The Press. Saturday, December 6, 1919. The Liberals and the Reds.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16699, 6 December 1919, Page 10

The Press. Saturday, December 6, 1919. The Liberals and the Reds.

In his speech at Temuia Sir Joseph Ward said ho "always had been "in faronr of moderate Labour." Tho elector* are expected to infer from this remark that Sir Joseph will havo nothing to do with tho extromiste, hut since, with the exception of Mr Vcrtch, there aro none but Labour extremists amongst the Labour men who can be elected, hia words aro as idle as words can be. In any event he surely does not think that the pnblio has forgotten how, in 1914, he exercised as tho Liberal tender tho right (conferred upon him by an Act in that year) to allot to any candidate he pleased those soldiers' votes given for the liberal Party. Where ho had a nominco of his own, that nominee naturally received the votes to be disposed of in the districts affected. 'But there wcr© districts in which no liberal candidate stood, and in 80 per cent, of those cases Sir Joseph took ins his candidates, and as the proper recipients of the disposable liberal votes, tho officially endorsed candidates of tho Red Federation. The meaning of Sir Joseph's declaration that ho "ahrays " been in favour of recognising modcr"ate Labour" is surely evident enough. In 1914 the Reds put np exactly tho samo kind of candidates as they have put up for tho present contcst, and the liberals on that occasion openly adopted the attitude which they privately adoprt now. They regarded the Reds and themselves as tho closest of Allies; all of them were anti-Reformers; they were brothers in Opposition. The "Lyttolton Times," for example, which in 1913 had doclared that the Liberals had "voted " for Mr "Webb because they knew that "nino-tenths of his policy was their "own," referred on November 14th, 1914, to tho fact, as it put it, that " the Opposition Party is in the happy, "position of having a good candidate " standing in its interests in every constituency." In about ten of theso seats there was no Wardist candidate, but the Red Fed candidate was ao

counted ns good ns .1 TVardist. Thero was no disguiso about it. The "New Zealand Times." reportins >1 meeting addressed by the Hon. A. L. Herdman on November 21th, took comfort in tho fact that, as it reported, "cheers were given for Sir "Joseph Ward and Mr H. E. Holland, '■ countered by cheers for Mr Massey "and Mr Herdman." About the some time tho Hon. W. J>. S. Mac-Donald. Sir Joseph Ward's first mate, explained to a feathering at Kuraka that some of tho lJcd Feds : "v.cnt orer on to Mr " Massoy's side jVhich they did not do. ''as a matter of fact], but they knew "who were their friends now."' Tho Tied Feds knew in IPI4 that their txvst friend was the Liberal Party, as Sir Joseph's first mate said, and that they repard it as their best friend now is advertised in Mr PI. K. Holland's pledge that, the Reds will help Sir Joseph to turn Mr out, and will keep Sir Joseph in power if he suits them.

As the Rods and Wardists were ir 1914, so arc the Ileds and tho Wardists to-day. Try as they may to conceal the fact, they cannot conrcal it. They cannot even prevent admissions from slipping out. Some of tho franker Warclist organs, like tho Wellington weekly wc quote to-day, havn decidcd that there is no profit in evading the facts. And at a meeting addressed by the Hon. Mr Myers on Tuesday, of this week, an interjector remarked, at one point ol Mr Myers's spccch, that tho candidate's viotvs "were similar to the Labour plat- ' form, and asked why tho candidate " did not join Labour." Mr Myers replied: "Because the greater should " contain tho less. Come over to us." There wo havo it in a nutshell. The Liberals and the Beds are "the Opposition, ' as tho "Lyttelton Times'' hai said. Here and there, of course, thej aro quarrelling as to which of them shall have tho seat, but they are in der feet harmony on the point that thej shall voto together. We havo given in this article pcoof of tlio unity of purpose oi tho two branches of tho Opposition— a unity of purpose as firm and unmistakeablo as it was declared to bo bj tho two chief organs of tho Liberal Party in 1913. Wo shall conclude bj pointing out with regard to the declaration by, Sir Joseph Ward of his unwillingness to carry on with Red Fod support, that Sir Joseph intends to use, for he has given no indication that he intends to repudiato, tho assistance of Mr H. E. Holland and his fellow-reds in his effort to oust the Government.