WELLINGTON CENTRAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 1, 23 September 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON CENTRAL

MR. HILDRETH MEETS HIS

SUPPORTERS

NOMINATIONS CLOSE TO-DAY

A-meeting of Mr. Hiidreth's supporters was held on Saturday. The constituency was divided into districts for a rapid 'and eflieient canvass. Generous offers of assistance and support were promised the candidate. Mr. Hildreth said that from present indications there was every promise of victory. Ho also said that lie would, in view of the shortness of the period before election day, endeavour to have the main points of his platform, together with the arguments in support of them, primed and circulated through.the electorate. Owing to the largo Town Hall bciii" engaged up to election day, lie had found it impossible to secure it. Heports from all sections of the electorate showed an enthusiasm which was most gratifying.

MR. FRASER ON "EDUCATION." A meeting in support of the Labour candidate (Mr. P. Jj'rnser) was held in the Alexandra Hall last night. Mr. E. Kennedy presided, and the hall was crowded. In addition to the main address delivered by Mr.- Fraser,-, short speeches were made by Mrs. Beck, Mr. D. C 4. Sullivan (of Christchureh), an! Mr. J. Read. < All three urged every worker to cast his voto for tho nominee of the workers' party. Mr. Snl'ivaii expressed the hope that the railway men would bring pressure to beaion Mr. Mack to prevail upon him to withdraw from tho contest. Mr. Fraser spoko on "Education," treating tho subject from the Labour Party standpoint. He declaiwl that every vote cast for a Liberal or a Conservative was a vote cast for an onomy of the working class, and that the aim of the Liberals and Conservatives was to give the worst possible opportunity to the children of the working class. Ho spoke of the child-labour horrors, of tho factory system of a hntidrsd yours ago, his point being that this was thn system upheld by the Libenl? and Tories of that day. He said that in order that children might have tne 1 ost possible chance in life the State should itiiikp itself responsible for _ the good feeding and general well-being of the expectant moth'er, and that .lid should bu given to the necessitous mother to remove the heavy burden of bringing up the child. The aim, he said, should be to abolish the present-..iimwturiil condition of affairs, when the coming (if another child was regarded with dreii-.1, owing to the fact that it would make the struggle of the parents . harder. The State Ehould also see to the housing of the people, for- the be.«t schools would not serve the child 'fully if the home life was destroyed by the conditions under which the people lived. The Labour Party stood for free, secular, and compulsory education from the kindergarten to the university, an ideal which could not be attained without radical change in the educational system, and also in the industrial system He advocated reduction in the size of classes, wer-paso in the number of and. increase in their pay, free school books and school equipment, good playgrounds, and continuation classes in work hours, pupils to be paid by their employers while attending classes. Hut he devoted a good deal of attention to the statement of his.opinion that tho apparent aim of the present Minister of Education—to use the technical schools to turn workers' children into profit-making units in the'industrial system, without regard to their cultural training—was bad. He did not condemn technical education as such.

'fHE.LABOUE SPLIT. . By Telegraph.—l'rens AB6ociat;ou. - CiirisichiKch, September 21. Mr. 11. Hampton, national president of tne Amalgamated: b'ociety ul Kailway Servants, has replied to tno protest of the Urey Labour ilepresentauon Committee against the alleged votc-tplittnig tactics ot Mr. Mack, secretary of the society, who is standing as an Independent Labour candidate tor Wellington Central. Mr. Hampton states that Mr. Mack became n candidate at the request of a number of workers who had conscientious objections to joining the Labour Party as at present constituted. The Itailway Society was not a political organisation; it contained men of all 'shades of political belief. Mr. Hampton takes exception fc. the suggestion that the executive, exercises an autocratic censorehip over the political opinions of servants of the society, especially as the demand for full civil and political rights for all railwaymen is a prominent plank in tho society's platform. If Mr. Mack is elected for Wellington 'Central, Mr. Hampton understands that such a result may involve a reconsideration'of bis appointment as secretary of tjie Railway Servants', Society. s

The nominations for Wellington Central vacancy close at noon to-day. It, is not generally expected that all, tho candidates who have been named as likely to contest the seat will actually be nominated. Mr. C. W. Tanner was nominated on Saturday. His nominators were— Herbert Ernest Airth, Aro- Street, bootmaker; Stanley S. Booch, Aro Street, newsagent; and Augusta A. Hunt, Boston Terrace, widow. At ii meeting of the Thorndon branch of the A.S.R.S. held yesterday, the attitude of Mr. M. J.- Mack in contesting the Wellington Central seat when there is an official Labour candidate in the field, was fully discussed, and the following resolution pas6cd: "That this branch of the A.S.R.S. emphatically expresses , the opinion that at no time in tho history of the Labour movement in A T ew Zealand. lias tho necessity for absolute solidarity been so obvious; that in. this connection it behoves every member of the community who has the interests of the workers and the country at heart to loyally and enthusiastically support Mr. Peter Frnser, the official Labour candidate- at the forthcoming by-election for Wellington Central; that tho candidature of Mr. M. J. Mack, general secretary of the A.S.R.S., is in tho interests only of the enemies of Labour; and that .this branch calls on tho executive of the A.S.R.S. to request Mr. Mack to withdraw from the contest." Mr. W. T. Hildretli, who lias been chosen as the Liberal candidate supporting the National Government, will address ihe electors of Wellington Central at St. Peter's Schoolroom, Ghuzneo Street, on Friday, September '11, at 8 o'clock. Mr. M. J. Mack, the Independent Labour candidate, will open bis campaign at Aro Street Mission Hall this evening. A list of other meetings.arranged appears in our advertising columns. Mr. U, Atmore will deliver bis opening address at t.lic Willis Street Prbjic School at 8 o'clock to-morrow night.