MR J. M’COMBS, M.P.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16486, 27 February 1914, Page 2

MR J. M’COMBS, M.P.

ENTERTAINED BY WOOLSTON CONSTITUENTS.

Mr J. M’Combs, member for Lyttelton, was entertained last night in the Woolston Oddfellows’ Hall by a very largo and enthusiastic gathering of his constituents. The hall was decorated throughout with flowers and greenery, and ■an orchestra provided music. The Mayor (Mr J. J. Graham) read apologies for absence from Messrs W. T. Mills, and J. Robertson, M.P. :■ „ , The Mayor welcomed Mr and Mrs M’Combs, and expressed the belief that the new member would do much not only for the Lyttelton electorate, but for the whole dominion. It was a matter for ' congratulation that the constituency should be blessed with a member who had given so much study to the problem of eoonomic wealth and its distribution. He hoped that Mr M’Combs would long be spared to represent the district. Mr E. J. Howard moved a resolution of congratulation to Mr M’Combs on his return as member for Lyttelton. Ho said that he could offer his congratulations the more heartily in that the fight had been so hard. , He did not attach so much importance to a member’s work inside the House as out of it. where the member should bo ever 'seeking to find out what v the people wanted, so-that, they could giyo it to them in the House. . In'; all sincerity he believed that the mantle of Mr T. E. Taylor would descend on Mr .M’Combs, who was "just as earnest a man. He was the beginning of representation by the people themselves. Up till now it was a matter of indirect representation owing to the country quota, which should be wiped out. Mr J. A. M’Cullough, in seconding the motion, said that he was pleased to be, present , tocongratulate ".Mr M’Combs whom ho had known and associated with for many years, as an earnest social reforiner out to benefit the wage earners; Mr M’Combs would make mistakes, but 110 J serious ones, for his wife was a good helpmeet, who had greatly assisted him to attain his present position, and would help him in the future. Years ago in the early nineties the district had returned-Mr W. W. Tanner, of whom they were proud, but he had made the mistake of allying himself with a party that had no principles except those onunciated by its leader. Mr. M’Combs stood for a party whose principles were in black and white. At present the Parliament was held by a more reactionary party than had been in power for many years, and ’Mr M’Combs might not be able to do much in the House, but he could hold aloft the torch of truth and act as a propagandist for the party throughout New Zealand. Mr M’Cullough said that as a member of the Arbitration Court . he had always had faith in the principle of arbitration; but ho had not a great deal of faith in the principles of direct action. Sometimes his faith had been shaken in the principles of arbitration, but never in the power that Parliament could exercise in the lives of the people. It was by the return of members imbued with tho same principles as Mr. M’Combs that the salvation of the country would be attained. The machinery of legislation must be captured by the people. Lytteltpn had. done itself honour' in returning Mr M’Combs, and Mr M’Combs would do Lyttelton honour in his work for sooial democracy. There might be more brilliant men in Parliament, but none more sincere.

The motion was carried unanimously, with applause. Mr .M’Combs, in responding for himself and Mrs M’Combs, returned sincere thanks. He felt very much at home in Wool-ton, which was a stronghold of social democracy, with a larger percentage of Social Democrats than any other district in New Zealand. The party was not only a movement in New Zealand. It was a world-wide movement side by side with tho Social Democrats of Germany, the Socialists of France and the Labour Party of England, and they all joined hands in an endeavour that would mean the emancipation of the people industrially and politically, and the progress of humanity generally. Mr M’Comhs again thanked tho gathering for its welcome and good wishes, and congratulated Woolston on having a Social Democrat as Mayor. , The speeches were brief and the evening was made up principally of musical items. Songs and recitations were given by Mrs Baxter, Mrs M’Jarrow, Miss Evelyn Heyder, Messrs A. Gardner, Crouch, Campbell, Davies and Priddy and Master Norman Heyder.