POLITICAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1331, 1 December 1914, Page 2

POLITICAL.

Mr John Robertson will address the electors in the Coronation Hall on Friday evening. The chair will be taken at 8 o’clock. Mr John Robertson has been nominated for the Otaki seat. His nominators include the following : —Walter Kirkland, Alfred Chase Hillier, James Curran, Shannon ; Geo. Stephen Whibley, John L. Harvey, Foxton; John William Thompson, Elizabeth Reed, Margaret Williams, Levin',• Wesley Knight, E. N. Lanchester, Wm, Macdonald Clunie, Robert Glentworth, Otaki; Walter Westaway, Te Horo; George C. Motley Te Horo; Lancelot F, Jones, Paraparaumu.

Mr W. H. Field’s nomination for the Otaki seat has been received by the returning officer. The nomination paper was signed

by 23 electors, among whom were the following : Messrs J. Sidney Smith, Paekakariki; Herbert Bond, Rikiorangi; M. Carkeek, Otaki; William Henry Karsten, Manakau; John Kebbel!, Ohau ; Fred. Roe, Levin ; Edward Law, Shannon ; John Davies, Koputaroa : Bernard Gower, Foxton ; Henry D. Hammond, Oroua Downs; John K. Hornblow, Foxton.

One indication of the prosperity of the Dominion and one of the working classes in particular, since the Reform Government came into office, is to be found in the increase in the deposits in the Post Office Savings Banks. Last month the excess of deposits over withdrawals amounted to ,£152,004, and the excess for the first ten months of the current year amounted to ,£1,020,562. This, despite the war, is at the rate of ,£1,224,674 for the full year—a sura greater by nearly a quarter of million sterling than any other year excepting 1907. The three best years in the past were 1907, 1910, and 1906, when the excessess were respectively ,£1,226,541, ,£1,013,424. and ,£1,00,050. The excess for the first ten months of this year thus exceeds the excess for the whole year in 1910 and 1906, and is two and a half times as great as the average of the annual ' excess under the “Liberals.” The rate of interest on deposits has also been raised by the present Government from y/2 to 3% percent., which represents a gain to depositors of about .£40,000 a year.

In view of recent events in the Pacific, some of the speeches made by Opposition members before the war broke out make interesting reading just now. As an example we will take Mr T. M. Wilford, who, it is whispered, has visions of appointment to the position of Attorney-General. The late member for Hutt was a member of one of the Opposition “ flying squadrons” which .sought to brighten up Sir Joseph Ward’s fading star by flitting about the country when it was the duty of members to remain in their places in Parliament and transact the business of the country. In a speech at Patea on July 20 last, a week before the war broke out, Mr Wilford said that “Mr Massey bad previously stated that he would never be satisfied until he saw a fleet in the South Pacific. So sure as the Massey Party was returned at the next election, so sure would there be a fleet in the Pacific.” Mr Wilford added : I beg you to remember this as you walk to the ballot box at the next election.” Electors, no doubt, will take Mr Wilford’s exelleut advice and ‘‘ remember this ” on December ro.