The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1911. MR. HOGAN'S SPEECH.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13527, 8 November 1911, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1911. MR. HOGAN'S SPEECH.

Not the least forceful and effective shot in the local campaign was tired last evening by Mr J. T. Hogan, M.P. Being the sitting member and a .supporter of the Government, whose policy has been attacked by all the other candidates, Mi Hogan’s was essentially a defensive speech. He had to defend himself against the implications that he had been, neglectful ol the trust imposed upon him in guarding the interests of Wanganui and against the allegations that the Government had not given the district a fair share of the Public Works votes. He had to defend his attitude in -.supporting a Government that he hims. ii confessed had failings and which was not progressive enough for his own democratic ideas, and with whose policy and views he not infrequently differed; and, as a Government supporter, ho not unnaturally deemed it his duty to defend Sir Joseph Ward and his colleagues from the unjustifiable and unfounded charges constantly reiterated by the opponents of the Government. Further, Mr Hogan defended the Government from the allegations made ■ that the successive Liberal Administrations had departed from the policy originally laid dcwil by the great Liberal staesman —John Ballance—by whose efforts the deathknell of Toryism —with its concomitant evijs of land monopoly, free trafficking in Maori land, unjust taxation under the properly tax, and the construction of roads and railways through big private estates principally for the benefit of the owners—was sounded. The sitting member, too, boldly faced the task of defending his own views and actions on certain policy points which are not in accord with the opinions of a section of the workers and of some of his personal friends and supporters. All these and many other points Mr Hogan had to answer, and there was really ho need for him asking the forbearance of his hearers if in his defence he might appear to be speaking in an egotistical strain. Ho certainly made a good ease out, and his speech generally was one of the most forceful and convincing so far delivered in tho present political contest. His defence of his own attitude as a Government supporter left nothing to cavil at. And, whatever may he said of his faults or failings, it cannot he laid to his charge that he has not, above all things, been honest and straightforward in his every action, a hard worker himself, and ever ready to support any project for the advancement of the interests of the workers themselves, and by no means a servile follower of either the Labour Party or the Government, as instance his reply to the question concerning preference to Unionists.

So far as the Government is concerned, Mr Hogan was on firm ground when he answered the charges brought against them that they are. running the country headlong into debt, that they are nonprogressive, and that they are corrupt in their administration. He showed that though the "National Debt hae largely increased, by far the largest proportion of the loan expenditure during the past twenty years has been for reproductive works—loans to local bodies, advances to settlers, making new railways, advances to workers, and buying land for close settlement. Thus, when the Liberal Government took office the non-interest bearing portion of the debt cost every man, woman, and child in the community for interest 8s per annum, while to-day the cost is but 18s 7Jd per head. The same decrease in burden is shown when we turn to the Customs taxation, which Mr Hogan showed had been materially reduced under the Liberal Government. Indeed, few electors have the opportunity of knowing how much the Government has accomplished by taxation reform. The policy has always been, as Mr Hogan showed, to case the burden of taxation on those least able to bear it, by reducing Customs taxes on necessaries, and leaving a larger share of taxation to be borne by articles of luxury. As to the charges of bribery and corruption, about which the electors of the Dominion are now heartily sick, Mr Hogan could not have quoted a more effective reply than that given by Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P. for Christchurch North. For the last 38 years Mr Isitt has travelled the country through and through, and probably has a better acquaintance with it than any other individual in the community. Speaking in tho House on the Budget, Mr Isitt said: “I am happy in this connection: , that they [referring to his friends throughout New Zealand] believe in my love for the right and my determination to speak out fearlessly what I believe to be true; and I want to-night, through tho medium of the House, to tell the men and women throughout tho length and breadth of this Dominion that there is no bribery, no corruption, no maladministration; there is no political graft; that Ministers of the Crown are shamefully libelled: and men and women, New Zealand through, should turn a deaf ear to these cowardly untruths.' 1 Coming from such a source the reply should be regarded as one' of the most

effectual yet uttdred in defence of tho Government which has done so inuch for the people. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the many other points touched on by Mr Hogan in his address. Suffice it to say that, now the electors have heardfa - ' the sitting member give an account of fiis f stewardship and have heard his views of tho Government policy and administration of tho, past and their intentions with regard to the future, they will carefully weigh the respective utterances of this four candidates and at the ballot-box on Dcromber 7 express their preference for that candidate whose policy they believe will be of tho most material advantage to the progress and prosperity of the Dominion, and whose honesty of purpose, integrity, and ability will best aid in promoting the interests of the community as a whole.