INDEPENDENTS.

Evening Star, Issue 20958, 24 November 1931, Page 10

INDEPENDENTS.

Thebe aro twenty-five Independent candidates standing in the present elections. Making allowance for the Speaker, who is most properly an Independent, “ twenty-four too many ” will be a common verdict, though it will not be shared by the Labour Party. The first effect of an Independent candidate in all cases except the Speakership is to split votes, and that cannot bo afforded at tho present juncture. The first need of tho hour is a strong Government to put tho country ba.ck on the road to prosperity in a time of financial crisis, and if its programme were the opposite of what it is that could not be done by the Labour Party, which welcomes Independent candidates its best help. Again, Parliament requires team work, as do all other activities. It is,a place where Independents are most naturally futile. “ Tho day has arrived,” declared Mr Black in his address given «» an Independent candidate for Dunedin North last mght, “ when the prwty man, whether called Labour, Liberal, or Conservative, must be relegated to oblivion, and the men of vision .tnd action, without party bias, will take hk place.” We do not see that day coming yet. An attempt has been made, in response to national needs, to reduce three parties to two, making less of some of tho names, and we deplore tlr' Mr Black’s present zeal should be in the direction of thwarting it. It has been suggested that Mrs Black would bo “ an ideal wife for a member of Parliament.” As a rule for public usefulness that would be a small one for her to fill compared with that which she enjoys now as Dunedin’s mayoress. It should bo plain to Mr Black that ho cannot reasonably bo mayor and member of Parliament at tho same time. Having only been appointed this year for a second term, his plaeo is tho mayoralty. There was nothing in his address, last night to prompt any other conclusion. Only when it referred to fox farms and tho unlikely possibility of tho Government taking over the provision of a new water supply for Dunedin was it original, and it was scrappy. Thought is being given to new industries. The price of bread has been investigated. Other authorities are trying to work with the Unemployment Board. Mr Black is not needed as a new voice in Parliament, and his candidature threatens merely to perpetuate a Labour voice which is heard at infrequent intervals, saying nothing which affects the life of nations there. Mr John McDonald’s candidature for Dunedin West is more harmless, but it is not less superfluous. Mr M'Donald takes pride in being “the only man in the public eye who is really trying to deliver a policy speech.” It is not long since he was encouraging a now part}', of which Mr Minnock was the bright particular star, which can boast no candidates in this election, having failed apparently to obtain a sufficient following. Beforo that he made a mistake in not retiring from a contest lor tho mayoralty when vote-splitting, in Labour’s favour, proved a delusive fear.

Mr AFDonald’s policy of limited inflation does nob need to be taken seriously. More bank notes will be issued automatically when the volume of business requires it. The special notes or fiduciary bonds,” up to a value of four million pounds, which he would have the Government issue to pay unemployed wages, would bo something akin to Treasury bills, in anticipation of revenue, which are hard worked today. But “fiduciary” is a good word —we notice that Mr Black also uses it. It sounds well! and is vague enough to leave no easy points of criticism for the ordinary man. Mr Theodore, in Australia, had a fiduciary notes scheme, which did not commend itself and had to be abandoned. The difficulty with all such schemes is that it is easier to begin inflation than to set bounds to it. Mr M'Donald, apparently, has already been comparing notes with other independent candidates in Otago, so that the sequel to his return might bo another new party, which would not suit Mr Black’s ideals. Sir Charles Statham’s address at Macandrcw Bay last night was studiously non-partisan. His candidature cannot be called a campaign, and, in the special circumstances which, require non-partisanship of a Speaker, is commended by that difference. He was most convincing, however, in his answer to the allegation that the constituency of a Speaker cannot bo effectively represented.