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SOUTH GLAMORGAN ELECTION.j…

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SOUTH GLAMORGAN ELECTION. (Continued from Page 6.) GREAT CONSERVATIVE MEETING AT BRIDGET I). SPEECH BY MR. GEO. WYNDHAM, M.P. The Right Hon. George Wyndham, M.P., addressed a meeting at Bridgend Town-hall on Wednesday in support of the candidature of Colonel W. H. Wyndham-Quin. The hall was crowded quite half an hour before the meeting commenced, and' some hundreds failed to gain admission. The meeting was of an orderly character. Colonel Turbervill (Ewenny Yriory) presided, upported on the platform by Lady Eva W\ ndham-Quin, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Randall. Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Knight, Mr. R. K. Prichard, Mr. J. 1. D. Nicholl, Mr. W. A. Williams, Mr. Oliver Sheppard, Mr. R. C. Griffiths (Conservative agent), Mr. Jacob Jenkins, Rev. David Phillips, Messrs. W. B. Davies (Pencoed), W. Hopkin (Brecknock Villa), A. D. Webber, James Davies (Ochr Draw). C. M. Dawson Thomas (Pencoed), Wallace Thomas, W. M. Richards, Wm. Hopkins, J. Sankey, John Elias (Newton), J. Towns, W. D. Lodge (Porthcawl), J. Elias (Nottage), J. T. Salathiel (Pencoed), W. Bradshaw, J. H. Griffiths, W. Treharne, G. Cousins, J. Lloyd, H. Pritchard, etc. COLONEL TURBERVILL. The Chairman said that since they last met in that hall the battle of the election had be- gun, and they must admit that, so far, it had gone very badly against them. Several of their leaders had lost their seats, and the party could not expect any great gains during the remaining days. It would be useless to burke the matter; the question was-how could they face it? If a reverse like this made them weak-kneed he should think poorly of the party. To use an old phrase "It's dogged that does it." It was not the first time the Conservative party had met with a reverse. They must remember that in 1880 the coun- try went against them as it was doing now, but the tide turned, and' now for ten years the Unionists had held office uninterruptedly. So much for the situation generally. He was sure they would feel that the state of affairs should make them strive to save South Gla- morgan from the wreck. (Applause.) There was one gleam of light. The turn the elec- tions had taken must have the effect of draw- ing all the Unionists closer together. Col. Quin told them when he spoke last in that hall that he was a tariff reformer. (Hear, hear.) There were some Conservative Free Traders who did not agree with him, but as there would be no such thing as tariff reform in the next Parliament, any Conservative Free Traders could' vote for 'Colonel Wynd- ham-Quin. (Applause.) MR. GEORGE WYNDHAM. Mr. George Wyndham was received with loud and prolonged cheering. He referred to his previous visits to Bridgend, and said he was always delighted to come there and discuss political questions freely and fairly with the intelligent electors. The present circumstances were different to those pre- vailing on his last visit. On his first visit to the town, ten years ago, the party now in office had been in power for three years. What had they done? They had aroused hopes in Ireland and Wales which they' disap- pointed, and for the three years there was practically nothing in Parliament save barren controversy. Only one measure—the Pariah. Councils Act—was passed. A great many Peers were made, and a great many promises, and nothing else happened. (Laughter.) A party made up bf so many opinions must fail, and they were dismissed irom office by an overwhelming majority. Was that not an omen from which the Conservatives could now get hopes? The same party was again in office, again composed of GENTLEMEN WHO DIFFERED on almost every political question., again arousing hopes in Ireland and Wales, many of which they could never fulfil, and again to fail in the primary duty of statesmanship which was to keen up an adequate defence of the Empire and to proceed surely and cer- tainly with many measures for the benefit of the working classes of the country. (Ap- plause.) He was not, however, going to rake up the past; he was prepared to face the present. (Hear, hear.) He agreed with the Chairman that during the past two or three days of electioneering the party to which he belonged had met with several re- verses, and he would be the last to attempt to minimise them. But the election was not over yet, and what they did during the re- mainder of the election would go far to remedy the wrong which might accrue. Now was the time for anyone who had ever been a Conservative, a Unionist, or en Imperialist to do his very beet to return to Parliament their old member, Colonel Wyndham-Quin. (Cheers.) Before giving his own opinion on the present state of affairs, he would read AN IMPARTIAL OPINION. Such an opinion, of course, could not be got. in this country, and he regarded what had appeared in an American newspaper as the impartial view of an onlooxer. The writer said: — Probably Mr. Chamberlain's supporters are right in their contention that without tariffs the British Empire will have a dwindling future, but the voters of the United Kingdom have chosen otherwise. He thought the newspaper was right in the first part of the observation, but he hoped to prove that the statement that the voters had "chosen otherwise" was wrong. He did not think that the voters of the country had chronicled their settled and deliberate opinions against fiscal reform. (Hear, hear.) What chance had they been afforded of con- sidering that question with the care which was its due, when such distractions had been —though they ought not to have been— brought to bear upon their sober considera- tion of so important a problem. (Hear, hear.) Their opponents claimed that this had been a fight upon OS" STRAIGHT ISSUE, on the question of Free Trade against Protec- tion. Well, he could quarrel with them over the name, for we had never had Free Trade in this country. (Hear, hear.) We had been waiting for it for over 60 years; we had been setting an example in the hope that it would be imitated, but the hope had not been fulfilled. It was not enough to ask for Free Trade; they must see that they got it. And he could also quarrel over the term Protec- tion. They were not advocating Protection, but measures—which their opponents might call Protection if they wished, because he was tired of the battle of words—measures which, in their opinion, would benefit the condition of the wage-earners of the country, which would help us in the contest with our competitors in trade, and which would also largely tend to weld together the component parts of the Empire. (Armlause.) But whether they called it the question of Free Trade against Protection or anvthing else, he asked the electors of the United Kingdom whether their minds had been addressed solely to that Question or had not attempts been made in some places, only too success- fully, to DISTRACT THEIR MINDS from that issue. But supposing that their opponents won every seat in the Kingdom- not a very likely thing to happen-he would be prepared to stake that they had not al- lowed a straight and fair issue to go before the country. (Hear, hear., He made this charge against his political opponents. Whilst they had claimed) that the electors were voting on this question of fiscal reform, they had deluged every constituency in the country with literature, pictures and photo- graphs illustrating what was called Chinese slavery--(hear, hear)—and they delivered speeches and indulged in more rhetoric on the South African question than on the fiscal question during the election. (Applause.) He would deal with that question at once. Slavery had not been introduced into South Africa, but whether it had or had not, he con- tended that it was purely a South African question. (Hear, hear.) South Africa could not have representative institutions when first the question arose, and the Government did not venture to interfere with the opinion of the country as then expressed at their in- vitation. But for many reasons, and especi- ally because they recognised that the question of Chinese labour was very important, they hastened on the gift of representative insti- I tutions to the Transvaal. THE NEW CONSTITUTION would commence in June next, and the late Government advised their fellow subjects in South Africa not to increase the number of Chinese working in the mines, and to settle the whole business when they had a represen- tative institution. (Applause.) That was also the policy of the present Government, and it was the right policy. (Applause.) It was most unwise for the people of England to attempt to judge an economic question the elements of which could only be studied in a country six thousand miles away. Did not their opponents speak a great deal about self- government? (A voice: "Yes.") Well, why didn't they let South Africa settle his matter for themselves. (Loud applause.) But their opponents had made a great cry about this. So that there was not a straight issue before the country; the minds of the people had been distracted by this red- herring drawn across the path of their under- standing. (Loud applause.) This was not the only red-herring. What about the pam- phlets scattered broadcast and speeches made in every town and village attempting to prove that if any change were effected in our fiscal system the price of bread would be higher than it was in 1841. He could nut up with a great deal in electioneering—(laughter)—but that was going too far. (Hear, hear.) The question of the PRICE OF FOOD did not rise at all in respect of nine-tenths of the programme which their candidate, Colonel Wyndham-Quin, for instance, had put before his constituents. It did not arise with respect to getting fairplay from other coun- tries, in protecting our home market from dumped goods, or in regard to protecting the neutral markets of the world for the product of our skill and labour; indeed, it scarcely arose in respect of any steps we might take to enter into closer relations with our colonies. (Hear, hear.) It was absurd to say that a small tax on corn, which their can- didate advocated, a tax placed upon the corn sent from Russia and the United States but not upon the product of the illimitable fields of Canada—(cheers)—would increase the price of food. To say that it would', was not fight- ing the battle fairly. He was not angry be- cause their opponents had talked so much about Chinese labour and the hungry forties, and so raising false issues. The result of the election so far was a sham, and shams were only endured for a short time. (Applause and some booing, and a voice: "It's the voice of the people, sir.") What was the MOST STRIKING RESULT of the election so far? (A voice: "John Burns in the Cabinet," and some cheering.) Yes, John Burns was a member of the Cab- inet, and he appeared to be the only member of the Cabinet who was not satisfied with the fact of being in office. He would like to knorw what was to happen if Mr. Burns, who was the only minister with a programme, should have his way. Mr. Burns was going to give unlimited power to the towns, which would result in a great increase in the ex- penditure, and after the country had had two or three years of that-well, he looked for- ward to another visit to Bridgend. (Laugh- and applause.) But Mr. Burns was not in his mind when he asked what the result of the election was. The result he was think- ing of was that instead of having a Govern- ment supported by one party, their opponents had created three separate parties. Firstly, there was the Liberal party wanting-well, he did not think they wanted much—(laughter) -their programme was to go with their mouths open expecting Free Trade. (Laugh- ter.) Then there was the Irish Nationalist party, who expected to get measures which half the Cabinet never meant to give— (laugh- ter)—and, thirdly, the Liberals had created A LABOUR PARTY —(some cheering)—a new and interesting feature in our political life. But he won- dered how many of the Labour party agreed with the Liberal party's policy of laifser faire, of letting everything slide, of never doing or attempting to do anything for Labour. (Hear, hear.) Indeed, he thought the Labour and the Nationalist parties were nearer to the Conservatives than they were to the Liberals. At any rate, the Nationalists were Protectionist to a man, but because they had another object in view, namely, to seoure something which half the Cabinet had really taken their oaths not to give, they for the time being, subsidised their national inclina- tions, to see what was going to happen. He would not say that the Labour party was Pro- tectionist, but everything they contemplated and aimed at was impossible unless they had Protection. They could not have short hours of labour, a standard wage, good housing, free education, free food for the children attending the day schools, and com- pete with the working classes in othet coun- tries unless they got COMMERCIAL FAIRPLAY as against those countries. (Applause.) So that two out of the three parties who called themselves opponents to the Conservatives were pretty well agreed with them on what was to have been the simple straight issue of the election, and which would have been had not their attention been distracted. For the moment they had been made fools of. (Laughter.) But when the House of Com- mons met and the four separate parties would sit there, even if the Conservative party wquld not be one counting overwhelming strength in its ranks, it would exercise a de- cisive influence. (Hear, hear.) They would be as impatient as the Irishmen and the Labour party were in regard to the old shams of Liberalism, of the humbug of laisser faire, and of the idle talk of Free Trade, which we had never had. (Applause.) The Conserva- tive party would be Loyal to the cause. (Hear, hear.) It would be headed by men who had stood the storm and racket of twenty years of political life, men who, under stress of ad- versity, had shown ever more clearly their loyalty to the cause in which they believed. (Applause.) They would have BALFOUR AND CHAMBERLAIN at the head of the party—(loud cheers and some booing)—one party loyal to the core with two leaders whose loyalty was as intense to each other as to the party which they led, whose services to the country eclipsed even the professions of any leaders on the other side, because for present purposes thb Liberals had managed to shuffle off the boards the one man of genius they had, Lord Rose- bery. (Hear, hear.) They would be opposed to one leader, Sir Henry Campbell-Banner- man and—(a voice: "Lloyd George," and faint cheering.) He heard feeble applause in one part of the hall while another was put for- ward as a claimant for the leadership. (Laughter.) They would be onnosed to one popular leader and two parties which had' no- thing to do with him, and he might also in- clude the Welsh party in the bargain. (Laughter.) Four parties with one leader. What a pleasant time they had in store! (Laughter.) Everybody was looking forward to it. (Renewed laughter.) But the Con- servatives were one party—a real organised army which could go anywhere and do any- thing. They happened to have A GOOD RECORD, which deserved, and received the applause of the oountry. (Some ironical laughter.) Their foreign policy was not open to impeachment, and above all he claimed that they and they alone had ever succeeded in doing anything of real benefit to the working classes. (Ap- plause.) Between the year 1874 and the present day the Liberal party passed 18 measures under the category of working class legislation, and the Conservatives 125. (Ap- plause.) The Conservatives gave free oduca, tion and they also gave the Workmen's Com- pensation Act, which was only a short time ago extended to the whole of the agricultural community. (Applause.) They had created the machinery whioh, if it did not deal effec- tually with the whole unemployed problem— and he did not pretendl it did—would enable the Government to study it, and bring aid where aid was needed. They were told1 that they could deal with the unemployment prob- lem directly by an amendment of the POr Law. But was it not better than to build fine hospitals for the wounded to see that our men were not shot down on unequal terms? (Loud applause.) If we saw to it that our industrial soldiers fought on fair terms THE UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM would dwindle away altogether because our men could easily hold their own in the com- petition between nations. (Applause.) The Conservative Government showed their con- victions in this connection by massing the Aliens Act last year. But amid what abuse and obloquy. They must dismiss all that. Was it right that men who had failed in every other country of the world should come to England to cut down the wages and to lower the standard of living of the workers? The Liberals could talk about Free Trade, politi- cal economy, and laisser faire until they bored everyone except the professor in the University. For his part he would look the facts plainly in the face, he would fight against this unfairness so long as he was in politics. (Hear, hear.) Their opponents hadn't a record. (Laughter.) Perhaps it was not their fault, as they had scarcely been in office for the last twenty years. They were in office for three yearts, but they wasted their opportunity in barren controversy. They had not a policy either. (Laughter.) He supposed that as the people hadn't trusted them in the past they would not now TRUST THE PEOPLE by giving them information as to their inten- tions. (A voice: '"Give them a try.") Yes, but the policy ought to come first. (Laugh- ter.) He understood that the performance waa going to be excellent, but he would like to know something of the programme. (Re- newed laughter.) The Conservatives had put their programme honestly and fairly be- fore the country. (Hear, hear.) What were the reasons for the proposed change in the fiscal system ? The tariff reformers held that we should have fair play in the foreign mar- kets. We allowed their goods to enter Eng- land freej but how were we met in return? Immense tariffs were put on the produce of our skill, industry and enterprise. It was ridiculous to proceed on these lines; we were entitled to meet unjust tariffs by hitting back after arguing in the first place. Their op- ponents made a point that we were allowed to trade on account of our Free Trade system in foreign countries under the most favoured nation clause. But what good was that to us? It was always the policy of FOREIGN COUNTRIES to put a tariff upon those goods which they manufactured themselves, and which we should export to them. It was also said that we should suffer. They must not knock a man down because they mignt knock a bit off their knuckles. (Laughter.) Englishmen and Welshmen after all were not such fools as that. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) Then their opponents said "All is well now, w& are so happy, so rich, so contented." The new Prime Minister had a different story. In hIS election address he said "Industry is burdened, enterprise is restricted, workmen are being thrown out of employment, and the poorer classes are being still further threatened." Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman attributed it to the failure of the late Government, but supposing they were incompetent, he was not aware that they differed to the ministers who as a rule occupied offices of State. If they had the Archangel Gabriel multiplied by 19 i that would still be the description of the country until we were ready to hit back at the foreigner. (Applause.) The injustice in the foreign market created injusti06 in our home market, because the foreigner was able, behind the tariff wall, to extend his industry, and after supplying the wants of his country- men legitimately, he DUMPED THE SURPLUS of his goods into England at lege than cost price. ("Shame.") This should not be tolerated by England. (ApplfLUBe.) We ought to come to terms with our Colonies in order that in their markets we might get fairness and security, and that the Empire would become more compact and stronger, Then we should be able to economise in re- gard to the great burdens whitli were bearing us down. He asked them to accept Canada's offer of reciprocity. Canada offered an im- mense granary, which was, isdeed1, inexhaus- tible. It was a grand prospect, and we could not afford to ignore it; the "Possibilities of that intercourse with our Ctlonies were enor- mous. He hoped that the esult of this e-lec- tion was not closing the prospect, but merely adjourning it. If it were closed, we should suffer a great loss, and accent a great handi- cap in the future performance of our duty to the Empire, and posterity would regret our folly. (Applause.) Wae it too late ? (No.) Every vote might tend to correct the mis- taken opinion of the Anerican. Let them address their minds to tle great issue, and by recording their votes fcr Colonel Wyndham- Quin they would share ii the national and im- perial glory. (Loud ind prolonged cheer- ing.) VOTE OF CONFIDENCE. Mr. Oliver Sheppard moved a resolution of confidence in Colonel Wyndham-Quin. Al- though many things lad happened since the last meeting in that room, they should not lose heart, but put tleir backs into the work more than ever. Referring to the question of tariff reform, Mr Sheppard said that two coal washing machires had been put down in the neighbourhood which were made in Ger- many. This kind *f machine had been made by his firm for 30 years. Germany was al- lowed to send machinery to this country free, but he was unable to get into foreign mar- kets on account d duties. Mr. Jacob Jenkns seconded' the resolution, which was carried with a few dissentients. LADY EVA WYNDHAM-QUIN. Lady Eva Wjndham-Quin expressed her thanks on behalf of Colonel Quin, for the kind and hearty way in which the resolution ihad been accepted. Colonel Quin was very sorry not to be able to be present. He was attend- ing four meetings in different parts of the constituency. (Applause.) VOTES OF THANKS. Mr. R. C. Griffiths proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Wyndham and said it was an honour to Bridgend that such a distinguished statesman had come to a small county town. (Applause.) No one in the hall;, whether Conservative or Liberal, could but have been delighted wi:h the splendid speech which Mr. Wyndham had delivered. (Hear, hear.) He and those who worked with him in arranging for the meetings were glad that the people of Bridgend or both parties appreciated the pre- sence of a distinguished statesman, and gave him such a fair hearing. Mr. J. Elias (Newton) seconded, and said all must recognise what the Conservatives had done for the working classes. The vote having been enthusiastically car- ried, Mr Wyndham briefly acknowledged. Mr W Bradshaw proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was seconded by Mr. W. Hopkins, and carried with acclamation. Colonel Turbervill responded, and said he took the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Wyndham on his triumphant return to Par- liament. (Cheers.) The meeting was concluded by the singing of the National Anthem, and cheers for Col. and Lady Eva Wyndham-Quin.

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