NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 69, 15 December 1919, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

' As matters are going there seems to be every "likelihood that the Heform Party will add to its strength in the electorates across the ■ Strait. In each case a Labour candidate is in the field, but the real contest is between' Reform and Liberal candidates. So far as Wairau is concerned, the Wardists have weakened any chances they might have had of retaining the seat by splitting their own vote. On his record of public service, and in view of the close acquaintance he has, shown with questions of railway and road construction and other aspects of development work, the Reform candidate, Mn. 'E. H. Penny, ourht easily to outdistance the other three who nre standing. At his meetings Mr. Penny has laid strong emnhasis upon the necessity . of effecting a great improvement in existing public works methods, and his understanding of this and related questions is evidently full and compete. He is exactly the type of member needed at this juncture, and it will | be a clear cain to Parliament ;is well as to his own district if he is returned at the head of the poll. In Nelson the sitting Reform member, Mn. T. A. H. Field, is opposed by Mn. H. Atmore as the Wardist candidate and also by p. Labour nominee. The chief question open seems to be whether Mr. Atmore or the Labour candidate is to .fill sccond place. Presumably Mr. Atmore will be supported by the diminishing force of die-hard Wardists who are not. yet wholly extinct in Nelson or some other I nlacos, but he has porta inly not j been moving un-hill since he scored, bis solitary political snemßß in 1!)i1. 1 On flint occasion he relied largely i on a somewhat artful bit of political balancing, which no doubt, in-1 duccd a ' considerable number of ■ people to vote for him under a misapprehension. In the present contest he is essentially the party hack, and places his chief reliance nn florid electioneering. That .the kind of_ sppcch-making he affects is not in itself much of an asset was demonstrated in the poor showing he made in the last by-election for Wellington Central. As a member always known and respected in the House and to his constituents fqr his broad views and _ fearless independence, Mr. Fiei.d is likely to receive a considerable amount of support from Liberal and moderate Labour -voters as well as from the members of the Reform Party. Tho

evidence in sight suggests that Mr. Hudson will have little difficulty-in retaining Motucka for the Reform Party. He is opposed by a Labour candidate and by another, Mr. Lomax, who describes himself as an Independent, but sa.vs lie will support the Liberal Party. Mr. Hudson is recommended by a record of sterling service, and in an. electorate in which the people arc well placed to distinguish between Wardist window-dressing and the requirements of real progress ougliv to have good prospects of adding to the majority by which he was returned in 1914.

The Otaki doctors have been so well represented in Parliament for a long period by Mr. W. H. Field that it is a great pity be has not been given a clear run in the present contest against, his LabourSocialist opponent. Mr. Field has made a name for himself in the House of Representatives as an able and experienced representative ol" farming interests, and has a wellestablished claim to the continued support of the Otaki electors and, good prcspacts 'if obtaining it.' With such a candidate available, the interests of the farming community, to which Mr. Field locks largely for support, are not in any way advanced by the intervention of a second farmers' candidate. It is quite obvious that- Mr Macdonald's candidature raises a curtain iisk that _thc vote of the fanning community may be so split as to allow the extremist candidate to slip in oiv a minority vote. Th'i only wise and prudent course in tin circumstances is to give. Mr. Field undivided support, and it is to be hoped that Liberal as well as Reform voters will take that view of I the matter.

, A satisfactory indication was given by the Prime Minister in a, speech at Auckland that Now Zealand will co-operate with the Imperial Government in its efforts to direct migration within the Empire and prevent the loss of population to other nations. As the Prime Minister pointed out, so far as 'the introduction of immigrants to the Dominions is concerned, conditions have been made particularly easy by the British Government. It is undertaking to give ex-Service men. and women and their dependants free passages to any Dominion, provided they are assured of satisfactory openings in the land of their adoption. Like other Dominions, New Zealand lias a duty to its own soldiers which is on'no account to be neglected. It is in the interests of all sections of the population, however, that an active policy of immigration on' sound lines should be instituted at the earliest possiblo moment. There is, of course, no ouestion of indiscriminately introducing immigrants and throwing them on the labour market. But as matters stand in this country it ought to be a comparatively simple matter to arrange for the early introduction of bodies of immigrants to take_ up employment on public works,_ in domestic service, and perhaps in specified industries. Immigration on a systematic plan has an essential place in any policy of progress.

A timely reminder was a-iyen in nroceedinsrs at the Magistrate's Court last week that the" disturbance of oolitical meetings is an offence ■ for which cxemnln.ry penalties are nrovided under the law. Tt is to be hoped that- the aid of the law will be invoked hnnrcfnrth in defence of free speech whenever it becomes necessary. This, however, is not, the only remedy. Electors' in going to the poll ought to the fact well in mind that in the present campaign the disturbance of meetings \ has been earned to lengths for which it would he diffi-1 cult to find a parallel in past experience, and that these foul tactics have been brought .to bear solely in the interests of the "official Labour Party." The injustice done to candidates who have ' inyife'd the hostility of the extremists by their loyal and patriotic attitude is not the most important question raised. Tt is a much graver matter that the democratic right of free speech— an es"?ntial element in poiwlarj liberties--has been made the object of a deliberate and evidentb' i'ed attack. EWov<? will have the remedy for this state of affairs in their own hands on polling day.