The Evening Star. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1918.

Evening Star, Issue 16664, 21 February 1918, Page 4

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1918.

The preliminary -wrangling over the "Wellington North byA Problem election is over, and | in Vote- there are four candisplitting. dates in a contest which provides a most interesting study in vote-splitting possibilities. It ■will not be far short of the mark j to say that -whichever side (National Gk>[vernment or anti-National Government) ! succeeds in concentrating its votes on one candidate will win the seat. The official candidate is Mr J. P. Luke, C.M.G., Mayor of Wellington; while the unofficial Reformer is Mr A. Do Bathe Brandon, • Who promises to give whole-souled support to the Government as long as the war lasts. But the question arises (and is being anxiously considered by supporters _ of..the Administration): Can either of this pair win if they persist in dividing the "official" party votes? With an almost equal division, it is quite safe to say that • neither could possibly gain the seat, which , in that event would go to the avowed anti- ' Oonscriptionist and stalwart of the Red Feds in the person of Mr H. Holland, of .Wellington strike notoriety. Mr Luke, though not a.firstHDlass man on the platform, has a certain advantage over his Reform rival in that he possesses a happy style,, and, is quite up to date in his mat: ter, even though he somewhat loses force . by his discursiveness. Mr Brandon, who is a' lawyer, comes back to politics after ''. many years' absence from the arena, but . hardly appears to realise the importance ;, attached by the public to such questions ■'< as "free places" in the secondary schools, > 6 o'clock closing continuance, and exemp- -': ,tions from military service. His favorite •';. answer to such pertinent and pressing -:questions is: "Let them .rest till after : y< the war." Further, Mr Luke's organisais far and away superior to Mr ','--. Brandon's. ;0 The forces opposing the Government are J£ "more evenly balanced. The Socialist-Labor #L> candidate is.a keen, destructive critic, and I",,, Is well provided with enthusiastic friends •jjj-who will carry on the campaign at fever till tins end. He has scattered more tihrough the electorate than all fsfthe other candidates put together. Most

of it goes to support his contention that the Government are wholly devoted to the interests of 'Capitalism; that they protect War Profits in preference to human life, and have been guilty of gross mismanagement throughout the war. The repeal of the Military Service Aot is placed in the very forefront of his '' platform." This is the Vital issue on -which Mr Luke and his committee *re prepared to accept battle. Their ol appeal to the constituency te: N Don't let our soldiers down." suggest that the return of another Wrti-Conscriptianist to Parliament at this juncture will demonstrate the existence of a feeling of war-weariness, and throw out of joint the whole of the smooth-working machinery for sending reinforcements forward. They even go so far as to assert that a win for Mr Holland would be reported with jubilation in Berlin within 48 hours—a little hit of electioneering exaggeration that shows how the atmosphere of Wellington North is heating up. Sponsored by Dr Thacker, the Independent Liberal-Reform candidate (Mr Poison) is enjoying large meetings, for tho electors scent novelty in the Ghristohurdh memfoer's appearances, and the poor candidate only secures a little reflected glory. He raised hopes of giving sensational information off his own 'hat, but the liveliest item so far has been an alleged peep 'behind the scenes in regard to political control over the Public Service Commissi oners. He suggests that, although the Commissioners are nominally independent of Ministers, the latter are in the habit of sending to the Commissioners' office approved applicants, -who are told that "it rests with the Commissioners," but that the favored ones "do not know that the matter is "fixed up" for them while they are walking down to the office <by moans of a ring on the 'phone. I have done the ringing up, and I know," says Mr Poison, who -was once a Ministerial secretary.

To sum up tho position, it would seem that all the contending forces ment as well as anti-Ministerial—are much troubled by the vote-splitting danger, which, according to present indications, is likely to hit Mr Holland harder than the official candidate. The remedy is a selfevident one: amalgamate the city constituencies and apply the principle of Proportional Representation to them; give to the single constituencies the advantage of the transferable vote, which has justified itself in Victoria. By these means only can the existing anomalies, w-hich were pointed out by us in a recent article, be swept away, as they ought to be, without further delay. Our advice is that Mr Luke has a fair chance of securing the bulk of the quiet, undemonstrative vote, which counts for so much. In that case, he will score a comfortable victory for the National Government.