Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1920. LIBERAL LEADERS.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 February 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1920. LIBERAL LEADERS.

In the course of a speech made at a social tendered him at Petone on Thursday evening last, Hon. T. W. Wilfodd said as time goes on the Liberal Party will gain adherents in tlm H9u.se and in the country, for it contains men who have helped to govern, and also men who are fully equipped through experience and ability to gpnfjvd State departments wtih satisfaction to the Dominion, WJM) id tire Parliament of New Zealand pap question the great knowledge possessed by a ipflp lifce the H6n. w." D. g. Mi)ePpnal4, .op all masters relating to the productions of tne Dominion? He has served hi* apprep- , ticeship and become the man best tivted to be Minister for Lands''in the Parliament of the country, and every farmer in New Zealand knows that Mac’ is a wise cpppseller and •a true friend to the producers. To-day matters or finance loom largely on the political horizon. Wo gre told that one man on the Reform side who has acted as Minister for Finance, is leaving life Reform Government for other lands. Can any-member of the House pf Parliament point to any other member wbp is as capable a man as Minister for - Finance as the Hon. Mr Myers, who, in the absence of Sir Joseph Ward from New Zealand, proved his worth as acting Minister for Finance and gained golden opinions from those who know the work he did? I make bold to say there is no better or safer administrator in the Reform party to-day than the Hon, Mr Myers. Let me next take education, and I at once think of Mi T. K. Sidey, of Dnoed.ip; ,a member of the Liberal party, whose speeches on education already recorded in Hansard prove him to be equipped beyond all question for .the administration of the Education Department, while the Hon. Mr Ngata, returned unopposed at the last election, on the Liberal side, is the ’post brilliant member of the Native race that sits in Parliament, to-day. No member of the Native race in Parliament to-day will dispute that statement. Without going further individually let me suy that the Prime Minister realises these facts and lias had them proved-to him over and over again. Js there any reason with such men jn the forefront of the Liberal Party that we should be dismayed or disheartened at the temporary reverse sustained by the party at the last election? .On the contrary, the defeat will he looked upon as a milestone o;> the way to victory while the Liberal Party in the coming session of Parliament will be found to provide a buttress between extreme Labour and extreme Toryism, and before long the people of New Zealand will realise Mini; as moderation in legislation, as in everything, is essential to the wellbeing of the Dominion as a whole, so in consequence they will give their support to that party which stands for inoderaiition, namely, the jWberal Party. As a representative .o.r jjabo.py for Hutt as well as for the Liberals, I feel personally that before three years have' passed away a great change will have cpme over thp people, and they will rally to the Libera) .standard, perceiving as they will that it is the only party as at present established which can defeat the extremes of the other two parties. During the election I read and explained to jtl-ri provisions of the Board of Trade ■ Bill prepared under the authority of our Liberal Leader, JTOII. W. D. S. Mae- J Donald, and I told yuu that it was a pity for New Zealand that, its veal parent was not administering its provisions instead ot its adopted parent the Prime Minister. As tlm days go by my words will be proved to you with

telling effect, and though the provisions of the bill should be invoked by the Reform Party, against those whom it was framed to punish, any delay in setting the machinery of the Act ’in motion will cause those who are responsible for that delay to reap the whirlwind in the near future. Again I wish to refer to the Coal Mines Act prepared by our Liberal Leader, the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald, That Act contains a clause enabling the Government to obtain colliers for bringing coal cheaply and expeditiously to the railheads of the Dominion. I want to state here and now that that power to obtain colliers must be used and any failure to proceed after Parliamentary sanction has been given will not lie at the door of the Liberal Party.”