The Dominion. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1911. WELLINGTON AND REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1303, 5 December 1911, Page 6

The Dominion. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1911. WELLINGTON AND REFORM.

TiiK public, outside Wellington, wa have often thought, must i're(lUimfcly wonder nt tho P.uimr .Minister's rooted objection U) delivering a political address to a Wellington audience. To the small backblocks township lie comes on a special train, accompanied by a team of secretaries, and is welcomed by ; the local stalwarts, and made a fuss i of and gazed at with reverent eyes. . I These kindly .folk; ias: we hate.' said, must wonder why it, is that a public political speech in Wellington by tin; Joseph Ward is almost the one ■ thing that never happens—why it is that lie does not lure to talk to his fellow-townsmen, who, one might suppose, would be better able to appreciate him than any other set of people. The explanation of this very old prejudice of the PuniE Minister is simple enough. He knows very well what the Wellington public thinks of the Wakd Administration. AYeliington is too close to him, and knows too much about tho political methods that have grown up under the Continuous Ministry. Our "Liberal'' friends have never ventured on an explanation of the apparent anomaly that the capital city, in which the' Ministers reside, is firmly hostile to the. Administration. The reason is, of course, that Wellington people are under no delusions concerning the Ministry; it is just been use they know tho Ministry that they dislike it, and we have no doubt that if, during all these years, Christchurch had_ been tho seat of Government, Christchurch would be the heart of the present discontent with the party ; in power. | Last night's enormous meeting in 1 tne Town Hall, like the great and ; impressive meeting there which Mr. • llassey addressed some months ago, | was a fresh notification to the Pjrhie , iVIiNiSTEit of the manner in which ! a a ' i "liijo'-ity of the Wellington . public regard his Government. The I local candidates of the lteform I party differ amongst themselves on ; certain _ questions, just as the Ministerialist candidatcs_ do, but they I | an united in cordial agreement I upon a fact that dwarfs into insigni- ; ficance the subordinate controversies ; m our politics. Wellington showed | very plainly in IflOS that it desired j a change of Government, and sinco 1.903 the Ward Administration has merely piled un the justifications of this opinion of the Wellington public. In 1908 Wellington Citv sent four members to the House. " Three wero pledged, as their highest duty, to assist in casting out a Government that had proved itself unprincipled, anti-democratic, and palpably less concerned for the national interest that for tho perpetuation of tho privileges of a small clique that stands in the same relation to the people as that of the. Manchus to the people of China. Tho fourth, Mb. M'Laren, was elected primarily because he was not regarded as a slave of the Government. We find it hard to behove that this year Wellington, in conjunction with the Suburbs district, will not return a solid mock of Reform members. Mk Herdstan's return may be regarded as a certainty not worth discussing in a community that is well above the average in political sagacity, and the same may be said of Mil. u right. In the Contra! seat Mil. . I 1 LETCHER is expected by his friends to profit from his connection'with • public bodies, but there is no political genuineness about his candidature or the support given to it It is significant that his chief support comcs from a quarter that threeyears ago, when the Government was I loss degenerate and unprincipled than it has since become, insisted that the Government was an offence m tho sight of men .and tlmr, any man who supported it as a party, • however able and sincere he might be, was only a cog in the party innchine. Mr.. Fletcher stands for just .that winch "Wcllinctou most despises —namely, the Ward Government. His politics are Ward parly politics unadulterated. _ He, is completely ! outclassed politically by his lieform ; opponent, Mr. Fi.smer, who is one | of tho most searching critics and [ otw of the strongest debaters ia Parliament, Me. Fjlsjxeh's defeat would

he a serious loss to the politics of tiiu country at the present juncture and the electors of Wellington Cenjnil are not at all likely to cast him down for so feeble, a political representative as Jin. Flktciieh. As a matter of fact Mr.. Yoiwc, the Lahour candidate, displays a better i?rip of political questions than the Government nominee and is carrying out a vigorous fight. In Wellington East _Mii. M'Laken has to face the handicap of openly-acknow-ledged support of Sin Joseph Ward. Unlike his fellow Labour candidates lie wishes the Government to remain in ofliee, his idea of advancing the Labour cause apparently being to cling to the skirts of the Government. Ho owed his election in 1908 to a mistake that Wellington people, who are a generous people for all their strong political feeldo not often make. Wo all imagined at that time that lie would refuse to attacli himself to either party; He stands now, however, as a _candidate_ pledged to protect the Ward Administration against the Reform movement. This should n-ake practically certain the election of De. Newman, an honourable citizen and an experienced Parliamentarian. In the contest for the Suburbs, the situation is piquant. Mil. Luke is standing as an "Independent," but he is not independent enough to perceivc that the Ward Administration is an excellent tiling to destroy in the interests of freedom, honesty and national stability no less than in the interests of independence. Of Mr. Fitzgerald there is really nothing to bo said beyond that he is a typical Ministerial party candidate. Mr. Moore, the Labour candidate, may poll well. Ml!. Bei.l has upon his side youth, a trained intellect, and political ability, and ho has the novel and attractive asset of taking his politics so seriously as to be unable to understand why, on any noint whatever, ho should not frankly speak the truth that is in him, without regard to results. The five Reform candidates for the City and Suburbs are men with ability and strong convictions, and they "represent, as no group of candidates 111 any metropolitan district have ever so completely represented before, the true sentiment of the community in which they live. Wellington wants political reform, and it can, and wc think it will, give a fine, lead to the country by declaring for the true representation of its old-established and well-justified contempt for Wardism by returning the five Reform candidates in a block next Thursday.