THE ELECTIONS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3026, 24 October 1908, Page 5

THE ELECTIONS.

Mr A. W. Hogg delivered a political addi-ess at Eketahuna on Thursday night before a fair audience. Mr H. Aulin occupied the chair. At the conclusion hij speech Mr Hogg was accoroed a vote of thanks and confidence. A vote of confidence in the present Government was also carried. It is estimated that the Wellington North electorate will have at least ],OOO more names on the roll than any other electorate in the Dominion. On September 30th last there were 3,399 more names on the new roll than on the old one and since then applications for enrolment have been numerous. » Mr Tyndall, schoolmaster at Bluespur, applied to the Otago Education Board for a month's leave to contest the Bruce seat. A motion that leave be granted conditional on an approved substitute being provided was negatived, being supported only by the, mover (the Rev. P. B. Fraser and seconder (Mr Israel). "There are too many: degrees such as B.A. and M.A. being granted now-a-days," said Mr W. H. Williams, a candidate for the Geraldine seat. "What I would like to see is degrees such as 'A good stacker,' 'A good ploughman,' 'A first-class worker,' and you may be sure that persons holding these degrees would never be long out of employment." "Do you want to see a race of Maori landlords? Do you want to see your children bowing the knee to a Maori aristocracy? Yuu might, although I hope not. At one time I thought the Maori the worst landlord, but after seeing the way the Government has treated its Paeroa tenants, I should think the Government runs the Maori pretty close, where the tenant refuses to bow the knee. The Government has now put off the auction till December 3rd, and in the meantime it will see if the tenants bow the knee enough.'V- Mr Moss (a candidate for the Parnell seat), on leasehold. Mr Moss, the Independent candidate for Parnell, does not believe in the cracking of the party whip. "There will be a distinct gain in the opinion of most of us, if this system of secrecy about the Government accounts is done away with, and il the assault on the freehold is stopped," he declared, while speaking at Remuera, the other night. "And," he added, "if a vote of want of confidence in the Government, on the ground that its administration is neither sufficient nor above suspicion, or that its assault on the freehold must be stopped, were moved, I should vote against the Government, but I don't believe in turning out one Government just for the sake of putting in another party without good and sufficient reason." The vacancy in' the Cabinet, occasioned by the appointment of the Hon. W. Hall-Jones to the High Commissionership, is causing a lot of speculation throughout New Zealand, but so far it has not excited much interest in Auckland, thelgeneral opinion being that a Southern member will be elevated to Cabinet rank. Still there are many who freely mention Mr Alfred Kidd and Mr F. E. Baume, KC, as amongst the "pro babies." Supporters of the idea that a Northern Minister should be appointed, point out that there would be nothing out of the way in a Northern selection, because, for very many years, during Mr Seddon's regime, the Ministry was almost entirely composed of Southern members. An Auckland country member, speaking to a "New Zealand Herald" representative, said that the North, indeed, had prior claim, because the balance of political power lay in the North, and Auckland had a quarter of the total representation of the Dominion. Moreover, it was pointed out, the Minister for Native Affairs was "charged" to Auckland, whereas he could not be held to represent Auckland, or, for the matter of that, the North Island, in Parliament at all. This left the Hon. James McGowan and the I on. G. Fowlds in the popular Chamber to represent the North Island, while the South Island had four Ministers, and these four held the most important portfolios.