POLITICAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 156, 8 December 1914, Page 8

POLITICAL.

A FORECAST. By Wire.—Special to Daily News. Wellington; Last Night. Both the Government and Liberal parties anticipate winning by a small majority. The Opposition estimate to gain the day by from seven to nine votes. For Wellington City, the Central contest is evoking the most interest. Mr I''. M. B. Fisher is putting up the fight of his life against Mr E. Fletcher, who was only beaten by a handful of votes at last election. Disinterested opinion gives the advantage to Fletcher. For Wellington East, Dr A. K. Newman has to go all out to hold his' 3eat. It will perhaps be •more than ho can manage, as Mr D. McLaren has gained U good deal of ground. Mr Hindmarsh's scat is safe. The same remark applies to the Hon. A. L. lierdman.

For Wellington Suburbs, Mr R. A. Wright, the Reform candidate, will win if Fitzgerald (Liberal), and F. T. Moore (Labor), go to the poll. Mr T. M. Wilford will score an easy win over Mr Samuel.

The Otaki seat may go any way. It all depends upon whether Field can hold his-former Liberal supporters. He is now flying the Reform banner. A big effort is being made to defeat Robertson (Labor).

Veitch may lose his Wanganui seat to Pirani (Reform), and Guthrie may succumb to Morrison (Liberal) for the Oroua seat.

Hogg may defeat Skyes for Masterton, but Sir William Buchanan will just about hold out against Hornsby. ' Dr M'Nab -is expected to defeat Mr H. M. Campbell for Hawke's Bay. Hunter should retain his seat, which Ji:tl is again disputing. The Government party expect to hold ail the Taranaki seats, but disquieting news has been received of the progress r,£ Mr Jennings is. making in Taumarunni and Mr D. J. Hughes in Taranaki. The Liberals expect to capture one or I two seats in '! arauaki. I hi the South they expect to lose two seats and gain either one or two I t-leform seat 3. In tiie North, Mr A. Seholes is ex- j pouted co defeat Young, for Waikato, I Mr E. 11. Taylor (Liberal), to pulverise I Mr T. W. Rhodes (Reform), whilst Dr I To Kangiliiroa is supposed to have a walk over between Vernon Reed and G. Wilkinson. ' F There will tie some changes in Auckland City's representation. Mr Dicksun, it is claimed, has received notice to quit, a young Irish lawyer named J. J. Sulii\an having made great progress. Grey Lynn may go to Reform. Mr j Myers' seat is a certainty, as is Mr Ci lover's. The contest between Poole i ar.d Bradney will be close. | Whichever side wins, there will not be i much of a majority—live at the utmost for Reform; from seven to nine for the Opposition. A LIVELY MEETING. HON. HEEDMAN ''COUNTED OUT." By Telegraph.—Per Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Hon. A. L. Herdman mot with a lively reception at the Town Hall to:::giit when ho'replied to the speech delivered by Sir Joseph Ward on Friday. lie was frequently "counted ont," and the meeting was an uproarious one. A .'notion of thanks to Hon. Herdman and ounlidcncc in the Government was defeated by a substantial majority, and the meeting ended with cheers for Sir Joseph Ward and Mr Fletcher, the Liberal candidate for Wellington THE LIBERAL LEADER AT UALCLUTHA. (Special to Daily News.) Baldutha, Last Night. Sir Joseph Ward continued ills triumphant tour to-day. He arrived in Christuhurch from Wellington yesterday, and was to have gone straight'on to Dunedin by motor-car, but the late arrival of the ferry steamer made an alteration in the arrangements necessary, the Liberal leader going south by the iirst express j this morning to keep iiis engagement to s.i.'ak at Baldutha.

Balclutha was on fete this evening, and til:; railway platform was crowded when ".■);: train steamed in iyjiw Christchurch at ii.Hil (j.'.ii. The lociil band turned out, ■t::0. aa olikial wekeme v/a.; extended to

( Sir Joseph by the Mayor, Mr E. J. Boyd, who, in a few well-chosen words conveyed to the Liberal leader the pleasure it. was to the residents to have such a distinguished visitor in their midst. A complimentary dinner was tendered to Sir Joseph, the Mayor presiding, and there was a very large attendance. A RECORD MEETING. After dinner, the band escorted Sir Joseph to the Oddfellows' Hall, where the largest political meeting ever held in the district took place. On arrival in the hall, Sir Joseph Ward received a rousing welcome, the applause and cheers being repeated over and over again, The first verses of the National Anthem were then sung and Sir Joseph Ward presented with two beautiful bunches of roses by two wee mites of girls. There was another demonstration, and then the Liberal I-v.dor proceeded with his address. Tie hall was corucled in every part, ami a very large number of people stood throughout the evening. There were well over 1000 people present. J _ THE "REFORM" TACTICS. In opening, Sir Joseph commented on the fact that those opposed to him politically had to take advantage of his large meetings to distribute their literature. He had never adapted such tactics. (Appk.nse). The present Government .had readied the Treasury benches by accident, and under the circumstances it was very necessary for them to distribute their literature wholesale tlfroyiglior,t the country to try aiul persuade the people that the "Reformers" were all that they claimed to be. (Applause). A VfCTOUS LIE. He then gave instances of the way the I Jovernment Press endeavoured to' discredit him. lie had read in a Conservative paper that day a letter written bv a correspondent (who did not disclose "hia name) making a statement to the eil'eet that Sir Joseph Ward bv adoptiiv the Tc'cfunken system of wireless telegraphy had encouraged German enterprise. ' He would have the propie understand, iioweier, that the company named was purely ai:d simply a British eomoniiv. (Applause). The statement that had been made by an anonymous writer was a vicious lie. He reiterated his statement made in other centres that lie or ■ his firm had no wheat or flour transI actions, although certain people, in order to create a wrong impression, were rumouring it abroad that he was holding wheat for speculative purposes. It had taken the Government weeks after the war commenced to appoint a Commission, and additional weeks passed before a report was forthcoming, in regard to what should be the fixed price. With the time that had elapsed nobody could have expected anything else than that the price would rise." (Applause).

NOT A WHEAT HOLDER.

The rumour was circulated that he (Sir Joaeph) was a holder of wheat. He invited those who circulated such rumours to come out in the open. He would give them the opportunity of calling witnesses and going on their oath, and he would allow them to examine the books of his firm. (Applause). Did they call it playing the game to make such baseless charges? As far as he was concerned he would not allow speculators to hold a bag of wheat and make huge profits out of the necessities of their fellow men. (Applause), THE NON-BORROWING BORROWERS. He then quoted the 1914 Year Book to disprove the statements of Mr Allen and other"Ministers in regard to borrowing. While' the 1913 Year Book showed that the rate of interest on the total public debt had been reduced by His Art for every £IOO during the whole period of the Liberal regime and saving £738,000 in interest annually, the 1914 Year Book just issued by the present Government disclosed the significant fact that now the saving of the national debt, instead of having declined by IBs sd, was only reduced by 13s lOd, so that during Mr Allen's year the interest rate had gone up by 2s 7d for every £IOO of debt. This was not his statement but the official figures put on record by the present Government. (Applause). He also quoted the new Year Book to show that the Reform Government had increased the national debt up to March 31st last by over 15 millions sterling, and n addition had taken Mithority under three Acts last session to raise an additional eight millions. This was the record- of a Government that had declared that borrowing should be tapered off. No Government in New Zealand had ever borrowed to such an enormous extent.

Sir Joseph then dealt with other subjects on the lines of previous addresses. He received an enthusiastic hearing, and his speech was punctuated with applause and cheers.