The Evening post. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1914. ELECTIONS THIS YEAR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 73, 23 September 1914, Page 6

The Evening post. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1914. ELECTIONS THIS YEAR

We have no fault to find with the Government's decision regarding the date of the general election except that it has been unduly delayed. In ordinary course electors, parties, and candidates have three years' notice of the date of a general election, but in the present case it has been reduced by the hesitation of the Government to ten or eleven weeks. It must, of course, be admitted that the case for postponement was much stronger when the issue was first raised, and that the normal instincts of the politician in favour of a "taihoa" policy were supported by a legitimate desire to make a closer acquaintance with the facts before pronouncing judgment. More than enough time has, however, been taken by the Government for this purpose. It has been abundantly evident for the last two or three weeks that the acute tension of public feeling which distinguished the first month of the war has been greatly relaxed. We argued a month ago that it was not in accordance with human nature to suppose that the war would prove equally exciting when people had got used to it as it did while it was still a novelty, •and this natural tendency towards tranquillity has been strengthened in the British Empire by , the fact that the course of events has, ever since the Germans were headed off from Paris a fortnight ago, been almost uniformly favourable. A recognition of this fortunate tendency, and the proof supplied by the Commonwealth electors that even when the interest in the war was of a more engrossing character than it is now it was possible for the popular verdict to go against a Government whose war administration was unchallenged, ' have combined to weaken the protests of the Opposition against taking the elections this year. But no such weakening was discernible in the vigorous speech in which Sir Joseph Ward denounced the decision of the Government to adhere to the statutory time-table. One can sympathise with his point of view without concurring in his conclusion. There are still some obvious inconveniences in opening a political campaign while the Empire is fighting for its life, but it is by the even graver objections 'which may be taken to any other course that the action of the Government is to be justified. Sir Joseph Ward's proposal is that the elections should be held in March instead of November or December, and that if the course of the war rendered March also unsuitable, there should be a further postponement for three months. But March, as Mr. Massey pointed out, is highly inconvenient on account of the harvest, arid a winter month would probably be iriore inconvenient still. Undoubtedly, jthe end of the year is by far the most convenient date for a general election in this country, and if there were any change at all a postponement till the end of next year would be the only practicable alternative. But so long ( a postponement might be far more than the exigencies of the war would justify, and so long an extension of its own term by a Legislature would obviously raise ,a very serious constitutional question, as Mi". Massey's reference to the Long Parliament as supplying one of the only two precedents known to him should convince even the most thoughtless. Even a three months' extension would, of course, raise the same question of principle, but the violation of precedent would assume a much more serious air if it involved the extension of the Parliamentary term from three years to four without any formal sanction from the people, and without even any informal expression of opinion that could possibly be construed as decisive. Nothing short of a practically unanimous vote in the House, and an obviously overwhelming approval by the people, would justify the disregard of one of the fundamental safeguards of popular liberty. In the absence of both these conditions the Government has wisely decided to let things take their usual course. Both parties can now clear their decks for 'action, and we do not suppose that their open warfare will be more exasperating or demoralising than the so-called truce winch each side has been persistently accusing the other of violating. The resentment of the' Opposition was running so strong yesterday that the probability of its seeking an outlet in the obstruction of Government measures was freely prophesied in the lobbies. We trust that the party will not be so foolish. That would surely be the worst possible way of displaying its patriotism in the present crisis.