NEW ZEALAND POLITICAL REFORM LEAGUE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 28, 26 September 1912, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND POLITICAL REFORM LEAGUE.

MEETING ADJ OTJRiN ED. Bad weather, and counter attractions prevented tliere being a big attendance at the meeting in the Borough Council .Chambers last niguc, convened tor the purpose of forming in

Stratford a branch of the iNew Zealand Political Reform League. Mr. C. P. Lindegreen, the League s organiser, was in attendance, and at IW, Lindegreen's suggestion the meeting was adjourned till Tuesday week, when he will be passing through Stratford. In meantime efforts will be made to secure a representative gathering so as to successfully launch me Stratford branch. An interesting address was delivered by the Chairman, Mr. T. C. Fookes, prior to asking Mr. Lindegreen to place his proposals before the gentlemen present. Mr. Fookes prefaced his remarks Instating that he was sorry that the elements were so much against them, and that there had been counter attractions. Under these circumstances he was very pleased to seo anybody at all present, for he had expected that only the organiser and convenor would have turned up en such a night. As they knew, Mr. Lindegreen nad come there to found a branch of the Reform League. Though they had not had an. official branch, ho thought he might say that they had had an enthusiastic band of workers labouring in the interests of the Reform Party in Stratford. (Applause.) They had, as their member, one of the most prominent 'men in Parliament —Mr. J. B. Hine—a man who for many years to come had entrenched himself in the Parliamentary arena, and he was sure no man was more respected in Parliamentary circles than Mr, Hine, for the efforts of Stratford's member in the cause of Reform had been most stiecessful, and were very well known, indeed. (Applause.) "My Worthy Friend."

Referring to what the Government supporters had done for the Stratford electorate, tho Chairman said ho must speak in terms of admiration and praise of the efforts made by his worthy friend and esteemed henchman, Mr. E. F. Hemingway. Personally, he and Mr. Hemingway had como very close together, and ho thought they had been generally looked upon as the ringleaders in the movements of the Reform League hi Stratford. He was proud to think that Mr. Hemingway still took a very keen interest in the Reform Party, in Mr. Hemingway the Party had a great deal for which to be thankful, for that gentleman had done a tremendous amount of work in connection with the organisation; in fact, he had really laid the foundation of the Reform Party in New Zealand. The party had always locked to Mr. Hemingway as one of its leaders,

and the splendid organisation that had been evolved throughout New Zealand was eloquent testimony to diis many sterling qualities'. ' Tha West Coast. Mr. Fookes continued that he was' particularly pleased to see that among the. many branches of the Reform Party formed, there were some, esta.blisned and nourishing,in the West Coast of the South Isiand. ' The Reform Party had, had the temerity to invade' the vVest Coast stronghold. Mr. Massey,- their worthy leader, had addi-ess-od meetings on the Coast and had nad good receptions, and at the last election great'strides were' made. '■•'■'! he branches formed throughout iNew Zea-

land would, no doubt, make the Party a very formidable one'indeed. 'At the present time the Party was a strong one, and' he felt sure that even their bpponents would recognise the splendid work that had bgen done by Mv. Massey and his colleagues. They had much upon which, to congratulate Mr. Massey, especially in view cf the vyoeful predictions that had come, both from opponents and lukewarm supporters; tnat he lacked the qualifications of, a leader, that he lacked initiative.. Those predictions, the speaker said, had been disproved, and he was quite certain that they had in Mr. Massey a strong man, an honest man, and a thorough patriot. (Hear, hear.) The Premier's, colleagues were men of the foremost ability in New Zealand, the foremost integrity, and, he said, also, the foremost patriotism. Personally he would not have believed impossible for any man to be able to 'form such a splendid Cabinet; they were men working, not for the sake of emolument or personal aggrandisement, but for the sake of the country they lived in. Take, for example, the the case of Mr. Bell. It was a' .very great surprise to everybody that a man of his age, and Avith such a strenuous life behind him both in politics and in the public arena, should have accepted the important position of leader of the Legislative Council. It spoke well for our leading men, and showed a highly patriotic motive. There was no doubt that that incident in itself had done a tremendous amount of good work for the Reform Party in New Zealand. The country as a whole was to be congratulated upon having such an able leader, and he sincerely trusted that Mr. Bell Would be able to leaven, the mass in the Legislative Council, Moderates from Radicals, and assist the Government in bringing through .their political measures. The New Organiser.

In conclusion, the Chairman said he was very pleased to see Mr. Lindegreen there that night. Mr. Martin, whom ho had succeeded, was very well known in Stratford, and ho ' (Mr. Fookes) was very glad to hear such splendid accounts of the work Mr. Lindegfeen had done. On behalf of the Reform Party of Stratford, Le extended to Mr. Lindegreen a very warm welcome. He could assure jrim that they were an intensely enthusiastic band of workers, fully capable of upholding the interests of the Reform Party in Stratford. (Applause.) The Organiser's Address. Mr. Lindegreen prefaced his remarks by thanking the Chairman and those present for the hearty welcome extended to him. Ho also had to thank them on behalf cf the Premier for tho active manner in which the supporters of the Reform Party had stuck to the party in Stratford. Ho (the sneaker) wished to emphasise the remarks of Mr. Massey in this respect by saying that it was the lead given by Taranaki, and more particularly by Stratford, that the Reform Party were able to account in such numbers for the supporters of Mr.

Massey in Parliament to-day. Stratford was to be congratulated upon having such a man as Mr. J. B. Hine to represent it. On both sides of the House Mr. Hine was thought very highly of; indeed, so highly that he had been selected for that very important position of Chairman rf Public Accounts, one of the most important committees that had been set up that session. It was a post that f»ntailed a great amount of discretion and tact; it required a man of ability, a vide range of knowledge to ho able to direct the attention of the members of the committee to the little thines that pas's the ordinary individual. Already Mr. Hine had done good work in detecting little matters that had in the past gone by unnoticed. The

electors of Stratford should be proud of their member for that reason, if for that reason only. A Sugges'ten.

Mr. Lindegreen continued that il was his intention to have formed a branch of the League thero that evening, but the attendance seemed hardly sufficient, to give the movement a fair "push on." What he suggested was that a secretary should be appointed that night, and that gentleman could busy himself in the electorate. He himself would have timo before Tuesday week to spend two or three days in tho district, and would

visit the outlying portions of the electorate, with * the view to having a really representative meeting on 'luesday week. Pure and Clean ActeisiistraUan. The "speaker then went on to refer to the establishment of branches throughout New Zealand. "Wo hadl cast for us at the last election," he

said, "one hundred and twenty-eight thousand votes.. There is no reason why the whole of those one hundred and twenty-eight thousand people should not belong to the Reform League, not for the purpose of securing their half-crown, but tor the purpose of standing for pure and clean 1 administration, and for the purpose of standing solidly for tho interests of the country and the people in it." At the conference held in Wellington there were present one hundred and ninety delegates, and only four elec-, torates wore not represented. Speaking, of the West Coast of the South! Island, the people there had always been solid against reform, but Mr.: Jeffries, in Mokitika, had lately informed him that a branch of the Reform League had been established in Westland, and he, the speaker, would shortly be visiting there. Mr. Lindegreen'went on to say that he claimed that it was by the united action and effort of the people in the North Island that they could give an object lesson to the people of the South.- The people of the North wero united and determined to have clean administration, and to have in Parliament men

who .represented this—men able to stand up for the right, and do the things that should be done, and not work for the benefit of the' few as had been done in the past. Out'of the delegates sent to the conference there was only one whose expenses were borne bv a branch of the Reform Lea -gue. This went to show that they, as a party, were loyal, and it went to show that they had the. interests of the country at heart. At the next conference they were determined to have delegates from every electorate. The March of Progress. , I Already one jiundrcd and ■ seven branches of the Reform League had been established, and they had only been working practically since last January, the initial meeting having been held on January 25th, 1912. Referring to Mr. Hemiirgjvay; Mr, i.ii,clegreon said that Mr. Hemingway had submitted one of the finest schemes of organisation which it was possible to have. That was five years ago, and if it had been, adopted then, the party would have been in office in 1908 in-| stead of in 1912, but by some unfor-.

tunato means the proposal put for-! ward by Mr. Hemingway was not em-! braced.' The modus operandi of thai League so far as Stratford was con-] corned was to elect a central commit-! tee in "Strafford, '"and then to have'sub-j branches at the more important polling.places. Then another propo. a t was that off raisinga fighting fund~th rough-j out thb wliblo' of "New f Zealand. In' years gone by sums of money had been raised in various ways towards the funds of the party, but he was sorry to say that these had been small. They went -to .the country at the last general election with' tlkrsum of £686, which' was a ridiculous sum for a party which was .supposed to have the wealth of the country behind it. One thing he would say that they had never had one penny piece from any vested Interest in New Zealand. It was a scandalous tiling to think the party harl such a 'small fund. In Australia Mr. Deakin went to the country with £BO,OOO behind him; they in New Zealand with but £630. He did not say for one minute that those gentlemen present should contribute and make up a huge fighting fund, but they should all feel sufficiently interested in the matter to pay a small premium to ensure their having men in Parliament to represent them in whom they had. faith. He could assure them that he himself was not going to bo barkward in asking for monev; if he thought a. man could afford £2O he would ask for it. '

Labour. They would in a short time be fared with a serious problem, and that was Labour. The party was not antagonistic to Labour in any shape or form; they wanted to give a fcquare deal to the man who runs the mill, the man who works the farm, and tho man who drives the train, in the same way as to any man. And it was with tho view to doing that they wanted to raise a fighting fund. Within the next two years they wanted to raise £20,000, and this sum, invested, would go towards defraying the expenses of organising the Reform Party throughout New Zealand. The United Labour Party were endeavouring to raise from £SO a week, and to do this were asking one thousand persons to contribute a shilling a week, for tho purpose of fighting tho. exit-t----ing Administration. Well, the Labour Party were going to do it, and £SO a week was a very large sum of' money, with which a lot could be done. They must remember that it was easier for a leopard to change his spots than for a party led by a man like Professor Mills to keep on fair and easy lines 1 , and not to diverge into lines of absolute Socialism. They might have moderate views now. but as soon as men like Professor Mills and Mr. Powlds got power behind them they would be extremists.

A Linking Up. In conclusion, Mr. Lindegreen said that it was hoped to link up thbranches of the League in the wes' part of Taumarunui, Egmont, Patea Taranaki, and .Stratford. These branches could work together at election time, as they had community of interests. On Tuesday week he hoped to go into tho matter more fully, and explain the proposals of tho League. (Applause.) Election of Secretary. Mr. George Bond was then electe! 1 secretary, and the meeting was ad journed.