County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

I The Public Meeting. I LORD TREDEGAR then presided over a largely-attended public meet- ing, in the Tredegar Hall, and was supported, in addition to those already present, by Sir Joseph Lawrence, M P., aud Lady Lawrence. His lord- ship said a number of letters of apology for non- attendance had been received and a telegram from Dr Rutherfoord Harris stated that he was at Faversham and regretted losing the opportunity of being with Lord Tredegar and the Newport Conservatives on that occasion. They could I CONGRATULATE THEMSELVES, his lordship said, that they had a Conservative as member for the united boroughs of Newport, Monmouth, and Usk, and that he was with them that evening. (Hear, hear.) They could also congratulate themselves that they still had a Tory Government in office-Chear. beir)-atid in spite of a certain number of wavering supporters, which would always be found after a long occupation of office, they had a Government in office who had I A MAJORITY BIG ENOUGH for their needs—(hear, bear)-a majority big enough to carry through the Houses of Parliament; any measure which they thought necessary. In Sir Joseph Lawrence they had a gentleman who was chairman of a great commercial enterprise employing a large number of working men. He thought that was a great recommendation for a great commercial centre like Newport. The position of a member of Parliament was no sinecure. He could not take the E ister holiday which members did in the old days, because he had to go down to his constituents and do the I hardest work of all—to make all sorts of pledges and all sorts of speeches. I IN THE OLD DAYS the rule was to make speeches without having any- thing to say, and to spend money without having anything in the pocket. (Laughter.) That was not the case with the borough member, because he had always plenty to say, and, he hoped, he always had plenty in his pocket. (" Hear, hear," and iarghter.) They had heard a great deal about the swing of the pendulum. In some directions it might have wavered a bit, but he saw no sign of it wavering in Newport yet. (Hear, hear.) I CONFIDENCE IN THE GOVERNMENT. Mr John Moxon then proposed the first resolu- tion That this meeting of the electors of the Monmouth Boroughs desires to express unabated confidence in the policy of His Mijesty's Govern- ment at home and abroad." Mr T. H. Hazell seconded. I SIR JOSEPH LAWRENCE, on rising to support the resolution, received an ova- tion, and, before addressing himself strictly and specifically to the resolution, said :—" I should like to crave your indulgence while I mike a short ex- planation of aa incident which has become very public recently, affecting not only myself, but a member of his Majesty's Government. I do not propose to insult the intelligence of this meeting by going over a number of details which are absolutely unnecessary, and the importance of which has been unduly magnified, altogether out of proportion to their intrinsic merits, by the mere fact that both myself and the gentleman of whom I am about to speak were members of Parliament. Mr Hayes Fisher — (applause) — the late Secretary to the Treasury, and myself had occasion, some seven years ago, to invest a little money in a mo,.t meri- torious scientific invention, which had in itself germs of great benefit to this country. In short, it was nothiug more nor less than A NEW KIND OF TELEPHONE. I The invention was spoken of very highly by my friend and former schoolfellow, Dr John Hopkinson -one of the most eminent scientific men England has ever turned out. He spoke of it so hopefully that he said he was going no put £ 1,000 into it, and I felt no compunction of conscience in following him and Mr Hayes-Fisher in subscribing a similar amount. Well, a little incident in the course of its career, over which I had no control, in due time brought the enterprise into the courts. The result was that the judge, who had to pass some judgment upon a part of the procedure, pronounced certain opinions which Mr Hayes-Fisher in Parliament called 'counqels of perfection.' He delivered no judgment, but he thought it would be a good thing- if Mr Hayes-Fisher and myself would see that NOBODY SUSTAINED ANY LOSS I by it. We were only two out of five gentlemen, and in consequence ot a millbke-put it that way, no higher, for the thing is still sttb judice-made by a foreign gentleman, who deposited some shares with his banker, we were apparently and technically liable to pay some money back. As a matter of fact we were neither morally nor legilly liable to pay a farthing to anybody, yet Mr Hayes-Fisher, with that scrupulosity of conscience about which Mr Balfour complimented him in the House of Com- mons, said he ought not to be a party to anybody losing sixpence—the total amount of liability being £ 5,000 to pay off everybody-and he asked me to join him, and I have no hesitation in joining him in paying that amount of money. (Applause.) To SUM UP THE VIEW I with which men of all parties in the House of Commons, members of the commercial community of this country, and, iii fact, everybody who has passed any comment at all upon the case, I cannot do better than quote the concluding paragraph of an article in the Saturday Review of April Iltb, which stated: Mr Hayes Fisher is a much bigger man to-day than he was a fortnight ago. I He has drawn tributes of admiration and sympathy from the House of Commons, the Press, and the country generally, which he well deserves, for over scrupulosity in money matters is none too common. Well, ladies and gentlemen, with just that brief explanation, I will dismiss the subject. The whole of the circumstances unfortunately have been too widely published already, but if any elector in this constituency has any desire, any curiosity, to know all the details of the transaction, 1 shall only be too happy to send him the full printed particulars. I thiols His t 11 { Dt's To THIS coNsfttcfitfclf I that 1 should place in the forefront of my address to-night just these tw') or three observations. I feel like Mr Hayes-Fisher when he said in the House of Commons in terms and accents which won for him the admiration of everybody in that august assembly, I have wronged no mau, but I have myself been cruelly wronged." (Applause). With that I will digtui.-s the subject, and address myself more specifically to the question which has brought me here to-night, what I have been doing since I have been your member. You elected me to represent you in the House of Commons; you elected me to support his Majesty's Government. That I have done J UNFLINCHINGLY AND UNSWERVINGLY since I have been there, but I haven't done it indiscriminately. If they have proposed measures which, to my judgment, have been such that I could not conscientiously support, I have not opposed them, I have not walked out of the House, but I have gone to the miuister in charge of the measure, represented my views to him, and if it has been possible to strike out what was obnoxious, I have found him ready to strike it out. (Hear, hear.) Since I have been your member I think my attendances compare favour- ably with the attendances of other members from this district. I think I stand, from the beginning of the year up to the Easter recess, second in point of attendances amongst the Welsh members. (Applause.) I have I NOT NEffLBCTBD THE INTERESTS of South Wale?, for some time ago I was asked by the leader of the Welsh party to assist him in the House of Commons in bringing forward, and to support when brought forward, a proposal for a Welsh National Museum. I heartily gave the Welsh party my support, and we extracted from the representatives of his Majesty's Government a promise that if Wales would make up its mind where it wanted the museum, and what kind of a museum it wanted, then the Government were prepared to give the proposal their most favourable consideration. The Welsh members were kind enough to ask me to attend their conference, and Mr Lloyd-George was the first to nominate me on the committee to submit the proposals to the Government. (Hear, hear.) I have a return here showing that in the last normal session that the Liberal Government were in power in 1894, the total number of days upou whi :h the House sat was 113, whereas in the last session in 1902, the Houie sat for 181 days. In 1894 the number of divisions was 246 in the last session the number was 64S. In the Liberal days the Conservatives and Unionists I DID NOT HARASS THE GOVERNMENT of that day to the extent the present Government is harassed. Only 3,500 questions were asked during that session, whereas during last session 6,623 questions were asked. These figures will show you that, after all, the supporters of the Government, if they do their duty loyally, have got no eiciecure in the House of Commons, and if they attend to their duties there, and render their services to the nation, it is not possible for them always to get down to pay as many visits to their constituents as they desire. I had to determine whether my proper place was in the House of Commons trying to influence in the proper direction the work of the nation, or c )mitig down to attend tea parties and bazaars and other functions of that kiud. I made up my mind that my duty was in the House of Commons. (Loud applause.) Speaking of I THE RADICAL CANDIDATE for the Monmouth Boroughs, Sir Joseph said From all I know about this gentleman's antece- dents and connections, he is one about whom I shall never say an unkind or uncharitable word. (Hear, hear.) I shall endeavour, if this constitu- ency does me the honour of pitting me against him at the next election, to conduct the con- troversy in a friendly and genial manner." (Cheers.) He noticed that Mr Haslam, in his recent speech at the Liberal Club, made use of a simile which was a mixture of entomological science and the table of weights and measures. He took as his text the words, a fleabite of work is worth a ton of talk." He (the speaker) con- fessed he had never ;known, and would, probably, never know, what the weight of a fleabite was. (Laughter.) Mr Ha-dam told his audience that at, the last election the Conservatives wens into power on one issue. He (the speaker) claimed that that was I A CONSTITUTIONAL THING for the Government to do. The Government had been condemned for going to war without a man- date from the country. What was more constitu- tional than for the Government to go to the country and get a mandate ? Mr Haslam also alleged that the Conservatives had op'posed Catholic emancipation and popular enfranchise. ment. Thig, apparently, was where the fleabite of faot came in. It was autrae, as a matter of fact, that the Tories opposed Catholic emancipation, because it was the Ministry of the Duke of Wellington that carried the measure in 1829. It was perfectly trai th;it prior to that some members of the Cabinet had opposed it. But it was given even to Tories to ohaage their minds. And it was Mr Disraeli and Lord Darby who carried the Bill for GENERAL ENFRANCHISEMENT. Mr Haslam farther alleged that it was the Tories who lost this country the United States. He (the speaker) had combated that statement both in America and in this country. But from whom was it they heard the phrase il Perish India," and who discouraged the closer union of the Colonies and t he Mother Country? Mr Haslam had hedged on the lieensiuar question and compensation, but he (the speaker) did not intend to 1, hede" in any way. His view and the view of those who sup- ported him on the platform had been voiced by Mr Balfour, who said that it almost amounted to con- fiscation to deprive men who had,, invested their money in a trade which had grown up under the ægis of the law. He had never hesitated as to the view that he took. He was unhesitatingly on the side of those who thought that COMPENSATION OUGHT TO BE AWARDED to those who conducted their business respectably and who were summarily deprived of their business, (Hear, hear.) He (the speaker) looked upon the Education Act as one of the greatest measures passed in our time. Putting aside all the oratory of the House of Commons, the political heat intro- duced into the debates from semi-political or semi- religious motives, I looked to one fact," he said, What was the best thing for the children of the country and for the country itself? As one associa- ted with great technical enterprises, I have seen with sorrow and regret the utterly backward state of education in this country and I welcome with both arms and hands anything which would strengthen the foundations of that system and enable us to build it higher and higher, to A GREATER DEGREE OF EFFICIENCY I than has ever existed before." Having touched upon the questions of the conduct of the war and the position of the Army, Sir Joseph asked what alternative was presented to the electors of the country with a ohange of Government. A Liberal Government had no prospeot of a long life, but it might introduce many pernicious features both in home and foreign affairs. At Montrose, Mr Morley had practically asked for a blank cheque. He said he was ignorant of the first subject which would claim the attention of the next Liberal Government. (Laughter). He (the speaker) thought one of the first things that any Government would have to take up was the question of the Customs tariffs between the Mother Country and the Colonies. If, he added, the Government had done nothing more than restore the country to the position it formerly enjoved; if it did nothing more than enhance our prestige in the eyes of foreign countries if it had only drawn our colonies closer to the Mother Country than ever they were before, I elaim that it de--rves wel,' of the country, and is entitled to its confidence. I cordially support the resolution of confidence in his Majesty's Government. Thi-t was put to the meeting and carried unani- mously. Lord Tredegar then made an interesting presenta- tion to Mr Herbert Flanders, consisting of enlarged framed portraits of Dr Rutherfoord Harris, 8ir Joseph L iwrence, and several local Conservative Naders, and a purse containing XSO. I Mr Flanders suitably returned thanks, and urged the Association to stick together. í UN AS AMD OONFIOENOS IN THE i- MEMBER. On the proposition of Mr Parry, secondel by Ar Wilsou, a resolution of thanks to Sir Joaapb Lawrence for his services, and expressing unabated confidence in him, was unanimously carried with musical honours and cheers. Sir Joseph Lawrence, in responding, said that when the incident occurred which led to the resig- nation of Mr Hayes-Fisher, he wrote to Mr Balfour and said that if it was felt desirable he would place his resignation in the hands of his constituents. Mr Balfour wrote, in reply, and said Your integrity and your honour are above suspicion." (Applause.) Therefore, he (Sir Joseph) could look the whole world in the fuce. and say that the small incident was really undeserving of the attention it h..d aroused. He thanked his audience more than be could tell for the renewed mark of their confidence. A cordial vote of thanks to Lord Tredegar for presiding followed, an d His lordship, in replying, referred to Mr T. If. Hazell's remarks with reference to Colonel Ivor Herbert earlier in the evening. Mr Hazell, after dealing at some length with the Trausvaal war, said that when they came to listen to criticisms in regard to that war, they were likelv to pay closer attention to remarks that fell from men they knew, especially men in their midst. Some of them knew of such a man, who-well, he could only describe him as a kid-glove soldier, who had been out to- South Africa, with, as his principal weapon, a visiting card case. That gentleman had come home j A DISAPPOINTED MAN, and when he criticised the Transvaal war he con- fessed that he was not in a position exactly to know what his grievance was, whether it was thafr we should not have gone to war at all, or whether it was that he had not been made Com- mander-in-Chief. Lord Tredegar said: "I ara sorry Mr Hazelt thought it necessary to make thoset remarks about an old friend of mine. Colonel Herbert. I don't think he quite knows his history-- Colonel Herbert has been a soldier all his life. Her served the late Queen, and although his services ill, South Africa were not devoted to fighting, yet be; occupied a responsible and onerous p isir.ion. Colonel Herbert served through the Soudan campaign. He commanded the whole of the Canadian Volunteer Army, and was there for years. I think on these occasions personalities are much better left out. SIR JOSEPH LAWRENCE, M.P., AT MONMOUTH. The annual meeting of the Monmouth Con- servative Association was held on Tuesday evening at the Rolls-hall, Monmouth, Mr W. 0. Addams- Williams in the chair. The report of the, Committee stated that the work of registration had been carefully attended to, and left the register quite as favourable to the party as at the clo-;e of the previous year. The accounts were also satisfactory. The existing officers were all re- elected. Later on the annual meeting of the Rolls Habitation of the Primrose League was held, Lord Llangattock, as Ruling Councillor, presiding. His lordship was re-elected to that position, Subsequently, there was a largely-attended public meeting, under the joint auspices of the Conservative Association and the Primrose League, at the Rolls-hall, at which the Borough Member delivered an address. Lord Llangatck presided. I THE NOBLE CHAIRMAN said he felt proud to stand on that platform once more in support of their worthy and excellent member for the Monmouth Boroughs, Sir Joseph Lawrence. (Applause ) He liked to see in Parlia- ment good men and truo, men with sound service and true hearts. They wanted men like Sir Joseph Lawrence (appiitise)-fA man who was not afraid to speak out, and who would do everything he could for the good of his country jrd for the good of the old town of Monmouth. Some time ago he (Lord Llangattook) had the pleasure of introducing Sir Joseph to them, but no introduction was needed now. He was well known and respected by all. (Loud applause.) I SIR JOSEPH LAWRENCE was enthusiastically cheered on rising to address the meeting. Yoct were kind enough, he said, to elect me your member two years ago, and during that time I have fulfilled comprehensively and sub- stantially all the pledges I made to you. If thera have been measures brought forward which I could not approve, I have not hesitated to use my right and privilege to oriticise them. For instance, in the case of the Patent Laws Amendment Act I not only offered to that Bill a considerable amount of criticism, but the Government were good enough to- accept that criticism in the kindest possible spirit, and they converted me from being an opponent of the Bill to one of its warmest supporters. Mr Gerald Balfour, the president of the Board of Trade, on the occasion of his recent visit to the town of Newport, was kind enough to pay me the compli- ment of saying that, among all the members of the. chambers of commerce in the country, no one had rendered I MORE SIGNAL SERVICE to the Government for the passing of that measnra than myself. (Cheers.) With reference to that subject of compensation for licences, Sir Joseph pointed out that one of the grslitest. Liberal authorities in the past, Mr John Bright, would. never vote for local option, on the ground that if it did not include compensation for the disturbance of licences, it would be unfair and inequitable. (Hear, hear.) On the education question he alluded to the,, fact that there were a large number of Voluntary schools which, with a little kindly treatment, they could get the use of for nothiug. Mr Balfour's object in the recent Bill was the good of the children and the welfare of the nation as a whole. With reference to the charges of extravagance whicht had been levelled against the Government in oon- nection with the South African War, Sir Joseph, alluded to the coat of the Napoleonic wars in the" days of Mr Pitt. The Napoleonic wars," he said, cost this country, when we had a population of eight millions, over 300 millions, and great as that sum was the nation cheerfully paid it. because they knew Mr Pitt was waging a war for something greater than money—the glory and greatness of this Empire." (Cheers.) Having dwelt upon the expenditure connected with the Army and Navy, Sir Joseph proceeded to speak upon our FOOD SUPPLY AND TARIFFS, and, with some knowledge of the manufaettirinw classes of this country, said that the belief that we shall have to face the question of the fiscal policy of. this country is growing very strongly and very rapidly. (Cheers.) The Chancellor of the Exchequer, he said, has been approached by a deputation asking: him, instead of taking anything from the income- tax, to give a free breakfast table, and take off the duties on sugar, tobacco, and Other things. Now. Mr Ritchie pointed out to that deputation a very pregnant fact which has been loit sight of. In 1854 the direct taxation was 34 per cent, and the indirect taxation 66 per cent. In 1902 the direct taxation was 51-1 per cent, and the indirect taxation 48t per cent. As a matter of fact the middle and rich olasses bore 50 per cent of the taxation, as the following figures will show The percentage of taxation paid by all classes is 10.7 by drinkers of alcohol, 30.6 by smokers, 8.7 and by the middle classes and rich, 50 per cent. Out of the total taxable revenue of the country the income-tax and house and estate duties brought in 40 par cent. Major Griffin moved :— That this meeting of the Conservative and. U uionist party of Monmouth, and members of the Rolls Habitation of the Primrose League desires to express its confidence in, and general approval of, the policy of his Majesty's Government, and wishes especially to con-