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Candidate at Colwyn Bay. Uproarious Meeting: Speaker Severely Heckled. House of Lords to be "Mended." One of the most animated and interesting pol- itical meetings held at Colwyn Bay since the date of the previous contest, fourteen years ago, was that in support of the candidature of Mr. Sam Thompson, in the Public Hall, on Friday evening. Long before the time announced for .opening the proceedings the ball was packed to suffocation, and it soon became evident that the audience included a considerable section of young Liberals. Outside there was a large crowd of people of both political parties unable to obtain admission, and Mr. Sam Thompson addressed this outdoor overflow meeting whilst Mr. Greaves Lord, Tariff Reform candi- date for the Ince Division. of Lancashire, was speaking within doors. Considerable disappoint- ment was felt and expressed that doctor's orders prevented the advertised visit of Mr. Marshall Hall, K.C., the gentleman credited with^ the •authorship of the sneering phrase about the little Welsh attorney." For some days prior to the meeting a rumour had been circulated in the town that a number of game-keepers from' the neighbourhood of Coed Coch were coming to preserve order, and this rumour, coupled with the anticipations of making the acquaintance of Mr. Marshall Hall, is said to be the reason why the opposition turned up in such force. Although the interruptions were so Jrequetnt., all the speakers maintained the utmost coolness and composure, and the audience never got out of hand. There was a strong body of stewards present, none of whom appeared to be game- keepers, and all, with one possible exception., displayed praiseworthy tact and discretion, qualities which may be commended to the at- tention of the knight of the brush who was sta- tioned near the platform. TALK UNEMPLOYMENT." The Hon. Laurence A. Brodrick, of Coed Coch, made an admirable chairman, and was supported by a large and representative plat- form," which included several ladies. The Chairman's rising to address the meeting was greeted with hearty applause, followed by "boo-ing," and three cheers for Lloyd George." Mr. Brodrick said that his first duty was to. express regret that a num- ber of their friends were unfortunately umable to attend, and amongst the names he mentioned were those of MT. Horton, Mr. is it Bliss Hill, Mr. Britten, Lady Dundoniald, Mr. Lowe, of Old Colwyn, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Ashby. In view of that magnificent meeting he saw before him, he thought they had better get to work at once and waste no time. Vve are met (proccc cled the Chairman), as this .meeting testifies, and. as we all know, on an occasion which is a prelude: to historic events. (Hear, hear.) The crisis in which we at present stand' is as grave as, if not graver than, any with which Englishmen, Welshmen, Scotsmen, and Irishmen have been confronted during the last century, and in the contest that is coming a great responsibility will lie upon each one of us a.s to the way in which he gives a vote in January next—(hear, hear),—whether he gives it for the Radical-Socialist alliance '(cheers and for the Radical-Socialist alliance '(cheers and counter-cheers)—or not—>(" Hip, hip, for Lloyd George! "),—or whether he gives it for the true party of freedom, the Unionist party. (Cheers and laughter.) Before I call upon the speakers, I should like to draw attention to just two things. In the first place, we have a declaration, I tihink last week, that one party in the State was pledged to Home Rule. (Hear, hear.) Well, that seems to be returning to very ancient his- tory. Weare back in the old rut of 25 years ago. The people of this island were asked if they would have Home Ruile then, and they re- plied in a most emphatic negative, as I am persuaded they will reply again. The second point is that in reading, as I have, with some care, the speeches by supporters of the Government—I have not read them all, be- cause that would require 26 hours in the day— I am struck by the conspicuous absence in the great majority of them of one topic, the topic which—and I believe every man in this room is bound to agree with me-is the most pressing and the most urgent that can, claim our atten- tion, the topic which the Government's sup- porters so studiously avoid, the question of un- employment. (Applause and cries of What about the House of Lords?") But how will the House of Lords help unemployment? (A voice: "Not by throwing the Budget out!" and Liberal cheers.) Whatever else the Budget will do it will not give employment. (Cries of dissent, and cheers for Lloyd George.) That question is the most important, and we Union- ists claim, and claim with justice, that we have a policy which will at all events tend to lighten that (The end of the sentence was drowned in cries of Rats.") I don't think it is necessary to labour that point, but I give to this great meeting these two points as being fruitful ones for consideration and discussion. We have a magnificent cause —(hear, hear),—and I .say we have a magnificent man to uphold that cause. (Cheers and hoot- ing.) Mr. Sam Thompson is a son. of the people. (Uproar.) He knows what were the struggles— (interruptions)—order, if you please, he knows what the struggles of working men are and can sympathise with their feelings. (Derisive cheers and a voice: Traitor.") He is a member of the Unionist party whom I am glad to call my friend—(applause),—and consider it to be an honour to be allowed to contribute towards the success of his candidature. (Cheers and counter- cheers.) I beg you, I make an appeal to you, for the good name of Colwyn Bay, to allow this meeting to proceed in an orderly manner. (Ap- plause.) Mr. Sam Thompson at this stage went outside to address the "overflow" meeting, whose cheers occasionally penetrated into the hall. The candidate was introduced by Mr. Charles Rey- nolds, J.P. A LIVELY EXPERIENCE. Mr. Grèaves Lord spoke at considerable length, despite the severe heckling to which he was subjected, and very soon got on good terms with his challengers. The interruptions were for the most part intelligent interruptions, show- ing that the hecklers took a keen interest in political questions. He defended the action of the House of Lords in regard- to the Budget and declared, that they had in fact carried out their proper function in the Constitution, inasmuch as the Budget contained new and important issues which had never been before the country. (A voice: But what did' Mr. Balfour say? and Three cheers for Lloyd George.") The speaker quoted from two speeches by Mr. Asquith on the House of Lords, which he held to, be con- tradictory, and was asked by the audience What did Lord Rosebery say? Shortly after- wards there was some uproar in the back of the hall and shouts of turn him out," whereupon Mr. Lord appealed to them not to turn anyone out of that meeting. He next criticised1 Lord Rosebery's speeches on the Budget, and said that if the Unionist party had accepted that nobleman's advice they would have been, sruilty of cynical opportunism, but they had rejected that advice and appealed to the country. With regard to the land taxation proposals of the Budget, the speaker said that the very threat to impose such taxes had been a serious thing for numerous working men in Lancashire who had built their own houses, as the mortgagees had called the money in. When he related how Lancashire working men had been able to save sufficient money to acquire houses of their own, a voice shouted "A result of Free Trade," which Mr. Lord denied. He also said that another effect of the Budget, by reason of the licensing clauses, was to stamp out the free houses and increase the number of tied houses. When the speaker touched upon the effect of the Budget upon unemployment, there were shouts of "In Germany," and as he proceeded to read extracts from speeches he was ordered to Give the context also." As he dwelt upon Protective Tariffs as a remedy for unemployment there were cries of What about the Hungry Forties? and considerable uproar, and his declaration that a large, number of ships left the port of Liverpool in ballast to fetch foreign- made goods into this country was met by a volley of contradiction, but he stuck to his point In conclusion he pleaded that they should give their heartiest support to. Mr. Thompson and return him as Member for West Denbighshire. (Cheers.) IN DEFENCE OF THE LORDS. Mr. Sam Thompson had a mixed reception, but faced .friends and opponents with equal con- fidence, and thanked the meeting for their warm and enthusiastic welcome." (Applause and laughter.) The issues before the country at the present moment, he said, were of far too serious a character for them to discuss them in any heated spirit or in the slightest degree to lose 'their tempers over them, and he was sure that his opponents would give him a fair and impartial hearing. The contest, which had come much earlier than had been anticipated, had been brought about owing to the action of the Second Chamber—("We have none")—in sus- pending the present Budget—(an ironic voice Suspending and Igughter)-i-i-i order to give to the people of this country an opportunity of saying whether they would accept it or not. There were differences of opinion with regard to thai. Their opponents, or the majority of them, said that the Peers had no. right to suspend the Budget—.(Liberal cheers)—whilst many said they had no Constitutional right, but they had a legal right'. (A voice: They won't have again," and laughter.) He thought that was rather splitting hairs, and he could not see much difference between a legal right and a Constitu- 11 tional right. The bedrock of the British Consti- tution was the will of the people of this country -(che,e,is),and he could not conceive that there was anything unconstitutional about the House of Peers seeking the opinions of the people. (Voices What about the South African War? What about the Education Bill? What about the Licensing Bill?) The Peers had sus- pended the Budget—(shouts of Rejected ")— j because they claimed that it contained proposals which were new and had not been submitted to the country. In support of this view he quoted a recent speech by Mr. Winston Churchill. (Cries of Down with the Lords! ") That was the reason why the Budget had been submitted to the judgment of the people. (" Because it touches the Lords' pockets ") A COMPARISON. Since the fight had begun-for begun it un- doubtedly had—different manifestoes had been issued by the leaders of the two parties. They had a manifesto' issued, by the leader of the Unionist party, Mr. Balfour. (Cheers and hoot- ing.) They had also had a manifesto by the Liberal leader, Mr Asquith. ("Three cheers for Mr. Asquith.") The manifesto of the leader of the Unionist paxty-(a voice: "What's his policy?")—was described the other day as being flat," stale," muddy," and so on. (Laugh- ter.) Well that young man 'had a great gift of adjectives—(laughter),—a greatea; gift of adjec- tives than of logic. But take one of those ad- jectives take the adjective stale"; and let them .for a moment turn to the manifesto of the Prime Minister at the Albert Hall the other night, and he (Mr. Thompson) would show them what an exceedingly fresh thing that manifesto was. First of all (continued Mr. Thompson) he says that the object of the Liberal party if returned to power—(ironical shouts of "if ")—I am only using his expression, so he must doubt it, you see—(applause)—he says the first thing they wanted' to do would be to abolish the power of the Lords—{Liberal cheers)—to int,er-fer,e in fin- ance. (Renewed Liberal cheers.) Now, is that fresh? (Laughter.) They have been agitating against the House of Lords ever since the year 1834. Surely, that is not a very fresh political egg, to abolish the power of the Lords to deal with finance. (A voice: How did they get there?") Then the next is Home Rule for Ire- land. (Interruptions). Another very fresh thing is it not? Very, very fresh. The next thing they are going to do is to upnold Free Trade. (Liberal cheers.) That is quite a political suck- ing babe, is it not? (Laughter and hooting.) The next thing is the Disiestablishment of the Church in Wales. Is not this new again? (Up- roar and a voice: "What about the dukes?") The next thing was State aid for the unem- ployed. Is that a new thing? (" Yes.") No, it was the Conservative party who first took action in the matter by passing the Unemployed Act of 1905. (Interruptions.) This is not a new policy at all. (A voice: Then why do' you oppose it? ") It is only an extension of a Con- servative pojicy. I will not copy the adjectives of the President of the Board of Trade. (A voice; You have got enough yourself.") I will simply remark that this policy, which is supposed to be fresh, is of a very ancient char- acter indeed. (Interruptions.) I am inclined to think that if Noah was a politician this is the kind of policy he might have framed in the Ark. (Great laughter amd a voice Tariff Reform is very old.") Proceeding, the speaker, amidst cries of "Wal- bottle and Down with the Dukes," defended the action of the House of Peers on the prin- ciple that taxation and representation should go together, because the extra taxes would have to be borne by the dukes, the marquises, the batrons, and even the baronets. (Laughter.) The speaker next advocated Tariff Reform, and when he dealt with the ooftton, industry he was told Don't mislead the people and to 'Study Mr. Macara's figures." Speaking in Welsh, Mr. Thompson said that the valuation of all land would be a hardship to small farmers who possessed land. The val- uation would be made by a Government expert, and if that valuation was considered too high the farmer would be put to the expense of en- gaging an expert to fight his case for him.. He also said ift was impossible to make building land cheaper by placing three taxes upon it. He added that the Budget taxed the savings' of the people. (" No, no.") Mr. Thompson was cheered on resuming his seat, and then three cheers for Lloyd George were given. A SEVERE CATECHISM. The Chairman now invited written questions, a number of which were handed up, and Mr. Thompson dealt with each one of them at length. The first question, Mr. Thompson said, was: Seeing that Mr Thompson has been a work- ing miner, and, I suppose, a good Trade Union- ist. how is it that Mr. Thompson comes to us as a Conservative candidate, instead of under the aluspicesi of the Labour Representation Comr mittee? Are not Conservatism and Labour dia- metrically opposed to each other? The question- is this: Why do I stand as a 'Conservative candidate—(a voice Because you are better paid for it ")—although I have been a miner and a Trade Unionist? Because I have never known yet that Trade Unionism must mean Liberalism. (Cheers.) Trade Union-

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