POLITICAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 136, 4 December 1911, Page 4

POLITICAL

MR. MASSEY AT TAUMARUNUL By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. Mr. Massiey, Leader of the Opposition, addressed a large meeting at Taumarunui ]a3t night. A vote of thanks and confidence was carried amid cheers. CANDIDATES AT THE BLUFF. ' Invercargill, Last Night. Mr. James Allen addressed a crowded audience at the Bluff on Saturday night and received a good hearing witli some interjections. Mr. Hamilton (candidate for Awarua) also spoke for fifteen minutes, and was well received. A vote of thanks to Mr. Allen and renewed confidence in the Ministry was proposed; also an amendment of thanks to Mr. Allen and no confidence in the Ministry. The Mayor, who presided, called for a show of hands, and said that about 30 held up their hands in favor of each motion. Therefore he declared neither carried. TAUMARUNUI ELECTORATE. MR. JENNINGS' CANDIDATURE. Mr. W. T. Jennings, who left Waitara on October 31st on his electoral campaign, returned to Waitara on Saturday evening. In an interview with our representative, we learned that during that time Mr. Jennings has addressed ov.cir 60 meetings at various places in the electorate, in whares, sawmills, public halls and schools, and travelling by train, horseback, coaches, and steam launches. Some seventeen days of the journey was done on horseback, an average of thirty miles per day being rididen. The longest journey was from Ohura, through to Waitaanga, on to Kotare. A meeting was also addressed at Okau the same day The weather conditions during the greater part of the trip were very bad', hetuvy rain storms, thunder and lightning, hail and heavy winds being experienced, but the very enthusiastic receptions accorded: the candidate throughout were most gratifying The largest attended meeting was at Te Ku'iti, Hettet's large hall .being packed from the stage to the doors, some 800 persons being present. The Mayor of Te Kuiti presided, and on the platform were 28 representative settlers from all parts of the King Country. The meeting was a success from every standpoint. At the conclusion a vote of thanks and confidence, moved by the cliairman of the Waitomo County Council, was carried amidst great enthusiasm. The next largest meeting was at Taumarunui, the Mayor presiding, and at the conclusion of the candidate's address a vote of thanks and 1 confidence to Mr. Jennings for past services was carried unanimously amidst cheers. In the Ohura the first meeting was at Otangiwai, and from thence on to Matiere, Niho Niho and Mangaroa the meetings were enthusiastic. At Matie.re, Niho Niho and Mangaroa the votes of thanks and confidence were moved by Messrs. Simmons, Mossman, and Stephenson ( ex-chairman of the Ohura County Council), all these gentlemen stating that they were formerly supporters of the Opposition, but they fully recognised the strenuous work done by Mr. Jennings, and his persistence in the matter of starting the railway works at Te Koura should be rewarded 1 by every one in the Olvuira casting their votes'for him. There is no doubt thait the Ohura people are gratified .beyond measure at the work being started at the northern end. The Kawhia portion of the electorate was visited by Mr. Jennings on November 15, and the trip through to Southern Kawhia, made under very adverse weather conditions, was very successful. At Marakopa the lia.ll was crowded, and great enthusiasm shown. On the motion of Mr. J. Willison, a well known North Taranaki settler, a vote of thanks and confidence was pased amidst cheers. At I Motaui, Tongaporutu, Uruti, Pukearuhe, Okoke, and U.renui, the candidate had ! real good, meetings, and many of the distortions and wilful misrepresentations which have been made so frequently by a section of the press, and some persons opposed to the Liberal pa.rty, were cleared away, and in each case votes of thanks and confidence were passed. Tikorangi was visited on Saturday evening, when a fairly large audience assembled. At the conclusion a vote of thanks was moved by Mr. J. W. Foreman, who mentioned that although he differed politically from Mr. Jennings, he (Mr. Foreman) had always .received the greatest attention and courtesy from the candidate in connection with any public matters that had to be brought forward during his chairmanship of the Clifton County Council. As will be seen by our advertising columns, Mr. Jennings will address the electors at Huirangi to-night (Monday) at 8 p.m., at Waitara on Tuesday evening ait 8 p.m., and at the Onaero factory on Wednesday at 9 a.m. THE COMING ELECTIONS. To the Editor. I Sir, —I desire to say a few words to you on election matters. That affair of Mr. Okey's about the Moikau bungle was in my opinion an attempt to make a mole-hill into a mountain, and the "mare's nest" was about as much on your part as that of Mr. Okey's. In respect to that election lie at Stratford: Why are people so ready to think that the Government will do this, that, or the other mean thing to serve their purposes. It is because everybody knows them to be tricky and dishonest to gain their own ends. It is no use denying it. There is no confidence in the Government's honesty. Whatever confidence there is in the Premier is, that he is the most likely man to gratify their vain and evil desires. Just now the Premier is making false and unwarrantable statements about the prospectß of his party to delude the people to his favor. His statements affecting party polities are not trustworthy. I am, etc., JAMES FORTUNE. Westown, December 2, 10,11. [Our correspondent takes the jaundiced view that the "mean thing" he himself believes is public opinion. The public is » very sane body, and it is perfectly able to discriminate between the false and the true. If the "tricks and dishonesty" of the Government stin.g our correspondent to bitter rebuke and unsupported statements, boats frequently leave New _Zealand for other fends wheie the rarihed political atmosphere might be more suitable to Mr. Fortune. A people who love "vain and evil desires" are surely not fit companions for our correspondent.—Ed.] TO-DAY'S MI2ETIXGS. laianaki. Mr. Okey, at Waiongona, 6 p.m.; Mr. Bellringor, at Carrm»ton road, 8 p.m.; Mr. Forbes, at Westown, 8 p.m. tetratford. Mr. Hine, Toko road, 1.30 p.m., Ngatiinaru 7 p.m., audi 'IV Wera 8.30 p.m. * Egmont'.—Mr. Dive, at Elthnm, 8 p.m.; Hon. T. Mackenzie, at Opunake, 8 p.m. fauniarunui. Mr. Jennings, Huirangi, S p.m.; Mr. Wilson. Onaero factorv,°o a.m, Huirangi Jlall 1.30 p.m., and Waitara 8 p.m.