WAR AND POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2474, 29 May 1915, Page 7

WAR AND POLITICS.

Sir, —Under the above heading, in your issue of this morning, 1 notice an effusion from Mr. George Witty, M.P. To my mind, sir, the proper heading should bo Political Humbug. It is a nmtter of common knowledge that Sir Joseph Ward and. the Liberal Party did not want the genoral elections to take place in December of last year, for the very good reason that they wanted time to put their house in order. Everyone knows that at-the usual time for the last .general elections to take place there was little prospect of unanimity: : between Sir Joseph Ward's Party and the ultra-Labour-Socialist faction; and the Liberal prospects looked anything but rosy. So we nave it, sir, that a short postponement was a very desfrable thing, and three months just the period necessary to settle their differences and complete the hardening up process of the combined j Opposition. That is why the Opposition would not consider any , more lengthy period of postponement. Of course, to anyone who takes the trouble to think about the matter, Sir Joseph Ward's process of reasoning is very plain. It was just a case of heads I win and tails the other fellow loses; thus: if Mr. Masse.v had accepted Sir Joseph's offer to postpone the elections for three months then it was heads," and Sir Joseph got the delay he wanted; if, oi! the other hand, Mr. Massey dicl not accept, then it was "tails," and Sir Joseph Ward could stump the country, puff his chest out, throw out his arm and pull his spotless white cuff wet down, and, posing impressively, exclaim, "I did not want the elections held. I offered to postpone them." No, Sir Joseph, it's a pretty good bluff, and may go down with a few innocents, but you can't get that on to ANTI-HUMBUG. Wellington, May 2Q, 1915.