The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, November 4,1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1065, 4 November 1911, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, November 4,1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Mk Robertson, the Labour candidate, in his address at Foxton on Thursday night accused the Hkraud oi making a personal attack upon him. The grave injury to the candidate, which we have been guilty of, was in stating that Mr Robertson was an “ outsider,” i.e. a man who lived outside the electorate. The Labour candidate, however, before justifying his candidature should have read to his hearers what we really did say. Here it is : . . . . So far, the only candidate who has addressed a Foecton audience is the Labour candidate, who is the nominee of the Flaxmill Employees’ Union. When speaking here, Mr Robertson touched on the labour and land questions, and promised to deal with his full programme on a future occasion. Mr Robertson is a resident of Palmerston North, ant' came to the Dominion some years ago. He is the secretary of several unions, and is the chosen candidate for Otaki of the N.Z. Federation of Labour, ... At the risk of being

dubbed parochial, we think that this constituency should elect a representative from, within its borders, and in this connection Mr Robertson is a rank outsider. It is open for any candidate other than a resident to contest any constituency, and we are cognisant of the arguments on broad lines in support of this, but the fact remains that a candidate, other things being equal, who lives, moves and has his being within the constituency is the man who should command the greatest support at the polls Each electorate in these days of enlightenment should be able to produce suitable candidates, without having outsiders foisted upon them. It will be seen that we did not nor do we now question this candidate’s right to contest this or any other seat in the Rabour or Socialistic interests. More power to him if he can win under such a handicap. If, however, his political skin is too thin to stand such a pin-prick, which he magnifies into a personal attack, then he should at once quit the political arena. We have already made passing reference to this candidate’s remarks, and will deal with his platform at a later date.

According to a contemporary, the inventor of the wireless telephone, Mr Giudell Matthews, claims that he is nearly ready to place his apparatus upon the market. He has been conducting many experiments in London, and has succeeded in satisfying several experts that he is able to converse with a friend at a distance of over five miles. Recently he was locked in the strong-room of a commercial house, in the presence of witnesses, and the instrument he had with him conveyed his voice to another wireless telephone in a distant room of the same building, through steel plates, concrete and brick. Now he is contemplating a test through five miles of solid rock, between Chepstow and Tiuteru, and he has succeeded in speaking from Beachley, in Gloucestershire to New Passage, nearly six miles away, on the other side of the river Severn. The inventor states that his instrument, which can be made to sell at a handsome profit, for and costs practically nothing for maintenance, will consist of a box of such modest dimensions and weight that any man could, if he wished, carry one about with him, and thus become his own telephone exchange, able to get into immediate communication with any friend similarly armed. He points out that, apart from private use, his instrument would be of the greatest possible value to Great Britain in time of war, by enabling commanders of columns miles apart to keep constantly in touch with each other, and interchange ideas and information much quicker and more fully than they could do by wireless telegraphy under war conditions, or by any other means of communication. Some scientific men have expressed the opinion that Mr Matthew’s invention cannot be put into general use, but a few years ago a similar statement was being made with regard to Marconi’s wireless telegraph apparatus. It seems, however, that if many of the new telephone instruments were sold, the owners would be in danger of interfering seriously with one another’s conversations.