POLITICAL

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1922, Page 6

POLITICAL

LIBERAL RALLY AT ELTHAM. (Contributed.) The largest and most enthusiastic rally ever held in the Egmont electorate took place at Eltham yesterday, a ‘ large number of representatives from all portions of th? electorate being pre- I sent. Mr. Guy occupied the chair. Wei- I cow Jug visitors, .he said their op- ' ponents had said that Liberalism was , dead, but the advocates of such propa- | ganda would receive a rude shock on i December 7 if that large and represen- [ tative meeting of Liberals could be taken a<s a criterion. He thought it could, and that Liberalism Would regain many of its lost seats and return to the House a much Stronger party. (Applause). The delegates from the various districts gave very encouraging reports of their activity, * and final arrangements were made for election day. Afternoon tea was served by a number of ladies, and the meeting closed with the singing of “God Save the King and cheers for Mr. Astbury. EGMONT SEAT. MR. ASTBURY. Mr. Astbury addressed the electors at Normanby for a second time on Wednesday night, Mr. C. Paine being in the chair. Dealing with Mr. Hawken’s address at Normanby, he pointed out that j the Normanby school was erected when , !the Hon. J. A. Hanan, the then Minister I of Education, and Sir Joseph Ward, j Finance Minister, both members of the i National Government and members of 'the Liberal Party, were holding office. ! The Okaiawa school was also erected I during their regime. Mr. Astbury point I ed -out that or the important questions ! of railways, shipping, and soldier settlel ment. Mr. Hawker, had very little to 1 say. A number of question* were ani swered satisfactorily to the majority of j.the audience. A, vote of thanks was accorded the speaker. WAITOMO SEAT. MR. W. T. JENNINGS. (Contributed.) Tn torrential rain and with the roads in bad order, Mr. W. T. Jennings has experienced more of the troubles of backblock electioneering during the last two days. On Wednesday morning he spoke to a good meeting at Okoke, Mr. Darke presiding. Mr. Blundell moved, and Mr. Wright seconded a vote of thanks. In the afternoon Pukearuhe was visited, Mr. Freeth presiding over a big gathering. The candidate received a vote of thanks and confidence on the motion of Messrs. Johnson and Carey. At night the Urenui hall was crowded, and Mr. jJennings had an excellent meeting, reI ceiving a vote of thanks and confidence on the motion of Messrs. Sutton and O’Neill. Mr. R. H. Pigott (chairman of •the Clifton County Council) presided. Yesterday Mr. Jennings had good meetings at Ahititi and Okau. receiving votes of thanks at each meeting. PATEA SEAT. MR. G. V. PEARCE. (Contributed.) There was a large attendance at the Alton hall on Wednesday evening, when Mr. G. V. Pearce delivered a political J address. Mr. H. Hodge presided, and in his introductory remarks referred to the > excellent service rendered to the district ! and the Dominion by the candidate during his previous eleven years of office as ( member for Patea. Mr. Pearce clearly demonstrated to • his audience that he had every claim l to again contest the Patea seat, and that he and his supporters were confii dent of success. Mr. R. Taylor moved ; the following resolution: “That this ■ meeting tenders a hearty vote of thanks > to Mr. Pearce for his very able and in- . structive address, and wishes to express » its confidence in him as-a fit and pro- , per person to represent this constitu- , ency in Parliament: and whilst strong ■ supporters of the Reform Government. ( we deplore Mr. Massey’s attitude in trying to influence the electors to vote ’ for any narticular candidate, thereby. , in our opinion, interfering with the lih- > erty of the electors. This was second*- . ed by Mr. A. Tilingworth and carried , unanimously. ’ “BREAKING THE LAW.” ' (To the Editor.) Sir, —As reported, Mr. S. G. Smith delivered what he called a political speech at Lower Mangorei on 25th inst. The . whole speech was condemning Govern-

rnent administration. At the conclusion, someone said he had not given them an outline of his political platform. Mr. Smith said it would take five minutes and he forthwith read out the Liberal Labor platform. The only comment was that it was very much tho same as the Government manifesto issued by Mr. Massey. Mr. Smith said his party advocated a State bank and proportional representation, but did not explain the latter. The former 1 consider an electioneering dodge to catch the unwary. Anyone with sense knows the. Government or any other lending concern must have security for their advances, ajid anyone with sufficient security can raise money now from private. financiers, and neither the Government nor anyone else can lend on doubtful security (State bank included). The Rev. Howard Elliott came in for a lot of criticism, but abuse is no argument. This trouble with tho Auckland P.O. was mentioned, but not explained. Mr. Smith read one of two letters in his possession that he said were written by the Rev. Howard Elliott, and the other he said was not fit to read to decent, people. I understand these were letters read at the Auckland Post Office enquiry. Mr. Smith said he did not care to touch education, as he believed there were some education fanatics in this district, but in going through some papers at the board’s office, in order to keep in touch with the business for Tuesday’s meeting, he came across the inspector’s report of the Lower Mangorei school. “It is breaking the law. he said, “to rea< this report in public. 1 <r but lam going to break the law.” and I so he read it. This report came before 1 the Mangorei school committee over two months ago. and it seems incredible to me if this Male report should now come before the board for perusal. These reports, after being through the committee’s hand', are left in the ' school to be filed, and T venture to suggest Mr. Smith got that report from a source involving the vio- , lation of the regulations. When Mr. ; Smith visits outlying districts for ! the purpose of giving political addresses !he should confine his efforts to that ! business and not “break the law” hv ' interfering with local school affairs a« he did at Mangorei. I can assure him there are a. number of people here who are not education fanatics who resent his interference. —I am etc.. ELECTOR. Lower Mangorei, November 28.

(Published by arrangement.) THREE CHARGES. Liberal criticism nowadays, said the Hon. C. J. Parr in addressing a meeting in the Eden electorate last week, gseemed to be confined to three topics, and all the Liberal candidates had these for their Bible. They were: The Motutara estate purchase (which had clearly proved to have been a satisfactory one for the soldiers), the extravagancy of tho Government, and lastly the incompetency of the Minis-