NOTES OF TUB DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1310, 13 December 1911, Page 6

NOTES OF TUB DAY.

Stu Joseph Wart> hits matin fivfjiient hitler attacks on Tun Dominion, a groat many of which we have treated with the contempt they descrvr-d. lIIh latest, however, as it affects members of the staff of the paper wo are not inclined to pass over in silence, In tho Ministerial journal yesterday morning ho made the assertion that The Dominion had appointed members of its staff to act as spies on his residence, and endeavoured to convey the idea that the members in question acted in some improper manner. This attempt to assail the characters of honourable men, who are quite as competent as Sin Joseph Waiip himself to judge of what is befitting in a gentleman, and who set for themselves at least as high a standard of ethics as that practised by the Piusie Minister, can only be accounted for by extreme bitterness of feeling on the part of the head of the Government towards this paper. The two members of the staff in question were told off to interview Sir Joseph IY\\hd and certain Labour leaders respecting a rumoured conference which was to take place at tho Prime Minister's residence on Sunday morning. The reporter deputed to sec the Prime Minister went direct to his residence and asked to see Sir Joseph Ward. He was told by the Prime Minister's secretary that Sip. Joseph Ward was too busy to see

him; so he waited about in the hope of catching the Labour delegates should they come. During the time he was waiting he talked with various officials attached to the PrmiE Minister's office, and waited there openly until it became plain that the rumoured conference was not likely to take place. His colleague, who arrived later, waited with him for a time and then left for the residence of Mi:. D. M'Lakes, at the other end of the city. He interviewed Mr. M'Larex, and as a result found that the story of the conference was merely idle rumour. And out of this everyday incident of journalism the Prime Minister trumps up a charge of spying and casts reflections on the character of honourable men, regardless of their feelings and of the injury his unworthy action may do them. Sir Joseph Ward is a very bad loser.

It must be a matter for deep regret amongst the honest friends of the Labour party that the Labour candidates for the Wellington seats are acting in a manner that cannot but do harm to the Labour cause. Ivlr>. M'La'ren's support of Wardism and Me. Hindjmrsh's sullying of the South contest by gross personalities have been rivalled by Mr. Mooiie. When Me. Hell cancelled the arrangements for ln's final speeches, by way of giving_ Mn. Moore a concession which it is now clear was really generosity thrown away, he did not anticipate that his action would be represented by his enemies as a withdrawal from the contest. All that it is necessary to say here just now i 3 that Me. Belt,, although he has made a sacrifice which is unusually generous, and which it must have been hard for a keen fighter, who eujoyn his platform work, to_ make, stands exactly where, he was in the fight on Saturday last. The friends of Reform hardly need, to be sure, any special and unusual reason for supporting him to-morrow: we fancy that the result of the poll will be the same victory for Reform that would be scored in any case.

The latest evidence of the weakness of the candidates who are supposed to voice the opinions of Labour is to he found in the fact that they have thought it necessary to introduce into the contest a paid advocate who is not a New Zealand citizen. It is a ►:trangc thing that the men who have climbed by various means to the position of representing the forces of Labour at tjie polls should be so weak as to be unable to fight their own battles. One would expect that Labour at any rate would be able to find men capable of holding their own with the best of their opponents. There are such men in the ranks of Labour, but somehow they do not appear to be able to push their way into prominence, and in consequence we have candidates who need bolstering up by a paid advocate from another country. Labour badly needs new political leaders in Wellington just now.

The electors of Otaki and Wanganui who favour Reform should not allow themselves to be misled by specious promises. As the Eeform party's candidates have been left out of the second ballots in these electorates, the supporters of Reform should be certain to vote for the Labour candidates as against the nominees of Wardism. We would give this last reminder to the electors of Wanganui to vote for Mr. Veitch; and to the electors of Otaki we would say vote without fail for Mr. Robertson-. The great issue in the present struggle is the ending of Wardism, and the election of both Messrs. Veitch and Robertson will assist towards that end.

We have made a step forward in clearing up the action of the Postal Department in blocking a portion of the election issue of Tnu Dominion. Wo should like to explain that we do not wish it to be understood that we desire to cast any_re flection on the local Postal officials who so far as wo can discover handled the papers smartly and well. Moreover, the officials who tent out instructions as to the non-delivery of the papers were, wo are told, acting under the advice of the Crown Law Department. But these facts do not in any way remove our grievance nor justify the conduct of those responsible for the stoppage of the mails. Wo were last evening supplied with a, copy- of the teV jaam disDatcbed from the Head.

Ilfhir |n nil IV-.limn.lrn; iii.-.l nicl iiig |!u lil mil In (li'liliT plipi'lri nililniili 1111 HiUhi niiilli'l', nfl.i'l' riiitiirilay, |l,;i,i|||lii!|' •-!. Till; li*l«-fJ fll 111, Wi' II I'n I ..ill, Wilo hi'll I. Wllll'Hll, llie I'.lHitV |mli;ii nl Mm Ji»i!i,i'ii Waiid iiml w;in iiihi'i'lv |iilln\viii)< Mm |iri'i<'(|eiii, i.i-t, in iiiiiM. Tim li'li'Ki'iiin fiMlii nr. fidli.wm Tll.i iWiHmv, lli-n.'hil I'o'l tlllli'C, In nil I'inllllllMl.rr., Wi'lllniii'iii, l-l D.i'i'iiibiT, IMII. 11,, i.,ir..fiil uM. 1.. deliver on Hi" day nl l|,n IH.II fur Inu-n or nl Urn llwiit.1,,,, |„,|| 1,1 on iiny nl llio Hiiv.. day. Itff..i,> liml, nli.V monk bnlhil impel', nif-iin-ilid 11 |ui| pill polling I" I*' "II InulaHun ol a mlliiK |ii>|"'i'. or 11 iiitijct- baring iliollllll III" !■:<»■< In I'll lll'l'llh'll at llin pull, or 11 |'ii|i«'r wllh any direction or liiillriilhni 11-. In Inuv nuy ili.nild m 1.., or In imv wll v I'Oiilninliii! hiii'li direeli, i' liidli'iilliui or any matter likely tu iiillimnflit any vote, All Midi papm-i ,i,ilnl. 1... dellv.'ivd Worn the clnsi. or l,n-i ui,.-» mi Si.l mil,iv I In' 2nd iniilanl, nnd nuy mil ili'lln'i'ed (hen mn.it bo sent |,i Hi.. 'Demi Lellor Olllce. Acknowledge lIMK'li biillof. Now Mini. telegram wan wni, t,o all I'nnliuiitdors (in the, day after the election issue of Tiik Dominion was placed in tin! post. 11. distinctly imitnictH that tliny must mil. (lintril)iilo within three days of tlii! poll "any inatl/cr likely to inihicncn any vote." A, Biiuslantial iioi'fion of lite election issue, of Tiik lld.Mi.NiON could not possibly be distribnlod prior to the date throe days bfiforn llio poll. There in no law in Nmv Zealand nor do we believe there is any law anywhere in the world which prevents tho distribution of nmttor likely lo influence a voter before polling day,. As a consequence of tho sending of that telegram many copies of our election issue did not reach the persona to whom they were addressed until after tho closing of the poll on Thursday last. It should be mentioned that on Monday, December ■1, a second telegram was sent correcting the first,- but that did not, and could not, repair the whole of tho damage done, although we believe it did something in that direction. The second telegram was as follows: Tho Secretary, General Post Office, to all Postmasters. . Wellington, 4th December, 1911. Mock ballot papers only are referred to in my telegram of the Ist instant. There is no instruction to stop other political matter going through the post. Acknowledge pamphlets.

That is the position to date.. Wc do not yet know tho full extent of the delays which took place in the delivery of the papers. In some cates the papers wcro delivered promptly; in others they were delayed for a day or two; in others they were not delivered until after the elections. We shall probably get at the full facts in course of time, but in the meantime wc challenge the right, as some of our contemporaries are doing, of the Postal Department to block the mails. In stating this, however, we do not place the _ responsibility on the Postal officials, but on those who have guided them in the matter.

Sojie notice is due to the concluding words of Sin J. G. Ward's statement telegraphed from Timaru on Saturday last. We are a little late in referring to it, but this is not because we wanted to be impolite, but because, like most people, we have since Thursday regarded Sir Joseph Ward's remarks as things that can keep until urgent realities are disposed of. However, his rtimarks have now caught our eye. He wound up a hesitating plea and shrinking profession of confidence with a reference to "wolves in sheep's clothing crying out before they were out of the wood"—his zoology has suffered with his politics —followed by this notable' final sentence :

Ho was quite ready, as he had always been, to trust the people, and would cheerfully, abide by their decision next. Thursday. Wc are very glad. The country will be very glad.. It is a relief to know that he is not going to make trouble, that he will not cancel the public's verdict by an Order-in-Couucil. Fairness requires this acknowledgment of his obliging and considerate promise. "Opi debt to Liberalism" is the heading of a leading article in the Auckland Star, a Wardist journal, in its issue of Monday. The first sentence reads as follows: "M a time when'such strenuous efforts are being nrado to misrepresent. Liberalism and to calumniate its leading exponents, it may bo necessary to perform what otherwise would be o superfluous task by reminding our readers of what Lilioralism has done for this country and of all that our people owe to it." Anyone can guess the rest of the article. Most people, however, would be inclined to stop at the end of thj sentence and draw up its own statement of "what Liberalism has clone for this country and of all that our people, owe to_ it." Wo chiefly owe to it the addition of forty million pounds to the public debt. Wc owe to it a harassing increase in the cost of living. We owe to it an increase of taxation that is without parallel in fiscal records. That is quite enough to owe to any party.