The Press Tuesday, April 17, 1923. The Issue at Oamaru.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17740, 17 April 1923, Page 8

The Press Tuesday, April 17, 1923. The Issue at Oamaru.

At the Tauranga by-election much moro was at stake than the representation of a single constituency, as both parties to tho contest knew (very well, and indeed openly admitted. For the Government it was a question of saving the seat in order that the-slender majority l of three which it could oppose to motions of no-confidence might not be reduced to one. Had the Government been defeated at Tauranga, its position would have been so unstable that a general election would have become almost unavoidable. Therefore Mr Massoy appealed to Tauranga to strike a blow for stability, and it is matter of history that the sound reasons which ho advanced why the Government should be confirmed in office were very emphatically endorsed by the electors. Sir Joseph Ward's friends, on the other hand, jileaded for his election mainly) on the ground that it would make the Government's position 'untenable. The issue in Oamaru is tho same as the issue in Tauranga. With his present majority of three Mr Massey can carry on, but will not find it at all easy, if the Liberal Oppositionists maintain that attitude of irreconcilable and unreasoning hostility which the "diehards" of the Liberal Party desire, to push ahead with the legislation required'by the country. Should the Government recover the Oamaru seat, Mr Massey will have a majority of five, and this will not only give him greater 1 freedom of action, but will operate powerfully against "dieharcEsm." Although there is not the least doubt that a fresh election would result in a decisive win for Mr Massey, there is as little doubt that 'the country does not desire another election just yet. Oamaru can end all possibility of another election, with its distracting turmoil, by electing Mr Lee This would be -a strong enough argument in favour of the election of the Government's candidate even if it stood by itself. But from every point of view one sees other supporting arguments. Apart from the fact that he is a mediocre politician, Mr Macpherson ia standing in the interests of a party which, as a separate .party, has no raison d'etre, no capacity for usefulness, and no dis- ! tinctive programme which ensures a future for it. Everypne in the Dominion realises now that Mr WilFord and his fellow "diehards" aim only at defeating the Government with the cooperation of the Labour Party, and that they cannot achieve even this. We can easily understand that organised Labour will think this an excellent reason for supporting Mr Macpherson, and that there "are Liberals whose bitter prejudice against tlie Government out- . weighs every other consideration. But it is difficult to understand how any rational person on the Liberal side can _feel that it is even ordinarily sensible to send Mr Macpherson to Parliament to count one in that Liberal-Bed combination which is so obviously without the means of doing the smallest good for anybody, : ,