POLITICAL POINTS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12365, 2 December 1905, Page 9

POLITICAL POINTS.

"Mr Seddon addressed a meeting last night at , »nd spoke for three hours."—Any dally paper in >*ew ZeaJand during , tho laat month. I A gentleman that loves to hear Himself talk, and will speak more in a minute than ho will stand to in a month.—Shakespeare. In hie Wanganui speech Mr Seddon eaid ho thought he would start a political school in Wanganui. Mr Haselden en. Opposition candidate, thinks Mr Seddon himself Bhouid go to a school of finance. ! Mr Bedford does not believe in the ! advice given to the typical politician :— j " Never cay nuffin unices you're compelled to, And never oay nuffin that you can bo held to." The Hon. C. H. Mills, when contradicting some of his opponent's figures the other night, quoted somo returns i which, ho said, were compiled by experts in the Civil Service ''who could be trusted to tell the trutii where «n untruth was so easily detected." The feelings of tho "experts" on reading this candid statement, remarks the "Post," can probably bo better imagined than described. A Southern paper sees something "Napoleonic" in the Premier's campaign in the North. One of Napoleon's campaigns terminated at Moscow; another finished at Waterloo. 'There is something wrong with the Democracy," says Mr Hislop, "that is called upon to give credit to any Minister for a grant mau) on behalf of education." One of the moot points just now is whether a person can with any &how of consistency vote No-liccnso, and at tho same time support a candidate who is opposed to that system. In somo quarters, says tho "Hawke's Bay Herald," this problem is held to have been sot at rest by the action of an officer of tho Women's Christian Temperance Union in becoming a nominator of a candidate who has pronounced strongly against Prohibition. Mr H. Field, secretary to tho New Zealand Employers' Federation, in a letter io tho "New Zealand Times," points out that "as in previous scissions, a number of measures affecting the industries of the colony, and the rights of employers, woro before the Parliament during nearly the whole of the sittings, and then dealt with when it was practically impcesibl© to fairly consider them." Hβ specially mentioned an important amendment of the Mining Act, alterations in the Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act, and in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, which, despite the rejection of tho amendments by tho Labour Bills Committee of one or both Houses, were "rushed through" by tho legislature in tho last days of the session. "There are far too many so-called Liberal members climbing into Parliament on the backs of the workers," says the Hon. J. Rigg, "who have no real sympathy with tho aims, aspirations, and welfare of the working class." It is not often that a candidate for Parliament is made the subject of special prayer. Mr C. M. Gray has received a letter from an old man whom he has never seen, informing him tihat ho has been praying for his recovery and election. Some candidates are regarded as being past praying for. Mr Gray is evidently not in that category. The "Post" utters a timely word of warning to the supporters of the Opposition, who are often too apt to think that their candidato is " safe," and therefore neglect to work for him and even to vote for him. That "foolish confidence has often courted defeat by neglecting the ordinary precautions which could havo secured n, victory under far kes favourable conditions. Mr Aitken and Air Duthie aro both strong candidates, but no candidate is so strong that tho necessary amount of inattention cannot keep him out, and even in Westland, whero the prohibitionists have put up an absolutely unknown outsider witihout any intention of voting for him, but merely to save tho local option poll from nullity, it is noticeable that the Premier's friends havo made a great demonstration in his absence, aro organising tho campaign for him, though there is no one to fight, «nd aro even talking of raising his election expenses, though beyond "his deposit but a few whillings can be needed. Such a parade of caution and enthusiasm combined may seem like overdoing the part in the regular West kind style, but excess in thfis direction is a thousand-fold prefcrablo to the mistake which the Opposition are making in the two strongest positions of their own stronghold." These remarks apply to many other seats besides tlwwe specially referred to, and if some of the Opposition candidates who are now standing aro defeated, it will only, be through the "foolish confidence" or equally foolish indifference of their friends.