THE ELECTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1919, Page 5

THE ELECTIONS.

THE LABOR PLATFORM. SPEECH BY MR. E. SEMPLE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. . Wellington,. Last Night. Mr. R. .1 Scmple, labor candidate for Wellington South, opened his campaign at Brooklyn to-night. He said it was the of the Lahor Party to fight the election on principles, without personalities or sfde issues. He condemned the proposal to permit the employment of indentured labor in #'Samoa. ■ Referring to the . Housing Act he said the rate of interest provided was too high. He took exception to the provision giving the Government power to lend money to an employer to build houses for employees, which, he'said, would give the employer power to evict workers if they went on strike or were impudent. He thought the Government should lend money direct to workers. „ . ■ 'l^-; He condemned tljp provisions of the Undesirable Invmigrafiioai Restriction" Act, declaring it was the worst form of tyranny that could be imposed upon tne community. Speaking of coal mining, he expressed the belief that with the proper rfianagement of the industry people could have nn abudance of coal at half the present price. He condemned the clause in the Coal Mines Bill giving the Minister of Mines power to fill the mines with unskilled labor. A vote of thanks and confidence waa carried without dissent. OTHER CANDIDATES. THE WAIPAWA SEAT. Dannevirke, Nov. 11. Mr. G. Hunter, Reform candidate, for the Waipawa seat, opened his campaign last night at Raumati. The candidate approved the work of the past session mid t;ie platform of the Prime Minister, and at the conclusion of the meeting was accorded a vote of thanks, and a motion expressing confidence in the Massey Government was carried unanimously- ; •; A SOLDIER CANDIDATE. ■ ' Hamilton, Nov, H. Major J. H. Luxford, solicitor, vicepresident of the Returned Soldiers' Association, is a candidate for the Waikato electorate as a Liberal. A LIBERAL CANDIDATE. Tauranga, Nov. 11. Mr. B. C. Rohbins, who is contesting the Tauranga seat against Mr. Herries, and announced himself as an Independent Progressive Liberal, has received a telegram from Sir Joseph Ward, stating that he has been selected as the candidate for Tauranga in. the Liberal interests. Mr, Robbins is now standing as a Liberal. GENERAL MELDRUM'S CAMPAIGN. Taihape, Nov. 11. 1 Brigadier-General. Meldrum, official Liberal candidate for Rangitikei, addressed a good gathering at Taihape last night. He got a good hearing, and a vote of thanks and confidence was carried by a large majority. THE TEMUKA SEAT. Tiraaru, Last Night. Mr. T. D. Burnett, the owner of Mount Cook station and farm at Cave (son of the original lessee of the run), opened his campaign for the Temuka seat at Cave. While preferring imitv for parties he will follow Mr, Massey for the sake of a strong Government. Independents were useless. His main plank was progress and well being, founded on land administration and fair incidence of taxation. The aim of the former should be occupying ownership with leasehold as a stepping stone to freehold and the multiplication of small holdings. Wheat districts should -prow the Dominion's bread, farmers to'be en. oouraged to do ?o by assured prices. Rural production was/largelv dependent on the number of men to" be fed on farms. Therefore lie advocated electric power to lessen slavery. As to railways, the South Island trunk should bo finished and motor trollies run on both roads and branch railways by a change of wheels. ~ ' HON. J. B. HINE AT POHOKURA. A representative audience greeted Major Hine at the opening of his campaign ' at Pohokura on Monday night. Mr. D. Pitcaithlv occupied the chair. The speaker dealt with maaiy important topics of interest including the housing problem, profiteering, and cost of living. On the motiort of t.}ie chairman, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Major Hine for his interesting address. He speaks Kohuratahi and Tahora s this afternoon and evening (12t|if. ;■ 1 THE NELSON SEAT. ' Nelson, Last Night. Mr. H. Atmore, a candidate for tlieNelson seat, delivered his opening speech to a crowded audience to-night. He declared himself a supporter of Liberalism and sane Labor- On a no-confidence motion he would vote with the Liberals. The _ candidate vtis accorded a cordial hearing and reemvfed a vote of confidence. SPEECH BY MR. MASSEY. WARNING AGAJNSTI THE EXTREMISTS! Auckland, Nov.. 10. Addressing a meeting oi his supporters this afternoon, the Prime Minister .said: "We have sorted the problems of the war, and if we deel with the problems of peace with the same determination all will be well. We must not forget that we have a Jicavy burden of financial responsibility to boar, and that the very best brains at the> community are required to carry, on the? business of the Domiiiion; but to my miiil the m6st important issue is, wfto is gotog to govern the country for tho itext thrpe years ? Is it to be the law-aftutitig, responsible and patriotic elements of ,tha. community, or is it to be the political extremists—a combination of Bolshevists, I.W.W.'s, revolutionary Socialists, and others of the ; same category? It may be said that the latter class cannot secure a majority. I agree, but they may hold the balance of power. ► That is the danger—the possibility of the Government of the day being at* their mercy and having to do their bid-.

a state of affairs would not nit ttuf When 1 cannot retain my self-retpoefejK go out of office.. I ask the people pm New Zealand to see that a strong, imwi est and patriotic Government 'it pltera! in power, with a sufficient working Inl jority. The record of last session fat) , progressive legislation show# where fin] jparty may be found. In laying tU* ' ask the people of the country to totgHt: their ancient party differences and piart]|jj shibboleths, and to stand together foq| | the best interests of the Dominion. { coming elections will probably be thei'l i most important New Zealand has eruf ■ seen, because on the men elected Witt"; depend whether the work of reconstnw-; tion is to be carried on successfully Wti.'l satisfactorily or the reverse. EigMari years ago the pioneers of this couatr* ' laid the foundation* of prosperity whlc&v We enjoy. During the long years of 1 -war the young manhood of the present - generation of New Zealandsrs fougfct ,; | to protect our rights and freedom from "j a cruel and unscrupulous foe. I be- * lieve the answer will be in the iaSm**', tive, and that thev will give the Htttt ;: who carried through to a successful it-4' sue the work of last session that *ttp»J port of which they have proved -fthnaw selves worthy." " -fi 'i MR, MASTERS-ATRADNOR. THE BUTTER TAX. '• % Mr. R. Masters, the Liberal Canflldate for Stratford, spoke at Radnor Bead ' Hall on Monday. Mr. M. Daviet oc* cupied the chair, and, considering the ! boisterous weather, there was a good* attendance. Spcafrrng on the Battel;] 1 Equalisation Tax tho candidate ehu<J acterised it as an iniquitous class tar, upon the farmers, who were forced toi pay it to keep down the price of buttert for wealthy people, the big shipping] companies and those beat able to pay' the full price—at the expense, of course,* of hard-working people on their farm*' who labored from 14 to 16 hours daily,) in conjunction with their wives and fam->J ilies. He believed that had the tax| really assisted the poor people of the country the farmers would not hare ob« v .jected, He referred to the fact that 4 liia opponent, the Hon. Mr. Hine, was ' making an attempt to prove that Mr, Massey had nothing to do with the but-ter-tnx, but he (the speaker) said Mr. Massey must bear his share of the blame with the rest of the Government. He stressed the point that within a few it weeKs of , the election the Government I had thought fit to refund it, which could i only mean that it was a bait to get tho votes of the butter producers of the province. The three-farthings tax on butter was imposed to keep' down tho, price on the local markets. They had! been refunded 3-2 nth per penny per lband 1-JHJcI per lb. and the remainder had been borne by the fanner. Speaking before the railwaymen, Mr. Massey . took full credit for keeping down the price of butter, and thus decreasing tho cost of living. If he did this, however, he must, of course, take full blame for putting on the butter tax. -He could not.' have it both ways. The tax had cost the Stratford factory £4IBB and J,he Midhirst factors approximately £s(Wf>. Tn ifll7 the cheese people were satisfied with the arrangements. A conference was held at Tnsrlewood and d«Vgates went to Wellington end met Mr." Massey, and it was nwed that the price of butter would be 157s nor cwt. with the understanding that thev were to receive 50 ner o<»nt of the profits on tJ«« . sales in the Old Country. The Imnerial authorities paid 170s per ewt for Argentine hutter, and he thought it was onlv a fair deal that the Britisher slmnld obtain the same. The farmer' had to nav the cost of auditing ( £IS37) and the cost of administration f£lSfifll and also the storage dues for thre<> months on the. butter sold to the. Imperial Government, No one had seen the account- of sale* in the Old Conntrv for 1317-18. Mr. Ms# 1 sey said the farmers had agreed to tha fund, but the fact was that thev had been forced into it. as thev were threatened that the Imperial Government would not take the hutter unless the offer was accented. Tsv the action of the Board of Trade, the farmer* were nt a monetary disadvantage of nine millions on their butter, cheese, meat, and • wool; nnd while this was done to keep down the cost of living the Wholesale merchants and shipping rings were allowed to go free. If it waa right to refund the tax, it was logic to demand the repayment of all monies deducted in previous years for the same purposes. The case in connection with hides wits • ! similar, and Mr. Masters quoted a re»olution passed by the Farmers' Uttion at Palmerston North protesting as follows: "That this executive is not satisfied with 1, 'the statement of the Board of Trade ,1 I that boots in New Zealand are tha dieap- j est in the world. Our information iff; quite to the contrary. This executive '• again protests against the continued »«•*,■ striction upon the sale of hides Whereby the value of stock in New Zetland •> is depreciating by at least a million sterling." Hides were sold at from Is lOd to 2s per lb in the open mrtfcet> and the tanners were allowed to tajce , 60 per cent of them at atout half that' price, but boots were no cheaper, in; fact had gone up 100 per cent. At the i' same time boot operatives-' wages ha^j 1, only increased from 12V4\to 15 psr cent. To say the least, Mr. Masters concluded, •' the treatment of the farmers in these respects was Most unfair. On the motion of Mr. Growe, seconded by Mr. J. Eversfleld, it was resolved:' t "That this meeting has every confidence in Mr. Masters as a progressive and ; energetic public man, and wishes him < success in his candidature for the Strat-H ford seat." r