THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1908. MR HUNTER'S CANDIDATURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9182, 3 September 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1908. MR HUNTER'S CANDIDATURE.

The successful meeting which Mr Hunter held at b'ketahuna last evening will probably prove to b? the first of a series of similar meetj ings throughout the Masterton electorate. Mr Hunter is not an orator, but he is a convincing and pleasing speaker, and his earnestness is unmistakable. The electors are to be congratulated upon such a candidate offering Ins services, and they will no doubt accord him a fair hearing and duly weigh his political views Mr Hunter is a man of wide business experience, and he has been successful at his business. He has been a large employer and knows "the case'' from the standpoint of both employer and employee. His opening speech, a pretty full report of which is published elsewhere. Was remarkable for sound common sense, and a progressive note throughout. It must be patent to anyone with any knowledge of the district that the development of the Wairarapa town?, and especially continued progress in Masterton, is absolutely dependent upon

close settlement of t.he surrounding country. In the respect mentioned, Masterton has been shamefully neglected by the Government. Most suitable estates have actually been offered to the Government, and offered in vain. It is high Lime that the state of affairs that has existed for the last fifteen years came to an end. The great need of the Dominion is genuinely progressive and economic administration, and unless there is a considerable chan?e in the personnel of Parliament it is useless to hope that th-re will be any decided alteration for the better in the administration of the country's affairs. Most i people are agreed as to what the policy of the Government should beeven Oppositionists cluim that they are Liberals, but there is a wide diversity of opinipn upon the question of administration. There is, practically, only one party in the House, and the sole hope of reform appears to lie in reforming the ruling party. The power to accomplish such a desirable end is in the electors' hands, and it is, therefore, the manifest duty of every elector to vote, after carefully weighing the issues, in accordance with the opinion arrived at, as to what is best in the truest interests of the Dominion, and not to be swayed by either purely party or personal motives. As a staunch freeholder, as a fearless advocate of close settlement, and as a man of strong personality and progressive principles, Mr Hunter will, we think, receive a very large measure of support at the hands of the electorr.