Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1945. POLITICS AND PEOPLE.

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 July 1945, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1945. POLITICS AND PEOPLE.

IT would be an exaggeration to claim all ]ieo])le that on earth do dwell, or even those in New Zealand, are awaiting in tense excitement, the result of the polling on Saturday in the Dunedin North by-election. The publicity outside the constituency is Stalinian in meagreness, and only the candidates and the respective Party leaders seem to be concerned. Air. Holland has spoken on behalf of Mr. N. H. Jones, the Nationalist, and Mr. Fraser is to address the electors this evening. During the campaign, Cabinet Ministers and other Labour Members have added their quota of advice, and everybody is as well as could be expected. Labour must fancy its chance of success, seeing the Party has held the seat for some years. Should the Nationalists win, there would be no way of excusing the Labour defeat, as there is no Mr. Lee to be convenient!} blamed.

Public apathy regarding’ this by-elec-tion is reflected, too. where the Parliament tary session is concerned. The higher pay-'; ments that the Members unanimously vot-j ed themselves, last session, have not yet; had the effect of improving Parliamentary standards, and the present Address-m-Reply discussion has been one of the dullest on record. No Opposition amendment has been moved, and all the Members are jogging along together, niceh. “There is evidence of a lack of leaflet ship that is very regrettable. Ministers of the Crown have largely become invisible. and there is a reluctance on their part to take the public into their confidence,” said the Dominion president of the N.Z. Farmers’ Union (Mr. AV. AV. Mulholland), at the annual conference of the union, this week. This absence of Ministerial leadership is due. probably, to the realisation that they do not lead, but tamely follow the Labour Caucus. ■ Submission is no monopoly of Ministeis, but is becoming a national characteristic. An Australian Parliamentarian who recently visited the Dominion, was impressed by a “certain resigned acceptance ’ displayed by New Zealanders to bureaucratic controls. He could not have met many miners who, whatever else may be said of them, rarely exhibit resigned acceptance” of what they regard as grievances. Farmers are thinking of following this example, judging from the threats of direct action heard at their Union s annual gathering. These threats are not new, and it is to be hoped that wiser counsels will prevail. AVere the country’s foodproducers to go on strike, the conscI (pienees would be disastrous, and it would be difficult to find enough strike-breakers. The Ministers would do well to reconsider their seeming policy of war against the primary producers, before the latter are goaded into drastic action. The farmers’ forces are less split, nowadays, and their own strength is being more realised. It is a pity, to some degree, that Dunedin North is an urban constituency, giving farmers’ opinions no range for effective emphasis. Townsmen, however, whatever their Party political views, should note the danger to their own comfort and standard of living, heralded by the increas■ing dissatisfaction among rural dwellcis.