The Evening Star FRIDAY, APRIL 20. 1823, A QUAINT CONTEST.

Evening Star, Issue 18255, 20 April 1923, Page 6

The Evening Star FRIDAY, APRIL 20. 1823, A QUAINT CONTEST.

It is to be feared that the Prime Minister, who insists on his liking for a “ good fight,” is not getting it in Onmaru. That has not been Mr Leo’s fault up to the present. If any temptation had been felt by 1 the ex-member for the electorate, whose scat makes the prize at issue, to consider this conflict peculiarly his own, he has been quite ready to waive his claim in favor of his leader. The willingness which ho has shown to subordinate himself, indeed, for an ex-Ministor, has been altogether remarkable. “ The fight,” ho is reported as saying at the first Palmerston meeting, “was not between Mr Macpherson and him. It did not matter much to the public which one of them was elected. It was the strength of the Government that counted.” And the fight, if such it can be called up to this stage, has certainly been treated by him in the spirit of that disavowal. Mr Lee’s part so far has been no more than to precede the Prime Minister at successive meetings, much in the manner in which the heralds or pursuivants-at-arms, who, did not fight themselves, preceded the champions in the old tourneys, announcing the grounds of the conflict, wishing them joy of the onset, and then retiring to a safe obscurity and leaving them to it. The only complaint made of the explanations of this pursuivant is that they have been too long. Ho has been over-anxious to disclaim any responsibility of a kind that might be thought unsportsmanlike for the combat which is being waged so much more for him than by him. The logic of these disclaimers has been at times rather hard to follow. At Ngapara yesterday ho was at pains to point out that the Supreme Court judgment refused him the seat without a further contest, not because lie did not get a majority of the votes, but because the ballot papers, before they were presented to voters, were themselves informal. . That wa§ pn ample reason for the voiding of the poll. ■ A real injustice obviously would have been done if Mr Lee had been declared elected through the dis- ■ allowing as informal of a number of votes which could not-have been irregular in the way they were if the first fault , had not lain, with the ballot gapera. The

Reform candidate is evidently much afraid lest a disadvantage should 1 be suffered by him in this conflict through a preponderance of sympathy being felt with his opponent in the cause of it; but, beyond appeals which he has made for an equal share of sympathy, it is not much that he is doing to fight the contest. Mr Macmillan, a mere tyro in politics, at Tauranga, was rot more content to take second place to the Prime Minister. To charge round the Oamaru lists and “drink delight of battle” with his peers would be as the breath of life, we can well believe, to Mr Massey. But this so far has been the most curious of election battles. For four days now the ftime Minister has been charging, but it is not clear yet whom he is charging against. Mr Macphorsnn, who might bo his opponent, has kept even more in tho background till now than Mr Lee. While tho Prime Minister brandishes his lance before crowded gatherings in tho main centres, with no ono to impale on it but a few interjcctors, he prefers to boat up supporters in the back country. And Mr Wilfoi'd, who would be the natural champion on the Liberal side to meet the burly onset of tho Prime Minister, finds himself not wanted in the encounter. Mr Macpherson, it has been made clear, does not desire his or other intervention. He prefers to fight this battle on his own account. It is heroic, but it may be doubted if it is war. Perhaps ho thinks that he will light it out with Mr Lee, in the centres as well as other places, when the Prime Minister’s invasion is over and its excitement forgotten. The danger in that policy is that, with loss than a fortnight loft till tho election, there is not much time to lose. Some svmpathy, however, is bound to accrue to a fighter who keeps his nerves calm despite heavy odds. Mr Massey already has felt constrained to defend himself, by a plea of example, against a view’ of his presence as an unchivalrous intrusion which would l not be to tho advantage of his candidate. He has recalled that when he himself stood for Parliament many years ago Mr Scddon did not hesitate to lead tho campaign against him. It was a mistaken intervention, clearly, on Mr Seddon’s part, and its imitation may be no more fortunate for Mr Massey. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is omitting no methods by which he may ingratiate himself with the electorate. It is a courtship as well ns a fight which he is conducting. Palmerston may hope at last for a new post office. New arrangements for increased generosity by the Advances Department have been impressed. A few hundred children have been delighted by the free gift of a holiday from school, though, as an appeal to their parents, the effect of that generosity might bo doubted. It is hoped that a reduction in railway fa?es and freights may not be long delayed—if the Government, that is, which Mr Lee’s return would make more secure, should only remain in office. Mr Scddon may have used the same arts when the electorate of Mr Massoy was invaded by him; but, if so, we can imagine well what the present Prime Minister had to say about them. “I sold myself," said Mr Bumble ruefully,” “ for six teaspoons, a pair of sugar tongs, and a milk pot, with a small quantity of second-hand furniture and twenty pound in money. I went very reasonable. Cheap, dirt cheap!” His repentance should be remembered by-Oamaru.