GENERAL ELECTION

Hokitika Guardian, 24 November 1931, Page 2

GENERAL ELECTION

i; ■ *TPREMIERS, lIFjETIX g

AT CHRISTCHURCH

(By Telegraph —Per Press Association j

CHRISTCHURCH, November 23

Long before the hour for Mr Forbes to address his meeting ait the Caledonian Hall to-night, thousands of people had congregated in the street in. front of the doors, anxious to enter. Admission to the meeting was by ticket only until 7.30. After this it was intended that; the general public should be admitted.

crowd in the roadway outside the, Caledonian numbered about three thousand, who clearly could not -be admitted. In the forefront of the crowd, near the doors, was ail angry section who tried to force an entry by weight of numbers. They, broke the iron gates in front of the dooiway. The police intervened at once, held the crowd back, and attempted to barricade the doors of the hall with two Jong forms. This barricade was broken down, and a much fiercer battle was fought in the ‘ hall doorway between the police and the men who had forced their way inside. In this battie the police drew their baltons, and they used them effectively. Fists were used freely by the police and by disturbers. The' combatants on both sides bore traces of the conflict.

'ln all twenty-five police wer§ on duty, and thi3 considerable force sufficed to provent riotsrs irom rushing , the halll , and' .taking charge of the. meeting. ' The crowd outside, so loHj£ as they kept) /quiet, /coffld hear the speech through a loud speaker, which sounded very clearly. There was much noise and some illtemper. One or two minor brushes between the rowdy element and the police occurred. These were not serious. No further attempt was made to force an entrance.

Inside the hah 1 Mr Forbes was given a good reception, and an excellent hearing. Mr W. Hayward presided. After the meeting, . the friendly people in the audience dispersed quickly, but the hostile crowd, along with many hundred curious lookers-on, re- \ mained. It was evident that Mr | Forbes would be given an unfriendly I. reception, or possibly worse, by this f crowd,: if he attempted to pass, and I' on the advice of the members of the | committee who had -charge, of the ar- ? rangementfs, it was decided that Mr I Forbes should leave the hall -by the I back entrance. | Mr'Forbes, with the others of bis . I party, scaled a high fence by means .of I a step ladder, crossed a private garden 1 into another afreet, and reached his | hotel unobserved by the hostile demon- -- strators. - -•• < • f In his speech. Mr Forbes followed I closely on the lines of his Rangiora | address. £e spoke on railways, unemI ployment, pensions, the Arbitration 1., Court, 'help for, farmers, and assistance f for seoohd.ar.yl,.'industries; He declared. I that 'the'abour Partes policy, as X enunciated, would, it carried out, I. mean extra cost to the country of ■ twelve millions. If any such policy iwere attempted, old age pensions, -about which the-Labour candidates are I showing anxiety, would not be paid, | because -they could not- be paid. A * -vote of thanks and confidence in the Coalition was carried unanimously. HOLLAND’S CHALLENGE. * . ' PALMERSTON N., Nov. 35. My H. E. Holland, the Labour Leader, spoke 10-niglit at the Opera -- House. The 'building was crowded to overflowing, 1 with large audience also ■ :-P in. the streets, listening through a loud speaker system. To night undoubtedly there was the most enthusiastic. Labour meeting ever held in Palmerston North. Mr Holland said that- Mr Forbes was ||t appealing to, the people to purchase jf New Zealand goods; but his GovernUj ment had been busy importing both Ifc railway sleepers and coal from overp! seas, while their own sleeper-getters and coal ipiners were standing idle.. j|i Mr Forbes now said that the imported W coal had been ordered from Australia p by hig Government as a stand-by I against action by the miners. _ That, W: statement was a flat contradiction of | the Prime Minister’s reply to himself H (Mr Holland) when this imported coal x was being ordered. At that time Mr lit For-bes telegraphed that only a small E;' quantity of coal was being brought from Australia, and that it was being .if' obtained for storage in open air depots. An opposite announcement .was made at the same time by Mr Veitch, jj|'- then Minister of Railways, . who de-,-P: clared that the coal was being importW ed because it could not be procured i|; from the' mines of tfye f Dominion. Mr Forbes’ latest contradiction. of what Mr p! iVeiteh had said. § , Another misstatement, .by the Prune || Minister to -Ms Dunedin audience was that he (Mi* Holland) had said that ifi; the 'speech made .by Mr Coates at Dar- ■§. gaville had been broadcast.. Ho (Mr Holland) had made no reference whatMever to Mr Coates’ Dargaville speech. ■jj| What he had said was that, from' Wellington, some time previously, Mr Coates had broadcast a statement of ■i; Government policy in relation to unH employment, and that the speech, so broadcast had contained no ray of •| hop© for the betterment of the posi-||-tion of the unemployed. h' As to Mr Forbes’ repetition of his . 4 assertion that he put the matter of . j forming a National Government before the Leader 1 of the Labour Party, lie now wished to invite Mr Forbes to make available for inspection his files, ,'f with the communication which he claimed to have sent, and the repiy

which he claimed to have received. As a matter of fact, no communication had been sent him by Mr Forbes, and, consequently, no reply could have been received by that gentleman from himself.

A vote of confidence in the Labour Party was carried amidst cheers.

INDEPENDENT WA XTED. BY ELTHAAI LIBERALS. ELTHAAI, November 23. Tile latest development, in the contest for the"Egmont seat is. the dispatch to-day of a letter to the Prime Minister by the local Branch of the United Parity urging him to cancel his forthcoming visit to Eltham, as, to quote the letter such visit by him “can be nothing but destruction to Liberalism.” A week or S(> ago, the United Party here disregarded the Prime Minister’s urgent plea, and gave their allegiance to Air -Wilkinson, the Independent candidate. It is in support of Air Gaw-ith, Liberal candidate, that the Prime Alinister’s visit to Eltham is being undertaken. MR DOWNIE STEWART. DEFENCE OF FINANCE POLICY. DUNEDIN, November 23 The Minister of Finance, Air Downie Stewart, Coalition candidate for Dunedin West, opened his campaign to-night before a large audience, and devoted considerable time to Labour’s policy as outlined by Mr Holland. The contrast between the two policies, Labour’s and the Coalition’s, was clear and simple. The Coalitino’s view, he said, was that national finance having fallen heavily, they must take steps to reduce expenditure. They had to resort to heavy extra taxation, both direct and indirect, to fill a gap caused by a rapid fall' in revenue. Extra taxation was imposed to help the budget. It could not go beyond certain limits without destroying sources that created revenue.

The Labour Party, in its manifesto, said that a. halt must be called to the imposition of further taxation. Fie could not reconcile this with the fuither statement that the source from which taxation is being drawn must be extended, and that the national income must, be increased. Nor did he know how Labour could reconcile it with its policy of further expenditure a’l round, and a restoration of cuts. Labour quoted entirely misleading figures to suggest that recent increases in income tax had hit the small man harder than the big man. All increases were‘graduated in an ascending scale. The Minister quoted figures to prove his statement.

The Labour Party alleged that the assessable incomes had increased bv £16.(100,000. in about ten years, and ought to be available to get more, revenue from. The Minister said he would repent what he had already told them, that they had confused as-

sessable and taxable incomes. That was owing to the change in the method of stating the figures. Dealing with the repeal! of the graduated land tax, the Minister refuted the allegation that thereby :l gift was being made to the wealthy landowners. The reduction in land tax meant an increase in income tax. Regarding Labour’s policy for the establishment of a State Bank, Air Stewart said that if the electors knew what this meant, they would reject Labour's policy on this ground alone. It was owing to a danger of politic-mis gaining control of currency that the Australian Federal Senate p s ponrdl a Bill to establish a Reserve Bank in the Commonwealth last year.

Air Downie Stewart stated that- Air Holland had -said lie would borrow £25.000,000 in New Zealand within three or four years. His answer was that neither Ah Holland or anybody else could borrow that .sum in Now Zealand in the-period stated, whether loans made voluntary or compulsory. Labour’s proposals could have one result only, that of national insolvency. A vote cf tha ks and (onfiden e was passed.

AN INDEPENDENT’S SPEECH. DUNEDIN, November 23. Mr R; S. Black, Independent candidate for Dunedin North, addressed a meeting of the electors at Albany St., School to night. He expressed'the view that hbrrowing must cense, except for reproductive purposes.

OLD LIBERALISM. DUNEDIN, November 23. Ah* John AlcDonald, the Independent Liberal candidate for Dunedin West, opened his campaign to-night, having a good attendance. He advocated the more equal division of the income from farms among those who did the work, kept up the stock, and supplied the land. He hoped to see the old Liberalism of the days of Seddon revived.

MASTERTON CONTEST. ■ MASTER TON. November 23. AD P. Al. Butler, the Official Labour candidate for Alasterton, opened his campaign to-night. He had an attendance of about nine hundred people at his meeting, and he' had an extremely friendly reception.

VIGOR BROWN RETIRES. NAPIER, November 23. The Mayor, Mr J. Vigor Brown, who had been nomintaed as Independent Coalition candidate for Napier seat, announced his withdrawal at a meeting at AYest Shore to-night. MR SPEAKER. FORECASTS MORE TAXATION. DUNEDIN, November 23. Sir Charles Statham, Independent candidate tor Dunedin Central, speaking at AlacAndrew Bay to-night, c-n----lined himsielf principally to the speakership, saying that he would not he drawn into political strife incompatible with the high office he had held' for the past nine years. His only promise was that, if not re-elected to the Speakership, lie would resign and submit himself again to the electors, who would then 'have the opportunity- < t hearing him speak untrammelled by the restrictions now imposed on him.

He said he favoured a universal superannuation scheme, but said that it would lie useless to talk about spending now when it would take the Government all its time to pay the standing charges. He also predicted more taxation next session.

ABSENT VOTERS AND POSTAL VOTING. DIFFERENT PROCESSES. Probably the average, person is not acquainted with the difference between postal voting, and voting by an absent voter, Postal voting ie intended for thpse who, owing to illness or infirmity;,, are unable fo attend personally, and record their votes at any polling booth. It also applies to those voters who will he absent from the Dominion on polling day, and to those who on poising day will not be within five miles by the nearest practicable route of any polling place; or who will he travelling under conditions which will preclude them from attending any polling place to vote. Provision also is made for postal voting by lighthouse-keepers, members of their staffs, the wife of a lighthousekeeper, and the wife of a member of a lighthouse-keeper’s staff. In remote localities, where the number of persons isolated is fewer than 1-5 (the minimum number in respect of which a polling place can he provided), electors can exercise their vote b> pone. Those desiring (and qualified) to vote by post are required to make api'liciftion for a postal vote-certificate and postal ballot paper on a form which can he obtained from any Registrar of Electors, or Returning Officer. The vote may he exercised immediately on receipt of the ballot paper, which should lie returned forthwith to the Returning Officer.

The process by which an elector can exercise his vote as nn absent voter is much simpler. All that . Is necessary is for the voter who ,%<k,ifc impossible to vote in in; own oh.vtorate

to enter-a voting place in any electorate and ask the Returning Officer for an absent voter’s voting paper. After giving his name and the name of tlie electorate on the roll, on which his name appears, lie is handed .a voting paper on which the names ol the candidates are written, and proceeds to record his vote.