POLITICAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 128, 21 November 1911, Page 7

POLITICAL

i -MR. BELLRINUIJR'S CANDIDATURE.

It has been found advisable to change the night of Mr. Bellringer's committee I meeting to Wednesday instead of Tues- | day. The executive will meet on Tuesday night. MR. FORBES' CANDIDATURE, ' Mr 'W. Forbes addressed the electors at Okato on Friday last. Mr. D. Evans occupied the chair. There was a large gathering of electors, who gave the candidate a most attentive hearing. Mr. Forbes was well received, and dealt with the national debt, civil service, public works, and the land question. He declared himself a freeholder, an absolute majority man, and advocated the contract system instead of the co-opera-tive system, which he termed "daylight robbery." Mr. Forbes dealt at some length with the question of North vermis South, and showed how the southern politicians, who have had the handling of over thirty millions invested in our railways, have absolutely starved the North Island, and pointed out that of all future railway appropriations nearly the whole should be spent in the North Island until there is something like equality of transit in both Islands. If the Dominion is to prosper, said Mr. Forbes, this must be done. Several questions were answered to the satisfaction of the majority, and a ; vote of thanks, proposed by Mr. E. Wooldridge, seconded by Mr. E. Andrews, was carried.

Mr. Forbes was at Ivoru on Saturday evening. There was a fair attendance, and Mr. Mace presided. The candidate was accorded a vote of thanks, at the instance of Mr. W. R. Morris, seconded by Mr. Hodgson. MR. HINE'S WHANGA MEETING. ALLEGED INCORRECT REPORT. (From our Stratford Reporter.) At Tariki last evening Mr. J. B. Hine referred to the report appearing in our yesterday's issue, purporting to be a record of what occurred at his (Mr. Hine's) Whangaroa meeting. For flagrant misrepresentations and false statements, Mr. Hine said this report "took the cake," and he would strongly advise the editor of the Daily News to change his "own correspondent" agency to a person who may be relied upon. In the first, place no trouble was experienced in obtaining a chairman. Immediately upon Mr. Hine asking for a chairman Mr. Coxhead was proposed and seconded, also another gentleman named Mr. London, who refused nomination, and Mr. Coxhead was at once installed. Again, the amendment "that this meeting has every confidence in the Ward administration," was defeated on a show of hands by 39 to 3G, and the vote of thanks went off with a burst of applause. Then in regard to the construction works on the co-operative system Mr. Hine said he emphatically stated that by using modern machinery the workers would have better conditions to work under, the wages would be capable of being increased, and more works could be put in hand, thus keeping up the demand, for labor, at the same time obtaining; full value for money expended. [We do not wish to place Mr. Hine or anyone else in a false position, and regret if our correspondent has made : the mistakes attributed to him. Probably the correspondent will explain. Meantime we gladly publish thet above. Any differences we may have with can- | didates are aired in our leading and not carried intp pur reading columns. —Ed.] ]

MR. HIKE AT DOUGLAS.

(From a correspondent.)

Mr. J. B. Hine. the Opposition candi-: date for the Stratford seat, held a meet-, ing at Douglas on Saturday, 18th inst. There was a good attendance, about seventy persons being present. Mr. E. J. Graham was elected to the chair. The member was well received, and throughout the address there were frequent bursts of applause. Mr. Hine spoke of taxation and expenditure, and the unfairness of not allowing private members to introduce Bills re money and land. Sir Joseph Ward had stated that the Civil Service offices wove over-run, yet just before last election moat of the civil servants received a rise in wages. Then shortly afterwards over 1000 men wer« put oil' and no work provided for them. This did not compare well with the retrenchment scheme of the late Sir Harry Atkinson, who had started to reduce expenses by cutting down his own honoj rarium.

The way in which Bills were rushed through at the end of each session wag next dealt with, and Mr. Iline pointed out that as the Ministers would have j seven months between the elections and the opening of Parliament, there should be plenty of time to get all Bills in order. He favored the employees of the Railway Department being under the supervision of a non-political board. One great advantage of »ueb a measure would be the removal of a lot of power to purchase votes. AH money borrowed belonged to the people of Xew Zealand. The waste of time and money on railway works through lack of up-to-date appliancesl was a heavy loss. The proposed State Bank note i»»ue now brought forward by Sir .Joseph Ward had been brought forward some time back by the lion. Mr. llogg. A lot of fun was caused by the reading of the Hon. T. Mackenzie's I'ure Seeds Bill. Other subjict- dealt with worn the Mokau land, water power, loans and inI terest. and the <|uesliou of prohibition.

'.:ir i'X]»r; —<■■! hiti l" in favor at' lllu Uuu majority for both local and Dominion option. In reply to a question, tile candidate stated that In' favored coinpui.-oi \ military training. Mr. Arthur Xt't'dJimii proposed and .Mr. E. Coie seconded a vote of thanks and conlid'-nce ill tlii' candidate, which, upon bring pill to the meeting. was carried uiianiniously. Mi:. MiCi.rcCACKS ('AXI)!DATI'IiK. i-.l l.in-

K NT KI.KCTIOX. I From a correspondent.) A! ii:" ci'iirlw-ion of Ihr Hon. T. "Mackcii/ic's aiillii'.-- to the electors at Otakcho mi (Saturday la>t, the chairman (.Mr. U'. 11. be Flomming) stated that the Hon. Mackenzie was a statesman of culture and high character and was greatly ropeelcd bv both sides of the Jlouse and throughout the country. He controlled the Agricultural Depavlmi lit, that had done so much for fanners and especially the Taranaki district. Mr. Le Llemming enumerated in detail the nature and character of the work, particularly that relating to the grading of butler and cheese, and the instruction given in the dairying industry. •{"•.: • ; • ' giv: 'i ill'- hall mark to the country's produce, and the whole of the output could now be disposed of without the slightest question being ! raised as to quality. Speaking per«onj ally, he (Mr. Le Flemming) had hitherto J voted for the. Opposition, but he said that it was impossible for any person to

lie so blind to his own interests or tin l interests of the country as to refuse to support the candidature of Mr. Mackenzie. Continuing, Mr. Le Fleinming held that it was their duty to select able and honorable men entirely irrespective of party, and if voters did that tliev could be 110 fear as to the future good government of this country. He' unhesitatingly placed character and ability in the forefront when considering whom he should support, and lie could not understand any well-balanced mind doing otherwise. They had at this election the opportunity of returning a man for Tarnnaki such as might not again recur for long years. They would be false to their own vital interests if they neglected to support one who luul done so much, not only in this country, but abroad, for all that made for the'bcttcrrnent of the condition of the agriculturalist here and the placing of his pro duce, or the markets of the world be yond. (Applause.) He felt sure that the district would not faij to return sucli a man as the, Hon. Mackenzie had proved himself to be.

At the conclusion of Mr. Mackenzie's Aurora address the chairman (Mr. Harcourt) said that lie had listened to a speech that raised polities to a high level. One of the most remarkable features of the address was the entire absence of all personalities and the fact that Mr. Mackenzie had not once during the delivery of his speech, mentioned the name of his opponent (Mr. Dive). THE ECMOXT ELECTION.

To the Editor. Sir,—l must again ask you to grant :e space in your valuable paper to rei v to Mr. Smith's letter which appeared i Thursday's issue. Now, Sir, I claim uit I urn not exaggerating when I say Jiat any intelligent reader would at once have understood that the substitution of Mr. Smith's for Mr. Wright's name in the second sentence of my last letter was due cither to a printers' error or to .1 mere slip on my part. Then, Mr. Smith states that "by innuendo" I "applied the epithet 'turncoat' to Mr. Wright." Here he makes a mistake, as lie does in nearly every remark he makes in his last letter. There are, as I implied in my first letter, "turn-coats" in this electorate —that is, people who are reversing their line of action in the hope of material gain. Mr. Wright may or may not be a turn-coat for all I know or care. If his actions come within the seope t of the definition implied above, he is one. but if he has conscientiously changed his political opinions, and for that reason is supporting the Government candidate, he is not. Next, Mr. Smith states that my assertion to the effect that very many up-to-date dairy farmers are supporting Mr. Dive "is abundantly disproved by the fact that, farmers"—Mr. Smith does not say all, or nearly all, or even the majority of farmers—"all througft the district are working energetic-ally on the Hon. T. Mackenzie's committees." Queer logic, isn't it? Then, how very ''arcful Mr. Smith is to ignore the fact that the whole point of my assertion made in my first letter and briefly referred to in my second rc the Dairyman's change of attitude was contained in the words, "from July to October," words that do not appear in Mr. Smith's letter. Then, again, how delightfully convincing is Mr. Smith's Assertion that it was "obvious" that a certain article was "irrelevant" simply because the Dairyman summed up its own case in its own favor. Again, Mr. Smith refers to mv "personal belief in Mr. Mackenzie," and makes it appear that this is expressed in my letters, but as all who have read them know, I have not expressed in any form my ''personal" opinion of the flovernment candidate. : Mr. Smith then goes 011 to speak of the "Opposition" papers. If he, applies the word to the Dairyman I would refute his suggestion by pointing out that one of the lenders in the October Dairyman appeared under the heading, "Xot going in for politics," and, further.'that-under this heading that journal states: "To give a political" tone fo the Dairyman would lie one of those blunders that are worse than crimes-/"-'"]f;-tin the other hand, Mr. Smith refers to the Post, he simply does not, know-iwhat he is talking about. Lastly, Mr., Sjmith accuses me of "hopeless corifiision of mind," and the way he expresses his sentiment in this matter is excruciatingly funny. What could show greater confusion of mind than the following, sentence copied verbatim from Mr,. Smith's last letter: "His hopeless confusiih of mind, exhibited in parts of Mr; Wright's letter, are attributed to me, and, vice versa, shows his incapacity to intelligently continue this correspondence." Truly, after having written this sentence Mr. Smith is wise in making up his mind not to continue writing on the present subject. I congratulate him on his supreme wisdom. and with this ■ I close this correspondence.—l am, etc.,

• • C, W. TTF.LD. "Rnliotn, 18/11/1911. WHERE TJIK S!!()K PINCHES. To • the Jiditnr. Sir.—Tn discussing- politics -onft moots with many strange ideas, strange arguinonts. and, above iill-.-trmauy strange narrow-minded viowu; as to' vh'y a man should bo opposed to! the.present administration. People..thirfte they are all qualilied for the position of Colonial Treasurer. Ministeriiofi Ivrtlhvays, etc., by the cril ieisms thity-odwHioed'. Xo one objecLs to fair criticisms, mind, but it is another strange fact.tjmli-such quidnuncs have never taken ihe trouble to study polities or in the interim between the elections —and yet they know all about,-it; bow this should be improved and that was squandered! As .Mr. Dooloy would remark. "The pore dear-r-r-rs!" The idiosyncrasies of those who support the Opposition side aiv simply laughable.- -There is 110 thought of the political matter as a. colonial question. 110 trial to study the question in a broail-minded manner. The old cry [ have continually quoted as heing the strong point of (he dairy farmer (that is. "I'm all light; d the other fellow!'') will take a lot of stilling, but it has to come, and douU : forgot. When one meets with a man who says the fiovonuueiit is to bo commended for the good it has done, but who votes againsl it. b.'r.ui-e ii drew freehold Motions b;vU from selection and offered them as leasehold ami (hereby put the spoke in the wheel of the land speculator, who thought he bail a good thing on. it. show.-, he is personally interested as a land speculator, and Ihe action of the l!n----vornment pinched his shoo. IT'111! Where is the broad-minded view in a matter like that?

Again, another finds fault with the co-operative works, and. maybe, lie has never been on them to know the other side of the matter, forgetting how the laborer under' the old-style contract sy»tem was ground down, etc.; also forgetting the fact the Government in inaugurating that system was the only Government in the world that honestly tried to grapple with the unemployed difficulty that eventuated by the cramp-ed-up system of Government under the old Conservative part r. Can I'iry vise a better one? They imagine they can, but the flaws are that palpable that the worker winks the other eye. The arguments anent the co-operative | works by those who have never seen them and who would gladly avail t.hem- ' selves of them if they were put to it

| to-morrow arc disgusting, because of | the rank ignorance shown by people ! who ought to know better. The principle of helping the other fellow is not recognised in the least degree. It is to be hoped none of theirs or themselves will ever want it applied to lliem. \\ hen one says he is Opposition because ''Father votes that way," and meets the question of, "Well, no matter what party is in power you would be opposed to it," with the answer, "Yes, of course I would!"—well, is it not surprising that Xew Zealand has gone ahead like it has? Others who have sold their farms (or, at any rate; transferred them to another to scratch up perhaps £1 per acre rent) and who have a few hundreds to lend and who eke out a living doing odd jobs about the towns, are found on the side of the Opposition barrackers. Why? The old 10 and 12 per cent, rate of interest can't be obtained nowadays, thanks to the Liberal Government, and there again the shoe pinches. See it. eh, you small farmer! •Tust von look into these little thing? for yourself. It is amusing, really, to find the one-sided biassed f.irmer'whc has and still is receiving benefits from the Government Advances to Settler,' and who would have tho position lie now has, but would have been under the thumb of the 12 per cent, man for all time now at the period he should show his gratitude to the party that helpec' him to that position, trying to do his best to return a, candidate to the partj that has always opposed the measure; that have been of service to him. T1 is not understandable. Gratitude ir such persons is a minor quantity, but they forget it is by such., fictions ai men they are judged. Tt 'is furthe: surprising how anxious they are for tin well-being of those poor beggars in th< backWoeks, but if their own neighbo: is in hard luck and a paltry half-crowi would be of assistance, thev cannot se< the force of "shelling out?' Oh, no the old conservative spirit is shown her in its worst form. People who vav little inclination to read the world's do ings an<l whose world is the four corner of their sections are good game for th misrepresenting agents of the money lender, the land agent, the big estai man, and those whose blood-sucking pre clivities have been curtailed by the legis lation of the Ballance-Reddon-Ward Ad ministration. Young men, whose sol trouble is the perusal of sporting new in the papers, at the last moment havi developed great political knowledge, am one listening to them can always recog nise the stock arguments of the Opposi tion "blatherskite," the big man's agent the money-lender's tool, and it is to b hoped the day does not dawn that the; themselves do not get into the clutche' of those who are hehind all the agita tion for so-called reform. When a mai whose - iion is so di'

section is so disgraoe. .xy neg ected with weeds applies for an advance under the Government Advances and is refused bpcause the security has deteriorated, and is now a strong Oppositionist oil that account, can he he called a fair-minded specimen of the farming community? It is all self, nothing else, and there the shoe pinches; and is he in following a party that is decrying all the good done for the Dominion by the Liberal Government just because the shoo did not pinch him? When a man is supported by the fanners as a candidate and who owns land covered with weeds in such a disgraceful state that it is a menace to their .own sections and the province generally! it 'is another feather in the bunch of those things that make the small farmer of Taranaki a paradox, and all because the shoe pinches. H'lW—T am, etc.. •TOE B. SIMPSON. Makctnwa, 18/11/11.