HECKLERS’ NIGHT OUT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 489, 19 October 1928, Page 12

HECKLERS’ NIGHT OUT

MR. ADEANE AT PONSONBY UPROAR AND INTERJECTIONS *'<The £125.000 spent by New Zealand on the Singapore base is money well spent. The base is essential to us for the safe conduct of our produce,” said Mr. Frank Adeane. Reform candidate ■ for Auckland West. who opened hi-.-campaign at the Leys Institute last night. From the sfart the speaker was sub- j jected to heckling from all over the ! hall, and at times the uproar became so deafening that no one could be heard. Time and again the candidate shouted himself hoarse in attempts to get a fair hearing. Mr. Adeane announced that he was suffering from a severe attack oi laryngitis, and excused himself to the audience for the lack of volume in his voice. He bore up under his affliction, however, and answered his interjectors in kind, the house rocking with laughter under the fusillade of witty sallies that passed between the candidate and his hecklers. A FREE HAND Mr. Adeane. told the electors that he was a New Zealander born and bred and first saw the light of day in Gisborne some 42 years ago. He^was the son of an old colonist and had been a resident of Ponsonby for the past 18 i year«. Ho had travelled fairly extensively and had been in many countries of the world and had also been at the war. A Voice: Did you meet Coates there? Mr. Adeane; Major Coates was a very gallant soldier and don’t you forget it. “I want to make it very clear that I am not in any way tied politically,” said Mr. Adeane. “Although I am the official Reform candidate no absolute hard and fast pledge lias been asked of me. All I have been asked is, ‘Will you support the Reform Government on a no-confidence motion.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ” “I am just an ordinary working man,” he continued. “I have my little home and my big mortgage and all the things that are common to Ponsonby people. I am a Radical at heart. I was always a Liberal while there were any Liberals and I revere the memory of Richard John Seddon. When Seddon died lie left the Liberal Government with 64 of a party, but under the leadership of Sir Joseph Ward the Liberal Party simply faded away.” A Voice: Just like the old soldier. Here great uproar and laughter •upset the decorum of the meeting. Mr. Adeane: You can have a go at me next week when I’ve got my voice back. I’ll give you a fair spin then. A Voice: Tell us what your policy is. Mr. Adeane: I have purposely refrained from using figures in my address, but I’ll give you figures if you like. The Voice: Oh, no. Let’s have something original. “This little baronet, who upset the Liberal Party—this little baronet who came to Auckland 20 years ago,” said Mr. Adeane. Sir Joseph Ward with his title—” A Voice: Don’t be dirty. Why run Sir Joseph Ward down? He has the baronetcy, not you. Mr. Adeane: I mean that he deserved his baronetcy but he was not always as welcome in Auckland as he was the other day. Just because he has to-day become the leader of a party without a policy, and a party that has no reason for its existence except that it wants to beat the Reform Party, he is welcomed with open arms. Here a fresh uproar broke out, and though the candidate tried to continue he was obliged to wait for a considerable time. Mr. Adeane continued that the Reform Party came into power to do the decent thing for the farmer, who had not been given a decent chance under former Governments. As proof of what had been done for the farmer he said that the output of butter was nine times as much under the 1928 Reform Government than it was in 1912. Voice: But hasn’t the population in-

creased? Mr. Adeane: We are certainly passinS through difficult times but that is common to every country in the world, and is an aftermath of the war. We in New Zealand, have now turned the corner. The audience broke into prolonged cheering and laughter. Mr. Adeane said the United Party had no definite policy. Some advocated putting settlers on new land, some wanted to break up the big estates and settle people on them, and others had no land policy at all. “The best immigrant in the world is the baby, said Mr. Adeane. “I am very keen about babies and infant mortality. Laughter and confusion reigned once more, until a man rose to a point of order but refused to sit down when d ° S ° by the cha ™an, L^T arned by a policeman. The candidate went on to sneak of WaS interru Pted by cries of Give us your policy.” More tumult arose in the meeting. 4 r V ? 1 . Ce: Giv<2 US your policy. . -\ Ir - Adeane: How can I when X have had nothing but the braying of aeses since I started ? fUproad ) conclusion of the meeting the candidate answered several questions and concluded, amid Lutiner i inJ nk 7° u lor your ver y Patient hearawav ° f u the stufr runs uTlt hen the poll is over you tol I A am - not Very far from the nahm ‘° enjoy the camto f.v T wiii £ i' VOU J , have any Questions meeting l ” '* handle them at my next t e r' a n d™ cheer a amid