DELAYING BUSINESS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 101, 30 April 1923, Page 6

DELAYING BUSINESS

Oamaru'g by-election has not obtained for that distriot the advertisement which the last contest won for Tauranga. There is no exPrime Minister in the field, and there is no immediate danger of a dissolution if the result goes against the Government. It is reported that some threat of a dissolution if Mr. Lee is not returned has been made by Mr. Massey; but surely this report must be incorrect. During the Tauranga campaign Mr. Massey stated definitely that he would endeavour to carry on the Government if he had his majority of three; and if the Oamaru decision is against his supporter he will atill have that majority. Obviously it is not so satisfactory as a greater majority would be, or as a majority independent of the votes of members who are not of the Government Party; but Mr. Massey accepted it in February and he is not likely to say it is unacceptable now. Apart from that there is the constitutional question to be considered. There may be precedents for a dissolution when the Government yet retains the confidence of the majority of the House, but they must be rare and the circumstances exceptional. Dissolution certainly does not appear to enter into this contest, and even if it should be dragged in it is doubtful whether it will have any effect. For that matter general politics also appear to be but a side-issue. The Government candidate, Mr. Lee, has scarcely mentioned them, and the Prime Minister has been content for the most part to traverse again the ground covered by his Tauranga speeches, except that he has brought his finance up to date with figures for the complete year.

The issue that seems to have been rousing most interest concerns the rights and wrongs of the election petition and the Court's judgment upon it. For the public outside Oamaru that question was settled by the Election Court, which held that votes sufficient in number to decide the election were doubtful. The essence of the judgment was:

It would be unfair and not in accordance with law to declare the petitioner [Mr. Lee] elected when it is not clear that a majority of the voters desired his election, and we cannot say without doubt that a majority desired the respondent [Mr. Macpherson] to be elected.

In the face of that deoision the attempts which are being made to canvass the judgment of the Court in the hope of gaining sympathy for either party would certainly fail —if made in a non-political, impartial atmosphere. In the heated; atmosphere of a by-election, with local and personal feeling exploited to the utmost, anything is possible. It is to be hoped, however, that both candidates and their supporters will endeavour to keep within the bounds of the electoral law and not say things that might form the subject of another election petition subsequently. The public, we believe, has had enough of by-elections and short sessions and other happenings which take Ministers and members of Parliament away from the main business of government to fight over who shall govern. Since the General Election—and that has been over almost five months—there has been nothing but uncertainty and the talk about it. The country will be pleased indeed when the Oamaru election is out of the way, so that the Government may settle down to more important business—not the least of which is the determination of New Zealand policy and representation for the Imperial Conferences which are to be held in October.