The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1962. Waitaki

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29767, 9 March 1962, Page 12

The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1962. Waitaki

Although the Waitaki byelection campaign has attracted a great array of political leaders of both parties, it has not produced a political debate of commensurate weight The extensive discussion of some

subjects has added little or nothing to the public knowledge of the issues. Nothing has been said on the Alcan and cotton mill agreements that had not been said before; nothing has been said on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that had not been said more elaborately in the last session of Parliament The campaign has been a rare opportunity for the Waitaki electors, particularly those in the smaller centres, to see in the flesh some national figures; but that has been about all. So far as voters may have been influenced, our guess is that it would have been by the candidates themselves.

Nearly halfway through the life of a Parliament this lack of live issues may seem strange. An alert and vigorous Opposition should by now have been able to detect weaknesses in Government policy and administration that could be seriously questioned. The explanation why the campaign has not turned out like that is simple. The Government’s policy of steady adjustment has stilled real political controversy. The Labour Party could accuse the Govem-

ment of borrowing too much abroad and taxing too little at home; but it would win few friends that way among the men whose jobs might be threatened by a heavier cut in imports or whose pay packets might be lightened by sterner fiscal discipline. The Labour Party has not felt able seriously to attack the Government’s belief that in a gradual readjustment noone will be hurt. And so far no-one has been hurt much by the decline in export earnings. The Government’s administration is unchallenged (except on the cotton mill, where Labour has been unsure of its ground); and its basic policy has been tacitly accepted. In such circumstances Waitaki electors may see little reason to take a different view from the one they took in 1960. That should not lead them to abstain from voting tomorrow. If they feel that the Government has done nothing to forfeit the support they gave it a „ear ago they should make that plain. The Labour Party is equally entitled to the backing of its friends, old and new. If sufficient electors go' to the polls the result will be a useful test of public opinion, unless more than the usual small percentage wastes its votes by casting them for a third party without prospects of success or even a coherent policy.