POLITICS IN WELLINGTON.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 277, 21 November 1919, Page 7

POLITICS IN WELLINGTON.

NO EXCITEMENT. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. The capital city seems to be taking its electioneering quietly, and so far has not put up anything like the interesting features which have been seen in the other big centres. The final adjustment ■of candidates does not seem to have been made in all the seats. New names crop up and disappear, and it looks as if the nominations will disclose no Reform candidates for Wellington Central or Wellington South.

In the North constituency, the inevitable Labour candidate has been plodding away for a fortnight, but his campaign lacks snap, and as tihe Liberals are not yet at work on the platform, the position seems favourable to the sitting member, Mr. Luke. Several names have been mentioned in connection with the Liberal nomination, but the only candidate in the field is Mr. H. Oakley Browne, Sir Joseph Ward's private secretary, who, if he is a starter, should carry on a vigorous fight. He is handicapped in not being so well known as the member, who is also the Mayor, but as the constituency is compact, a t few weeks of campaigning * should reduce this disadvantage.

Wellington Central can be depended upon to provide lively episodes once the fight gets under weigh, for it will be a bitter tussle between the Labourite, Mr. Fraser, and the official liberal candidate, Mr. Fred Pirani, who is such an old campaigner and at •his best in a keen contest. With a clear field against the Labour man, as seems most probable, he will make the position very awkward for Mr. Fraser.

Dr. NeAvman, the Reform member for j Wellington East, '"who only scraped in la_t election, is very diffident about fighting as an out-and-out Reformer on this occasion. He prefers to give a pledge that he will support anything as an alternative to an extreme Labour Government. As he explains it, he and some (other members have agreed that if the ' position showed' after the elections that ! extrehie Labour holds the balance of i power, they would sink their differences I and insist upon good government for New Zealand. Dr. Newman also advocates a reform of Parliamentary procedure in the direction of curbing the I powers of Ministers, and asserting the I proper authority of the House. Mr. L. '■ McKenzie, a city councillor of long exI perience, has announced himself as a 1 Liberal candidate for East, co that the probability is that the contest will be three-cornered. : In the South, Colonel Mitchell is getting together a good organisation and shaping well on the platform against Mr. Semple. There will be a straight-out fight here between them. As for the Colonel's party inclinations, he declines in any way to commit himself, but he is being "backed by a number of people who in the past have been prominent in Liberal circles, though at present they do not insist -upon anything more from their candidate than a somewhat noncommittal declaration in favour of "good government." In the surrounding districts, the most |hrteresting contest in the triangular one •in Hutt, where Mr. T. M. Wilford faces a Reformer, Mr. Rishwort_,-and an. official. Labourite, Mr. Pritchard. As Mr. P.ishworrh reads his speeches somewhat dismally, he is not arousing enthusiasm. Labour depends on some block votes in. the big industrial establishments of the. district, but i£Jiis field has also been cultivated assiduously by the liberal ex-Minister, who recently _vade a very effective fight on behalf of the railwaymen when their claimfor increased wages was before Parliament, leo that it is not quite a certainty that the pledged Labourite will get all the support he is banking upon from the Pet-one workshops men. Tn. party leaders have so far made no arrangement to speak in Wellington, but it is anticipated that both will gravitate towards the capital just before the election, and Wellington expects to work up its election interest | quite gradually to a climax about December 16 or 17.