Bay of Plenty Times. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1925. TO-MORROW’S ELECTIONS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LIV, Issue 9025, 3 November 1925, Page 4

Bay of Plenty Times . TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1925. TO-MORROW’S ELECTIONS.

To-morrow every citizen of New Zealand of the age of twenty-one years, whose name appears on the electoral roll, is called upon to exercise his or her vote for our Parliamentary representatives , That pc-" is si ill one of honour; it is undoubtedly one of responsibility. That being so- it is incumbent on ns all to exercise the privilege we enjoy with a due sense of its" 1 importance. The native horn , New Zealander has every reason to be proud of his country- Those I who have made this their country by adoption should find no reason to regret their choice. In many ways, too apt to he overlooked, i<? this country lilessied. Despite the fact that its larger cities are growing apace our population is still well distributed, more so perhaps than in any other British Dominion, and that fact should long keep nsi free from those political turmoils which afflict older countries, It can with truth be claimed that for many years we have enjoyed stable Government, and there are as yet no signs that that stabil- ] ity, which tends so much to peace and prosperity, is seriously threatened. In fact the indications arc that Thursday’s dawn will find that stability rather strengthened than weakened. Through the regrettable death of its leader, the late 1 Hon. Mr Massey, the Reform Party has, since the last general election, had' to fin.d - a new leader. The choice inevitably fell upon tbe I Minister who had carried the greatest load of responsibility under Mr Massey. As Minister of Railways, of Public Works, and Postmaster General, the Hon. Mr Coat es had appealed to the people of New Zealand as a man determined to infuse into- the Government of the country every business method possible compatible with the conduct of the large undertakings under his control as State concerns. With the knowledge of what he has done there is jan undoubted inclination on the part of the people generally to afford him the greater opportunity of guiding the affairs of the State which the Premiership provides. This can only be done by returning to Parliament men pledged to support the party he leads. In the last Parliament that Party had a very precarious majority. We cannot but feel that to-morrow's elections will give the Reform Party, with Mr Coates as its leader, a reasonable, if not a substantial, working majority. It is well that they should. Not that the country has anything to fear from the ascendency of the Labour Party. The strength of that Party will be found on Thursday to be about the same as now, if not slightly di- | rainished. A fusion of the ReI form and National Parties—--which may or may not eventuate- -would leave Labour as the Official Opposition. Without fusion Laooiu may, and no doubt will, still occupy that position, leaving the Nationalists to realise that the elec- ■, tors of the Dominion, with keener perception t,han # they were given credit for. saw in the present Re- i form Government —which has lona j since out-Liberalised all die Acts /

of Ballance and Seddon—the most dependable shoulders on which to place the responsibility of Government for the next few years.