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Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17624, 29 November 1922, Page 8

The facte which are set out by our correspondent, "Square Deal" in a letter which was refused publication by the local Opposition paper are facte which most people will agree ought to have received'publicity in that paper. Our readers will remember that in some remarks upon Mr Kyle's candidature we commended Mr Kyle to the Riccarton electors as a man with a lifelong acquaintance with rural interests. The Opposition paper denied this. The contest, it Baid, vraa between a mere "horse doctor" on the one hand and ,*Ta life-long practical farmer now working hie own farm" on the other hand. "Waiving the intended offensiveness of this critic's reference to Mr Kyle, our correspondent set out the facts in his letter—facts which made the Opposition paper's criticism look rather silly. But, ae we have Baid, his letter was refused publication. It is an old Liberal trick when the Liberal is in a tight place. That it had to be resorted to on this occasion is clear enough evidence that the Liberals' uneasiness about Mr Witty's' prospects has become desperate. j _« . We understand also that the Opposition paper has refused publication to. a searching letter of enquiry as to its attitude towards the Lyttelton contest. No reason exists, as existed in the case just mentioned, why the Opposition paper should not refuse to print thin, other letter or answer the enquiry. It has a right, which none can dispute, to avoid committing itself in this matter. In giving nothing away, however, it gives everything away. The official Wilfordites, obviously, desire that the Reds' candidate shall be elected. But everyone knows—has known for years—has, indeed, been told often enough, and in direct enough language —that the main objective of the Liberal dieharde is .co-operation with the Reds. ♦ "So glaring is the curse of re-aggre-gation, and so glaring the mismanagement of the returned soldiers' settlement policy in the Minister's own district, that it is considered probable that he will lose his seat at the election." Thus a Southern critic of the Government. And yet we read in North Island papers that, at a large number of the meetings addressed by the Hon. D. H. Guthrie (the Minister referred to) in the course of his-tour of his electorate, resolutions of conthe member and in the Reform Administration have been moved bv returned soldier settlers. In the district to the east of the Rangitikei there are a number of soldier settle-* ments, and the fact that such resolutions were adopted at several of these settlements suggests that the men who know most about the soldiers' settlement policy are not at all disposed to put the Minister responsible for itß administration out of Parliament.