CAMPAIGN NOTES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 310, 25 September 1918, Page 6

CAMPAIGN NOTES

Tim uncstion was put to 31 r. Mack last iiijtiiL as to why lie did not submit his niiTCo to 111 i' Labour ballot before deciding to come out as a Labour candidate. "I a.m very p;lad this question lins linen ask;:d," replied Mr. Mack. "1 will tell you. In the first place the organisation to which I belong is not affiliated with the Labour Representation Committee, aud the constitu-

tion of that committee v provides that no person shall be eligible for endorsement as a candidate of the New ZeaLabour Party who has not been a member c/f an affiliated Labour body for a period of six months prior to the date of the nomination. Therefore it would have been impossible for me to have gone to the ballot." If Mr. Mack is a Labour man why did he support Turiibull against Holland in 1914? This was oiiji of the host of questions put to Mr. Mack last night. "I never supported Sir. Turnbull," said Mr. Mack. "I was rung up on the 'phone, and asked who I was going to vote for, and I said that I was voting for Mr. Turnbull. 1 did so because I thought then, and I tVink now. to-day, that Mr. Tnrnbull was a (far better man and a more loyal man than Mr. Holland." (Cries of rage.) Mr. Mack wns noisily counted out for this declaration. On what grounds do you make the assertion that th« Labour Party is backing up the liquor trade? This question w.as asked of Mr. Mack last night, and it brought from him this reply: "Because several letters have apepared in the newspapers backing up tlio liquor trade signed by the secretary of the Labour Representation Committee. He says that Labour stands for Stato control, and that the prohibitionists are against Labour." "When Mr, Slack was working on the wharves in 1890 was he on the side of the strikers P" was a question addressed to Mr. Mack last night. Mr. Mack replied: "I was working on tho Ouohung_a Wharf in 1890, and I was on the side of the strikers. And when I was working afterwards in the Railway Department I paid in half a day's pay a week to keep the men who were on strike." (Applause.) . Mr. Mack was accused last night of being "run" bv the P.P.A. as a candidate. He declared quite .definitely that he was not a member of the organisation. Ho was not responsible for anything that they might do, but only for his own utterances and acts. Someone produced a leaflet that Had been distributed-in the hall, and again taxed Mr. Mack with being tho P.P.A. candidate, on the evidence that the leaflet was circulated by the P.P.A. Mr. Mack snid that he had not previously seen the leaflet, that he had had no part in the preparation of it, or iu the circulation of it. The statement was greeted with cries of disbelief, but Mr. Mack insisted that , his statement was absolutely correct. Mr. W. T. Hildreth, the National Government candidate, will-address tho ■electors at St. Peter's Schoolroom on Friday. In an advertisement appearing in this issue Mr. Hildreth" sets out the main planks of his platform. Tho Hon. J. T. Paul will speak in the Post Office Square to-day at noon in support of Mr. P. Frascr, the Labour candidate. Mr. 1 Atmore will si>enk in Post Offim Square at noon to-day, when he will make special reference to the tramway trouble. His next meeting will be on' Saturday, evening, in St. Peter's Schoolroom. Mr. C. W. Tanner will address the electors at the Willis Street School tonight at 8 o'clock.