THE HUTT BY-ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 73, 19 December 1929, Page 10

THE HUTT BY-ELECTION

Although the result of the Hutt by-election is still in the balance, the probability is that a seat which has been Liberal or United for 30 years will be won by Labour. The likely issue is the defeat of the Government in the first test of. public opinion since it took office and in an electorate that has been consistently Liberal for so long a term of years. And whatever the final result there can be but*cold comfort to the Administration in the shrinkage of its vote bv over 2000 almost within the year. The result-would certainly have been even less favourable but for a certain Wilford sentiment, and the intensive organisation under the United Party chairman, Mr. A. E. Davy. Nor can the Labour Party take much pride in the. result. Its expectations were for a much more decisive victory, but its vote also has decreased. Mr. Nash had the decided advantage of having contested the seat before and was known, to the voters. He was contesting a constituency that is becoming increasingly industrialised, and it is indicative of Labour’s dissatisfaction with those who claim to lead and represent it that Mr. Nash, for all his peisonal and platform recommendations, and the sustained assistance of a strong body of the leaders of his party, polled a minority vote—4/93 against 700’5 votes. His own vote fell away by over 800, where the drop in the total poll was only 615.

Mr. Johnston deserves to be congratulated for his splendid pioneering campaign against heavy odds. Fie started from scratch. There was no ready-made organisation to support him, no Refoim vote had been polled in the Hutt since 1922 (seven years ago), everything had to be made anew. Those who have had any experience’of political campaigning know how real were these disadvantages. Nevertheless from the outset, his personality impressed electors by the directness, the earnestness, and the sincerity of the man. His courage in carrying the fight to his opponents won first attention and then respect. The seed that he has sown in preaching the gospel of good-will and co-operation between employer and employed has not, it may be hoped, fallen on stony ground. It should germinate further afield as well as in the Hutt, and will yet yield a good crop foi the national welfare.

In rejecting Mr. Johnston, the Hutt electorate has rejected the outstanding personality of the election. Also, for the time at least, it has closed the doors of Parliament on an able man who would have raised the general average in the House and contributed to its deliberations a wide outlook, a steady purpose, and the courage to carry a sound policy to an effective conclusion.

The crusade for Empire free trade gairts an adroit yet able recruit in Sir James Parr. His adhesion to the movement is not unexpected in view of some of his recent pronouncements. _ Sit James is reported as recognising the difficulties of realising the ideal, but he considers them to be not insuperable. The advocate has, of course, to be optimistic, but Sir James must know that even in New Zealand it will not be easy to demolish tariff barriers so as to admit freely, not only Empire manufactures, but primary produce as well. The crusaders will probably aim to breach the Dominion s tariff walls with the help of the farmers. There is in New Zealand, especially in the North Island, some inclination among farmets to favour free trade, and Mr. H. M. Rushworth is the first spokesman on the new platform to enter Parliament. But the farmers ate by no means unanimous. The agriculturists of the South Island, the fruit-growers, and the poultrymen all want protection of then produce, and we have heard the same cry from farmers in Canada and Australia. Sir James Parr appears, however, to have planned his initial campaign for Great Britain. If British public opinion can he educated up to offering something tangible in the wav of preference to Empire foodstuffs and raw materials, there will be greater inducement to the Dominions to come into a free trade partnership.