The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1946. RAGLAN BY-ELECTION

Evening Star, Issue 25733, 5 March 1946, Page 4

The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1946. RAGLAN BY-ELECTION

To-day the 12,340 voters registered in the Raglan electorate have been making their choice between the National Party candidate and the Labour Party candidate contesting the., seat made vacant through the death of the Labour representative, Mr R. Coulter, elected at the 1943 General Elections. Interest in the campaign has been keen, for the margin between the principal candidates in 1943 was narrow. . The electorate then numbered 10,126, nearly all of whom voted, and) on the final count Mr Coulter, emerged victorious by only 108 votes. Votes for a Democratic Labour and a Real Democracy Movement candidate totalled 410, while 90 votes were informal. Even if all those votes could be considered potentially Labour, the National Party candidate failed by only 600 votes to wrest a seat that hadl been -held by Labour since 1935. The narrowness of the margin has inspired the National Party to make a spirited endeavour to turn the scales, while Labour has been no less earnest to retain balance and has sent into the fray Cabinet Ministers armed to the teeth and even prepared to put on vaudeville acts, as witness Mr Semple’s emulation of Mr Peter Dawson in carolling 1 Waltzing Matilda.’ Both sides have seen in the outcome a pointer/to the "General Elections in November of this year, and until the booths close this evening it is certain that the strenuous efforts of the past weeks will be maintained in seeing that every available elector casts his vote. The final shots in the campaign were fired by the Prime Minister, who, in the cloak of glory bestowed upon him at U.N.0., has comeihome post haste with the one obvious motive of trumping all the Opposition’s aces at the last moment. But after all his showing at U.N.O. Mr Fraser must have been a disappointment to his hearers since he merely fell hack on wordy platitudes and the familiar'bleatings about a Labour victory. After U.N.O. this seems pretty small beer, and perhaps Mr Fraser felt that, too, and was in the time . unable to adapt himself to the lesser arena. The campaign, though vigorous, has not been acrimonious. Both sides have fought cleanly, the only disturbing note having been struck by a section of the electors, who, at Huntly, refused the National candidate a hearing and permitted Mr Holland to speak only to the accompaniment of an orchestra composed of illmannered windbags. The obstructive tactics employed there have, at other times and places, marked other gatherings of Labour supporters whose interpretation of freedom of speech and action extends only to their own colour. Tt will hardly have gone unnoticed that the unruly element at Huntly remains unrebnked by any Labour Minister,_ and even Mr Fraser, straight from delivering an internationally-reported U.N.O. address on freedom, has kept silent. The issues at stake in this by-election are essentially the same as those put before all electors in 1943—Socialism or private enterprise. Since 1943 Labour’s path has been more clearly defined than ever, and the Government, dictated to by unions and hotheads all over the countrv. has frrnblied both the Bank of New Zealand and the airways, and its avaricious paw is merely being restrained from clutching at other “ treasures ” pending the result of the general poll in November. Little more nationalisation is likely before November. The brake will he on in that direction, hut no doubt off in others. An income tax reduction is certain in the next session and other concessions to the long suffering tax-paying public are equally assured in the hope of strengthening the party’s position, and there will he many who will be duly misled by kindly legislation which is as certain to be introduced as that Wednesday will follow-to-dav. Apparently Mr Fraser made no promises one Way or another in his remarks to Raglan electors yesterday; that may have

been native Scottish caution resorted to because lie was nut altogether sure what his associates may have promised —or denied—in the hectic days preceding his, advent. He did, following a much-publicised lead given by other Ministers, deny, with carefully-assumed astonishment and resentment, any suggestion that the Government contemplated a Disinheritance Bill. So many heated words have been spoken in this regard that one wonders —“ Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” In any event a Disinheritance Bill, in the form of excessive and steadily-mount-ing death duties, already exists. A Socialist country is costly to run, and death duties have soared to meet some of those costs—so much so that instances have been quoted where inheritance has shrunk to an incredibly low point. This is just another move in the Government’s game of grab, in which the other players are led to believe they are getting a fair deal, failing to realise that the cards have been well marked and stacked in advance. The result at Raglan will not decide the Government’s fate, but it may be a pointer to next November. Whatever the result, one thing is certain, each side will have scored a victory 1