Evening Post. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1908. FOR CITY AND COUNTRY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 122, 21 November 1908, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1908. FOR CITY AND COUNTRY.

In a couple of the city constituencies the Government's standard-bearers have enlisted the services of a rather pitiful begey, which they have named "Reaction," to assist them against their sturdy opponents, who wield the sword of reform. "Reaction" is the Ministerial Liberal's new term for reform. The electors are asked to 'believe that men pledged to a policy of reform, constructive reform, are "reactionaries," bent on the repeal of democratic measures and the substituting of a dark and dreary regime. Candidates, with little to offer the people except vapid generalities and a vaguo defence of a system ■which, almost automatically, lends itself to abuses, weakly cry "Reactionaries" at tha men who wish to give their best endeavours to putting the country's business in better order. The Government's apologists, believing that the shouting of "Conservative" at a man brings political death to him as surely as nitric acid works dissolution on a snail, hurl the word at the reformers, and then seem to rest easy in the belief that a majority is assured for them at the second ballot. The electors, however, who proved on Tuesday that they had been thinking for the good of themselves and New Zealand, will bo apt to smile at tho Government's "mark-timers," who say that tho onward rushing reformers are stepping oackwards, and should therefcro be disqualified. There must surely ba some defects in tho vision of tho Ministerial henchmen. It did not need s candidate's incursion into Webster to piovo that the term "Conservative" can be more accurately applied to many of

the rank and file of the Government aimy than^to tho earnest men who aim at improving an administration which is inclined to degenerate into government by a Ministerial autocracy, government by the "Governor in Council," which i 3 tho Ministry of the day, rather than government by the people's representatives or national, rational lines. Th& average Government member is but a cog in tho Ministerial machine, but the ; cog has not arduous work. It has merely to revolve in the desired direction when the engineer turns on steam, and the cogs do not desire to be disturbed. The machine is out of date, it is not the best machine for the country's advancement, but the Ministerial Conservatives are loth to go to the bother of improvements. We^ ask We people of Wellington to look well at the iner who are seeking their suffrage i, and ask themselves two or three very simple questions : "Who are the men best qualified to root out the weeds in the Libei-il garden? Who are the men best fitted to put the plots ■in order?" 'At this second ballot Wellirgton has an opportunity to strengthen the ranks of i those courageous critics who are determined to spare no effort to amend the public service and remove it from the evil of political control.! 'They wish to get the railways managed' profitably, not by penalising the public, but by cutting down the wasteful expenditure which is inseparable from political handling. They would strive to place the Civil Service under an independent board which would be above the need to squander the public money for party purposes. They would do their best to end the doles system, the distribution of "sugar," at the general taxpayer's expense, for the sweetening of doubtful electorates. Three men of this type are before the people of the North, East, and South of Wellington, and their election would entitle the capital to the gratitude of New Zealand, fo>- their labours would undoubtedly benefit the whole country. Mr. Herdman, who is fighting in tho North against the combined forces of Messrs. Bolton and Izard,' is standing on a platform strongly constructed. The people have their choice between Mr. Bolton, who would be merely merged in the army of the "Governor in Council," and Mr. Herdman, who would fight vigorously against the evils of the political "trust" system, which, for example, allows that autocrat, "the Governor in Council," an almost arbitrary domination. At the first ballot the people well recognised Mr. Herdman's merit, and the finish of the second round should find him with a commission to make his words good in tho House of Representatives. In the East the struggle is as keen as in the North. Mr. A. R. Atkinson, whose record has proved him to be a national candidate, is m the lists with Mr. D. M'Laren, who' is couching a lance for Independent Labour. Mr. M'Laren is naturally trying to demonstrate that the workers would best servo their interests by giving him their preference. We readily grant that Mr. M'Laren would toil to the best of his ability and experience to Benefit the workers, but we do not agree that his service would be nearly equal to Mr. Atkinson's even in that one department. Mr. Atkinson has given abundant evidence of his democratic principles, and would exert himself as well as any member in Parliament to secure fair play for Labour. For that work he would havo his previous legislative experience and his thorough knowledge of economics and constitutional law to aid him. An attempt has been made to insinuate that Mr. Atkinson would range himself with "Tories " opposed to Liberal measures, but it can be said once for all that his opposition to the Goverrment will not be for its Liberal policy, but for the illiberal"' policy which results in a waste of public money by a disordered administration. Confidently, Mr. R. A. Wright is in battle against heavy odds in the South. He has a hard task before him in unseating Mr. Barber, who has the Government grip to help him to cling to the chair, but the reformer has good reason to believe that Hie people's com-mon-sense will give him good cheer on Tuesday. He is a valuable critic, who "gets down to bed-rock," after the manner of Messrs. Herdman and Atkinson, "and like thorn he is a constructive reformer. He is not like the "Revolutionary Socialist" who aches to destroy society and replace it with chaos. Liberalism of the present Ministerial order has erred, and he is one- of those pointing to the right path. Out m the Suburbs, the- duel is between two Government candidates, Messrs. J. P. Luke and J. E. Fitzgerald. I We are among those who admire Mr. Fitzgerald for his achievement in winining second placo to Mr. Luke in thd first ballot, but we believe that Mr. Luke's record in the service of Wellington,, coupled with his pledges for national service, entitles him to the prior claim on the electors. In one sphere alone, the further reform of the hospital anl charitable aid system, to which Mr. Luke, as chairman of the Wellington District Hospital Board, has given much time and. thought, he would be thoroughly able to justify his existence in Parliament, and if he went further ond championed the general cause of the public health, which tends sometimes in Parliament to be "nobody's health," as we have often demonstrated, Now Zealand would gratefully remember him. Lastly, his knowledge of Wellington, gained by long association with public bodies, eminently qualifies him to watch over the city's interests in Parliament.

Messrs. T. Waugh and E. Ansti»» have consented to judge the exhibits at the Hutt Valley Horticultural Society's Rose Show to be held at the Town Hall on Tuesday next. There is every prospect of the society scoring another success, as at present roses are plentiful, «md the many gardens at the Hutt can show some especially fine bloums. Entries will close on Monday night at 8 oclock, at Johnson's, Lower Hult, where schedules and entry forms may be obtained