LABOUR AND NATIONALISM

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 99, 26 April 1917, Page 6

LABOUR AND NATIONALISM

The municipal election results, hero and elsewhere, prove that Labour would have received many more votea had it not been for anti-compulsionism, which at present is synonymous with antinationalism and 1 with anti-freedom. In. Wellington the Labour candidates did not stand as anti-compulsionists; in Ohristchurch and Greymoutb. they did, but more or less everywhere the " anti " cloud obscured the better principles of Labour and adversely affected the chances of its champions. The results are, in fact, one more proof that in New Zealand politics a, successful Labour Party will need to be broad-based, free from aggressive class-consciousness) and sincerely national. In Wellington, where anti-compulsionism. was not made the dominant issue, Labour received many compulsionist votes, and would have received more if the personnel of its candidates had been stronger. Labour's place in the community gives it a. right to look for representation on the municipalities, which are so largely concerned with employment, but the average voter is doubtful about admitting intjo local government party politics, and is absolutely opposed when the political colour displayed is one of extreme shades. A conscientious Labour candidate may overcome the first difficulty—for, after all, it is possible to 1 bo a, Labour councillor without turning the whole body into a nhgtbed of party politic* Jiko' tho gover-

of extreme views is not unnaturally regarded as dangerous goods. While it is true that extremism is often cured by the responsibilities of office, that is the sort of experiment that the average citizen prefers to try in peace-time rather than in war. Analysed,: the verdict of the Wellington electors is that only one sitting councillor is rejected; two did not seek re-election, the other-twelve are returned, and the three new councillors are business men not on the Labour ticket. Return of so many old councillors suggests continuity of past and recent' policy., which has been marked by prudence because of the war, but which is at the same time capable of progressive development; and in. this latter connection the councillors would be wise to be vigilant. Electoral re-en-dorsement is by no means the same thing as "a life-job." , :

In Christchurch anti-compulsion fought under its own flag—an affront to national feeling, and a danger to municipal politics—and had the assistance of a reformed system of voting designed to give minorities their full weight in results. There the electors did not hays to deal with Labour men who happened to be anticompulsionists, but with anti-compul-sionists who happened to be endorsed by some Labour organisation. The complete -results of the proportional voting for the City Council are not known, but the retiring Mayor secured more than a two-to-one victory over his noted anticompulsionist opponent Mr. M'Combs. At Greymouth incomplete returns indicate that "Labour cannot gain a single seat." O| the two coal districts on the West Coast, Grey arid Buller, the former (which includes the State collieries near Runanga) was the starting-point of the Red movement, so it is not surprising to see the compulgjonist issue fought out in GreymoutHp where the townspeople have ' evidently turned it down. A Greymouth election generally. possesses circumstances and issues which are peculiarly its own, and which need not be gone into here; and it is satisfactory that Greymouth has not been distracted by irrelevances from tho paramount necessity of keeping the flag flying. OnS noteworthy circumstance of the elections in other centres is the defeat of Mr. Vigor Brown. Napier, like Greymouth, has its own local distractions—though of a different kind— and we are not sure which cross-current washed the retiring Mayor on to the beach; but he has a. long, and vigorous public record, has occasionally in Parliament thrown light on dark places, and carries with him the good wishes of many people beyond the confines of his own borough. Comparing the votes polled in Wellington with those at last election, it seems that the. poll was a light one; which, considering the times, v not surprising. But, after the war, there will almost certainly be a renaissance of political thought and of municipal activity, and no one tound wanting in the present is likely to find endorsement when a pttple at peace again applies its mind to politico-social and local' government progress. .