POLITICAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 116, 9 October 1914, Page 3

POLITICAL.

THE STRATFORD LIBERAL CAMPAIGN.

MR. W, H. lIAAVKINS' ADPRBSS,

I In addition to matters financial, fis f published in yesterday's issue, Mr W. H. J Uawkinß, at Stratford on Wednesday, ' covered a wide range of political subjects, and was given an excellent hearing. Mr Hawkins announced himself as the selected candidate "out to recapture the Stratford scut for the Liberal party." He was pleased at the large and representative audience, especially at this time. Ha was proud also that he had been selected unanimously by a conferc»ce of delegates from all parts of the electorate, it was anomalous that the Stratford constituency, peopled by a Liberal population, had for some years returned a representative who supported Tory administration. He expressed the sincere wish that the campaign would be fought strictly on political and not on personal lines. That was hig intention. But if at anytime during the contest 'his opponents insisted on making it what the hoys called an "all in," or rough and tumble contest, he would take off the gloves, and neither give nor ask quarter. The contest was bound to be strenuous and bitter. But the fight was not between him and his opponent personally. It was between political parties. Tlie whole Dominion contest would be tne bitterest New Zealand had ever seen and . a fight between two parties. (A voice: • "Tliree.") Well, the third was so close to tho speaker's that it really didn't matter. He supported the Liberal side, who stood for equal opportunity for all. The Tory party stood for class, privilege, monopoly, and selfishness, for the favored few, as against the party who stood for the interests of the many. The struggle would be made the more strenuous by the politically dishonorable and detestable teaching adopted by the Tory party. For twenty years in Xew Zealand the Tory party had been strenuously endeavoring by slander and abuse to get the reins of power, and eventu--1 ally, not by the voice or the will of the i people, they secured a place on the box j seat. Could anyone deny that they had j carved their way to power by slander i and misrepresentation? He defined a , "Tory leader" ag the man who was pre- ; pared to do anything and say anything for the party that the party bid him. In Stratford these men could be numbered, ; probably, on the fingers of one man's hands. They were not the rank and ; file. He wished to make it clear that f there were just as clean and honorable and intelligent men voting Tory as Liberal. He was going to prove, as set outin his circular, that "for years past, right up to the present moment, the Tory party (alias "Reform") has persistently, in season and out of season, continued a campaign of slander, abuse, misrepresentation, lying, and trickery. Impudently, insolently, and with political malice, Liberal leaders had been slandered, abused and misrepresented, llis method of political fighting had been adopted and persisted in, with the sinister object of deceiving electors—a favorite Tory game. The political game of 1911, with its record of abuse and misrepresentation, was still fresh and green in the memories of the people, but he was going to expose tho system and drive the Tory chickens home to roost. By the time his address was finished his hearers would agree that he Shad done what he had set out to do—he was not fool enough to publish statements like that unless lie were able to prove them up to the hilt.

Mr Hawkins regretted that Mr Massey had not accepted the advice offered to postpone the elections for a period. At a time when the nation was in the throes of a war such as the Empire was now engaged in no political leader should have the right to drive the people into a political fight. (Hear, hear.) This had been done because the leaders of the Tory party thought the war would render them immune from criticism. But they would not be immunj as far as the speaker was concerned.

Reverting once more to the slander policy against the Liberals at the last general election, Mr Hawkins said most of the libels and slanders had since been driven back down the throats of the party who uttered them. When the political hi .tory of tho 'Dominion came to be wnlioi, of the foulest and blackest w, the attempt in 1911 to polilitaL v u the Liberal leader, and how in n:aking the attempt the subsidised Tory press of the country used tho foulest, most cowardly, and most damnable tactics ever used for such a purpose. Hundreds of people in this district and thousands in the Dominion knew how despicably they had been deceived, and they were awaiting the opportunity at the poll to show their detestation of such tactics. The candidate believed in strenuous criticism, let it be caustic as they liked, but let them strike honestly and above the belt. One of the most lamentable features of public life in New Zealand to-day was the readiness of our political men to blast the reputation of their political adversaries in order to score a political advantage. If all moil in politics were as zealous for the reputations of their opponents as t'hey were of their own, our .political lifo would be cleaner and brighter. Referring more specifically to the actual statements made at last election > that came under the heading of misre- • presentation, Mr Hawkins mentioned the statement made on the platforms in this electorate before last election that a portion of a loan raised in London "could not be found in the Budget." What was the meaning? It was a gross slander. It meant that, the man in charge of the Treasury at that time had purloined a portion of the loan. Kither it meant that or it meant nothing. Was it not a 1 deliberate slander? Mr Herries, speaki ing at Timarti, had made a similar infer- | ence, leaving the impression on the minds i of the people that the money had been j actually thieved by the Minister of , finance. Tne people of Stratford had ; also heard it st.itcd from the platform i that if the Tory party could but get j their fingers into the pigeon-holes they j would find such things there as would i "electrify the people" of this country. ; That was an inference that the affairs ; of the country had been managed dishoni estly, elso it meant nothing. All of ; these etattmeuts had been proved abs solute and deliberate untruths. (Ap- ■ plause). I Mr Hawkins devoted some attention J to "The' High l'riest of Slander in New : Zea'and," the Dominion newspaper, ownj ed and controlled by, and run in the. ini terests of the big land owners and the ■ monied and money-lending institutions. \ Did the small farmer, the small trader, ; or the worker delude himself that j a newspaper thus owned and controlled j was being run in their interests? Surely > j not. Mr Hawkins then quoted several ! extracts from the "Dominion," all of : them inferring dishonest administration : on the part of Sir Joseph Ward. This ; sort of fighting was sure to be renewed s by the Tory Party in this election, henc'9 the piromi ncnoe..gi ven to it, he aid, in this addre««. ,-Kefercnce was

made to the report of the Commission which disproved the freqS߻t allegations made that the Civil Service was stuffed with incompetents and Co-religionists of tha then Premier. He mentioned the appointment of the Public Service Commissioners, an idea which had always been supported, but not on the lines adopted by the present Govfirniaeni, particalarly in that the employees of the Railways Department, Defence Department and ths iPolice Pcpftrtuient were not under the control ol the Public Service Commissioners. ' Reverting to the sectarian question which had been sternly but secretly "worked," in the last election by the Tory party, he quoted the letters from the heads of the Post and Telegraph Departments to show that the charges of favouritism shown to Roman Catholics was absolutely unfounded.

Mr Hawkins referred specially to statements made on the Stratford platform ii\ May last concerning the deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank of the Dominion during the terms of the present party and of the Liberal party, and showed the figures quoted on that occasion were absolutely incorrect —he did not like, lie said, to use the stronger languaga which was quite justified. That statement had been made with the deliberate intention to deceive the people, for the actual figures showed that the ratio of deposits to withdrawals in Sir Joseph Ward's time was belter t'han under the Massey regime. That was the real test of the prosperity of the people, and the Hon. Jas. Allen had repeatedly stated that he would stand or fall by the barometer of the people's saving bank. A fresh aspect was' put on the statements made by the Reform speaker here in May last in regard to the State Advances Office, and tha speaker made it clear that tho State lending departments had been inactive at the very time when they should have been busy, and had thus increased the financial stringency and further raised the price of money, which, of course, was an excellent thing for the moneyed classes whom the present Government represented and whose interests they served. The fact that at the 31st March, 1913, there had been £1,886,000 in the State Guaranteed Advances Department, a department created for the sole and absolute object of helping the small man by loans at low rates of interest, was a disgrace to the! administration. That money should be lent out, but instead, the people who cried out for it were referred to the private money-lenders at their high rates of interest. The figures concerning the mortgages in the Dominion at that time could be studied by the Liberals and quoted with great advantage to their cause. Of courso, the Hon. Jas. Allen was ready in the explanation that the money had been lent to other departments. Fancy a man lending to himself, and expecting to increase his capital! Concluding, Mr Hawkins appealed to tho Liberals to close up their ranks; to drop all their little personal bickerings at least after the election; and to present a united front. Were that done, he was confident that the Stratford seat would be re-captured and the Liberal flag once more flying ovA the. Stratford electorate, removing all doubt as to where the centre of Taranaki actually is. Mr Hawkins resumed his seat amidst applause.

QUESTIONS. Asked to state his policy, Mr Hawkins said lie stood for (1) government l.y the people, for the people as a whole, and not for class; to use the national resources and credit to defeat monopoly and reduce the cost of living; to compel the subdivision of land to the utmost limit of occupation; to use the national revenues and credit for the development of the national estate and the creation of public wealth; to retain the undiscovered mineral wealth of the Dominion and work it in the interests of the common weal, State farms, factories, and workshops to provide emplciynuflit! for the delicate and infirm and those who have pasted tie meridian of life; to set a standard of remuneration in the public services that would re-act upon all public and private services and employmi ntfi. (-2) The right of every child to good health and the highest education practicable. (,'S) The right of every person to medical and legal assistance. (4) The duty and responsibility of the State to assist parents in rearing families, and of appropriately providing for the old age of thoso who had done bo>. (si) The right of eury honorable and right-living mui an-1 woman to a reasonable siiare of the comfort and happiness of life. He would hardly go as far, ho said, as one questioner who urged tliat when the. Arbitration Court fixed wages for a term of three years it should a!so fix for a similar term the price at which foods should be sold and rentals charged. He was afraid that would 1)0 impracticable. At any rate, it was in advance of public opinion, and no scheme could stand in such circumstances. Another questioner asked why the Liberal candidate persisted in referring to the "Tory Party," when it had changed its name to "Reform party?" He said there was no law in the land to prevent a man changing his name, then why should that right be deemed to a party? —Mr Hawkins said the party could call itself what it liked, of course, but ''a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Conservative, Tory, Reform, or "National Ass," it was all tlie same; the present Government wns"tho Tory party still, the party of re-actionarics.