Bay of Plenty By-Election

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20625, 28 November 1941, Page 8

Bay of Plenty By-Election

Sir,—Mr. Mills says he cannot subscribe to Mr. Sullivan’s idea that the impending by-election is a “test case,” and he announces that the Labour Party will “refrain from stirring up political strife/' It would be nice to beiieve that the Labour Party had suffered a sudden spasm of repentance, but a more realistic view leads to the conclusion that if the Government fails to throw its full weight into the Bay of Plenty campaign, it will only be because its master minds realise that the seat is already gone—and gone for keeps. In any case, it remains to be seen how far the Government refrains from "stirring up political strife.” Had this been the party’s sincere intention, Mr. Mills would have been left to fight his campaign alone, on his own personal merits. Instead of that lie has been .sponsored from the start by Mr. Coleman. But the Government, of course, can call on heavier metal. Already one Minister, by a coincidence that will not go unappreciated on the Coast, has been called to that region since the byelection was first announced. No doubt other Ministerial itineraries are now being arranged so that 'urgent public business” will give some of the “big shots” of the Labour Party a chance of visiting the Bay of Plenty electorate during this very interesting period. During the Waitemata by-election, when the war position was no less critical than it is to-day, a full team of. Ministers, including the acting-Prime Minister, managed to spare time to address political meetings in that electorate. Last year when there was a by-election in Auckland West, the National Party did not nominate a candidate, but at Waipawa, a National seat, Labour put up a candidate and fought fiercely, only to slide back by more than i,OOO votes. That election was fought just a year ago when the Battle of Britain was at its height, and great English cities lay in smoking ruins. Does Mr. Mills suggest that the position was less critical then than it is to-day? SCEPTIC,