kas underpopulated, and recommended . fcome such scheme as the - Sodgwick ficheme.''.' The Department, had the adHress of every boy brought out to New Zealand, and he believed that if the , Government, offered to pay their passages back to England to-day not one of those boys would go. (Applause.)

'■ . "A persistent rumour, is abroad that "the Post and Telegraph Officers' Association is taking an active though covert part in assisting certain candi- [• dates in tlieir election campaign," writes Mr. C. G. Camp, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Post and Telegraph Officers' Association. "I wish oe; the principal executive officer of the association, to state that tho rumour has no foundation in fact; The P. and T. Officers' Association certainly circularised -candidates (without regard to their political leanings), in.the interests of the right , , of appeal afforded Public ■. Servants ~ by the Public "Service Act, 1912. This circular was forwarded to .every- candidate, and the P. and T. 'Association acted in conjunction with 'the Public- Service Association in for- • warding it. Beyond this circular the association has neither directly nor in-, directly given information to or otherwise assisted'any cnndidate in his cam- . paign. Further, the association has neither supplied nor caused to be supplied information of any description to tho public Press of the Dominion."

Mr. P. W. Eowloy, Chief Inspector of Factories, has an announcement in this issue regarding tlie half-holidnj- closing beinir altered'ito Thursday afternoon in. stoad of Wednesday, this bcin? due (o the election. With factories it is not necessary to closo during working hours, but each factory omploycc must bo af- : forded, a.- reasonable onuortunity for votine, .:■■'. ■ :-.-•■ . x