THE GENERAL ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2326, 7 December 1914, Page 6

THE GENERAL ELECTION

CAMPAIGN POINTS. NEWS NOTES AND ADDRESSES AND PRESS COMMENTS. . The Federation of Labour .wishes to rule New' Zealand. 'It has . not the power td do so. • As ithe next best thing it wishes to see ■New Zealand ruled by the Ward party. -Why is this? Have you forgotten what happened d,urdng the days when the Federation at- ■ tempted to take the.trade of the country by the throat? The position was' succinctly put by Mr. Herdman in Parliament on December 12 of last year. Sir Joseph Ward had been finding, fault with .. .what was being done to suppress mob rule, and Mr. Herdman re.v.'/ plied:— ■- . ■ .: "So for as my recollection serves me I do not knovr of any help- ■, ful suggestion the right honourable gentleman has made, but I ao : :'v ■■ know that by liis indiscreet utterances in the House at the b'egin- " ; ' * ' >. ning of the strike; and, indeed/ throughout those troublous tunes, he • ■ ■ did much to fan the.flame and put kerosene on the fire. j* ! . ' "I am.quite certain that the speeches he 'made in the House ' ' when the itrouble was at its .worst, have done, as much as anything to help to keep it alive.' . -. ■ ; "Another-thing I am oonvinced of is this: that the present int dustrial Itroublo in New Zealand is due to the weakness of.the Government over which the right honourable gentleman presided; "And I am quite certain that if the tramways' strike-in Wellington had been handled with firmness and courage, you would . - ' never have had the TVaihi strike, and, no doubt, the strike of: 1013. ■ "But as I have said, tho weakness and pusillanimity exhibited'by •, * the right honourable geutlemau in connection'with thalt strike stimu- . lated the. Socialists and 'strengthened the position of the Pted .; Federation. ' • "I. am confident that our predecessors in', office by (the weakness . they displayed encouraged these men in' their attempt to hold up the . . ■ industries of this country. 1 . , "They "did : nothing to. stop the progress of (the Red Federation :v. ; movement.- .No, they took-no such action, and. why? It was their votes that' they wanted, and : consequently they offered sops to these men and encouraged ithem in their movement. ' . Remember that* tho party which is lending its assistance to the iWard party and hopes to hold the balance of power is composed of the same people under ,whom the officers on the. wharves were assaulted a year ago; under:whom the steamers Defender and Rimu- •■ ■ .taka w'ere rushed,-and ; the people on board brutally assaulted; under whom the wharf- barricades, were lawlessly pulled. down and the'material thrown into the harbour; Tinder whom vehicles going :; v on to the wharves were forcibly turned back and the drivers threat- ; ened; under whom shipping was held up and the farmers of the country threatened with .the ruin of their produce; under - whom .threats were made to burn the homes of the farmers who had been compelled to come to Wellington to protect their produce .and. the community against mob rule; under whom three constables were attacked-in front',oi Whitcombe and Tombs, and one of .them nearly killed; under whom the police at the Post and Telegraph Stores, .were attacked, the fence pulled'down, and the mounted specials' v and regular police who were there stoned' and . assaulted; under , whom twenty'regular police, and thirty mounted, specials were 'wantonly attacked in the Post Office Square while eii route from the station to the barracks, and revolvers fired, whereby a hbrse ridden by a regular constable was seriously wounded; under' whom the farmers and their sons' from the country, 'who had come to uphold v law and order, and enable their produce to be shipped, were sub- : jected to dastardly assaults with stones and scrap-iron in Featherston Street and elsewhere; under whom the Buckle Street riots were .: promoted, the ."Specials" assaulted, and even revolvers'fired at them by brutal ruffians sheltered under the cover of the mob oi rioters. . The farmers and the farmers' wives have not forgotten these, things; nor have the people in the cities who witnessed the attempt of the Federation of.Labour to intimidate and terrorise the com- • munity with cowardly, acts of violence, and all the brutalities of mob rule. ■ ■ ■ The-Federation of Labour wants to put the Ward Party into office. It is fighting all over the country to injure the prospects of Reform candidates. ' ' . - , Every vote against Reform' candidates will help forward the , cause of ,the.Red ; Federation. If you wish to assist the lied Federation the . country by the throat again, vote for the Ward Partyi; ''

:y - On-Saturday evening, at Petone, a Strong branch of the Reform League [-■ was formed at tho conclusion of Mr; Samuel's ; committeo meeting. A general meeting will be called at .an yearly date, at which, officers null bo I elected. ■ ■ ■ 1 "The opposition to Mr. Isitt is simply jopposition, to ■ a candidate who stands i for a party whose return to office would !-.-■■ be a defeat for clean, and sober government. (It this respect Sir.; Isitt is no' \ >r. .better arid.no worse; and of neither less i nor more'importance,; than•'any; other Opposition candidate, whether' a , , wealthy brewer, a wealthy merchant/ ; a wealthy landowner, a mere profes- , : fiional syndicalist, or any other of tho , strangely-assorted enemies of Reform." i—Ohnstchurch "Press." : In _ mentioning Sir. Massey's action ; ; in importing 250,000 'bushels of wheat j r in order to remedy - the threatened : shortage.in this country; Mr.' Toogood, Reform candidate for Christchurcli 'North,- stated last week :that in : 1907, ' when flour, was up to £14 per ton, the Ward Government had not imported a single bushel. : The "Liberals".' , forecast of the re- ' . suits of the elections is that a "Liberal" ; . group of ,34 wdUbe returned, which, - with the aid of eight Red Feds.- will defeat' a Reform representation of 38. i; The official organ of the Reds not long ago remarked:—"By the balance of power we shall hold we' shall at any rate be ablo to dictate to either of the ■ other parties:" The Red Feds, cannot ."dictate" to the Reform Party, , anyway, says the "Press." When Mr. Massey gets-his majority, there will nob .be a Red Fed. who is not ,in his proper- place, on .the Speaker's left. Tho last time tho Red Feds, attempted : .to dictato to Mr. Massey, which was . during .the strike, Mr.'.Massey responded with his strongest card, namely,' the ; support of the, public. That is the card which is going'to uiiset all the anxious calculations of the Ward-Semple ' alliance.' ' i , It is contrary to national interests, r and contrary to the,traditions of West>< land Liberalism, to have any dealings :• with the Red Feds. The inference is obvious: the Opposition Party, so long as it must depend upon Red Fed support for a majority, cannot be allowed to attain offico. That is the case for a change in the. political representation of Westlarid; it is a simple case which everybody can -understand, and it is a . conclusive case—West Coast "Times.": / ! What he apparently regards as an unique experience has fallen to the lot ' of Sir Joseph Ward. . In. the correspondence over the Parnell' contest Sir Joseph expresses pleasure at Mr.' 1 • Lawry's .withdrawal from the contest, but'his joy is unbounded when he men-, tions that Mr. Lawry- "neither asked nor suggested any consideration whatever." It would seem that in his long and varied political career Sir_ Joseph ■has never before been treated with sucb amazing generosity as this.—"Herald." , It is more than difficult to follow the assumptions and allegations with which Sir Joseph Ward asks the public to believe that there was no -reason what- ( over for New. Zealanders to have been dissatisfied with the na,val situation in the Pacific during the time of peace when, the present "local navy", question ! arose, or for us it regard tile experiI once gained during the present conflict ns justifying the demand for improvement.—"New Zealand Herald." A good deal of the interest which was ' being displayed in what was regarded -;j bv many as tho main political battle here^—Fisher versus. Fletcherr-is now being transferred to the Hutt contest, f where Mr. Wilford, an experienced ' Parliamontariap, iB having.the fight of f. . . ■ ■ - , r..; - -r

his life against Mr. Samuel, the Reform candidate. It is surprising .to note the number of ■ "Liberals" who formerly voted for Mr. Wilford who have now not only decided to vote against him, but are working' hard-in the interests, of the Reform candidate.' In the city and suburbs seats .the position has hot changed much, except that there is a growing feeling ;that Mr. Fisher's majority will be rather a surprise for the Liberal-Labour combination—Wellington correspondent of the Christchurcli "Press." The Brunner disaster took place in 1896. / . .. The Commission on the Brunner disaster recommended precautionary legislation..: The "Liberal" Party ignored the Commission on the Brunner disaster: there was no Coal Mines Bill in 1896. There was no Coal Mines Bill in 1897, or in 1898, or in : 1899, or in 1900. Tlie "Liberals" in 1901 at last brought in a Bill, but ignored the report of the Commission on the Brun-ner-disaster,' , In 1903 a Coal. Mines Bill was brought in, but the "Liberals" 'made no use of its opportunity to make any provision whatever-for safety in the mines; . In 1907, 1908, 1909, and 1910 Coal Min'es Acts were passed, and still the "Liberals,!' while legislating for nearly everything else in connection with the subject; steadfastly refused to do what they now blame Mr. Massey, nearly twenty- years after the Brunner -accident, for not doing. This, Mr. Isitt would say, is Christianity in politics,—Christchurch "Press.": "Public men," says an Opposition journal in a spare moment between inventing hard names for the Reformers, "public men might just as-well use the party names in a proper and courteous manner." What IS the proper and courteous manner of using "AntiChrist," Mr. Isitt's new name for Reform?— Christchurch "Press." "That strike was notoriously organised by a syndicalist organisation to ■get the trade of the Dominion under its .heel; at the very time that tho farmers arid the community wpre Telying upon' the free export of produce. Sir Joseph Ward's Party has the support of'those who are denouncing Mr. Massey for tho stand taken by the Government, and these gentlemen do not give thoir support for nothing. All those who . can Tecall.the conditions in the spring of 1913, when the wharves were in the hands of a 'Strike Committee,' when export was suspended, and when anarchy and ruin were threatening as an alternative to abject submission to an agreement-breaking and alien-managed organisation, will have a very pronounced opinion as to the 1 of a party which is working hand in. hand with the ringleaders of the Federation of Labour."—Auckland "Herald." When the Reform candidate for Nel-son,-Mr. T. A. Field, was visiting the Pelorus Sound he.; distributed some papers to tli6 settlers. At one place, just, as the launch was moving from the shore, he threw a paper which fell in the water. One of the settlers went in above his boot-tops to got it, and when he saw a photograph of Mr. Massey on the cover, he remarked: "I would go through a good dDal morp for that man." The contest is between the Reform Government, which has given tha Country clean, honest, and common-sense administration, and an, openly-flaunted alliance of the Opposition Party with that Federation of Labour element which endeavoured to hold up the busi-' ness and industry of the country twelve monthsa?o—Auckland Reform Lawwe.,