TWO TAUMARUNUI ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 111, 31 October 1911, Page 4

TWO TAUMARUNUI ELECTION.

Tin- very successful meeting j| r . ,T,. n . nine's bail at Y\aitara lust evening was a promising ami a fitting opnninir fur his campaign. Indeed, it would have been surprising if it hud been otherwise. as Waitara has always hcon a loval centre of a loyal electorate so far as Mr. Jennings is concerned. The electors laiow full well that 110 mau could have served them more faithfully or more ablv. or would hiive made greater sacrifices in their interests than he. Mi'. Jennings has a fine record of public service, and is entitled to a continuance of the support and confidence he has been accorded by the electors of Taumarumii in the past, simply because ho has earned it. ■No Parliamentarian knows his constituents better than Mr. Jennings does his. Though having the most scattered and most difficult to work electorate in the whole Dominion, he. has always kept in close touch with bis people," whoso wants and hardships ho is thoroughly conversant with—wants he has ever done his utmost to supply, and hardships he

lias striven to reduce. Mr. Jennings told the electors last night that "the work c has been hard—few knew how hard—but ' it has been satisfactory." The satisfac- t tion that comes from a feeling that one lms done his best in the execution of his ] duty is probably the greatest and most , lasting of all pleasures, and this, we are sure, Mr. Jennings must enjoy in ( abundance. On personal grounds alone, therefore, the. member has undoubted claims to a continuance of the confidence 1 of the electors. Everyone knows Mr. ' Jennings' political creed. He is a stal- j wart democrat, who is not afraid to express his convictions, and even to vote against his own party when he feels they are in the wrong, as he did on the land question, on which he liolds enlightened and progressive views. Last night he traversed the Government policy in detail, as lie did the charges against the Government, putting the position as lie saw it clearly before electors, and showing that the administration has been quite absolved from the charges of "Tammanyism" and corruption to which it has been subjected. It was a capital fighting speech, and an effective reply to that given by his opponent in the same place a few nights before. The ground he covered was, it is true, familiar, but he touched on one or two new points. He expressed the opinion that a reform of the 'Upper House was needed, showing the defects of the present system of nomination, and advocating a chamber partly elective and partly i nominative, a constitution which, we are sure, the country would prefer to the present one. He also spoke in favor of a four-year Parliament instead of a triennial one. Me are not sure, however, that the country is ripe for such a departure. He also put forward a novel idea, that of making it obligatory for butter factories to retain 25 per cent, of their annual output for home consumption. We are, we must confess, not very enamored of the idea, which would not work out quite as simply or as Satisfactorily as 'it looks; and 'it is always dangerous to place artificial restrictions on the manufacture and sale of national products. Tlm=o are, however, but minor matters. On the broad and big political questions Mr. .Jennings J holds practical and enlightened views j that must commend themselves to electors.