Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1919. THE DOMINANT ISSUE

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 143, 15 December 1919, Page 4

Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1919. THE DOMINANT ISSUE

In t\v<r! of. the -city electorates the issue iov the patriotic elector is so clear that his position may well excite the envy of his fellows in the adjoining districts. In the by-elections last year both Wellington South and Wellington Cen--tral were captured by revolutionary Labour—a result due in part to a natural but unreasoning popular discontent, but in the main to popular apathy and official mismanagement, The electors in these two divisions should be thankful that they have the opportunity which a clear-cut issue presents of clear, ing their patriotism from the reproach thus passed upon it. In Wellington South Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell, the veteran of South Africa and Gallipoli, who bears in his body the marks of his gallant service,^ but in mind and spirit displays an alertness and an activity calculated to shame most of his juniors, presents an ideal embodiment of the country's loyalty, patriotism, and com-mon-sense -against an equally ideal representative of the opposite, qualities in Mr. Semple. In Wellington Central, Also, the opponents of revolutionary Labour are fortunate in having no rival candidates to split their votes. Though Mr. Pirani -Wears the label "Liberal," he has an equally good claim to the votes of every Beformer and every Independent. The courage and the persistence with which this political veteran has fought an uphill fight against the organised lawlessness that sought to deny him a hearing have excited universal admiration. Those qualities have probably done more than the eloquence for which Mr. Pirani has been denied the opportunity could have done to convert his forlorn hope into, a reasonable prospect of success. In no constituency in the country has the peril to law and order which is threatened by the domination of Labour under its present leadership been displayed, in a more striking fashion.

It is much to bfe deplored that in the other -city and suburban constituencies the appeal of loyalty and patriotism, of law and order, of sound and stable progress, is not being made to the electors in the same unmistakable tones as in the Southern and Central divisions. TW urgent needs of the country should speak with the same authority on one side of the boundary of a city electorate as on the other side, but, unfortunately, ■ their call is rendered much less clearly audible by the distracting cries of party. The party man, unless his party is the party of revolution, is not deliberately and consciously disloyal. Ho has not joined a party in order to thwart the interests of-the nation but in order to promote them. But this narrow loyalty becomes so keen apd so habitual that he has the utmost difficulty in ignoring it for the broader claims of national loyalty when the two are brought, into conflict.. Unless' the call of the nation is as clear and as dramatic as it wasfour years ago, when the peril of the country and the Empire enforced a party truce, the party affiliations which normally dominate our politics refuse to be disturbed, and the end is sacrificed to the means. Reformers and Liberals are fully entitled under ordinary ' conditions to believe, without a slur upon their patriotism, in the ascendency of their respective parties as necessary or desirable in the interests of the nation. But it is astonishing that on either side the old party loyalty should blind levelheaded citizens to the unique opportunity which the maintenance of the traditional divisions is presenting to the enemies of the country. :

Mr. Massey has proclaimed his desire for a modification of ;the old methods of party warfare, and has emphatically declared that ho would decline to hold office if his majority depended upod the support of revolutionary Labour. Sir Joseph Ward, while recognising the claim of moderate Labour to representation in the Cabinet, has strongly denounced the aims and methods of the Labour extremists. In each' case the statement is emphatic, but in each case how does the practice square with the words? Both leaders deplore the danger to which a strong. representation of revolutionary Labour in the new Parliament would expose the country, but have they not both taken a course which elevates this possibility from the region of the negligible to the sphere of practical politics? There are 50 Labour candidates in the field, or 52 if the unofficial Labourites are included. In no less than 34 cases the strife on relatively trivial issues between Reformers and Liberals is giving revolutionary Labour an opportunity in a threecornered fight ' which would have amounted to very little in the absence of this advantage. Mr. Massey talks complacently of the strength of Labour in the new House as not likely to exceed 20. With an even smaller force revolutionary Labour might cause grave Inconvenience or even* serious danger. Are the possibilities of a House composed of, say, 35 Reformers, 30 Liberals, and 15 Labourites to be lightly regarded ?

We cannot see how the danger of giving revolutionary Labour a power altogether out of proportion to its strength in the country can be escaped with certainty unless the electors take it upon themselves to correct the errors of the leaders and the, party machines. Even after the dissolution of the compact it purely should have been possible to secure, for instance, both the Hutt and Wellington North seats for the cause of patriotic and constitutional government by leaving Mr. Wilford in the one case and Mr. Luke in the other to a straight-out fight against revolutionary Labour, in which only one result would have oeen ipofeiblo. Electors in either of thosa electorates who regret that no such arrangement was made can redress the error, so far as their own district ifi concerned, by voting regard-

less of party for the man who must have received the support of the Coalition 9 if it had continued to exist. On. the same principle Dr. Newman, in Wellington East, and Mr. Wright, in the Suburbs, are clearly entitled to the support of those patriotic electors who are prepared to put safety first. In all these ca-ses the claims of the man in possession who has rendered faithful service to the country throughout the war are strengthened by the fact that he is the likelier of the two anti-revolu-tionary candidates to secure the necessary majority. To those electors who still hesitate to sacrifice their party loyalty to the claims of a national patriotism we suggest, as a final-test, that they should ask themselves what their feelings will be when the numbers go up if they find that by oasting a party vote they have helped the Labourcandidate to the victory.