The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES” GISBORNE, MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1944. AWARUA’S CHOICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21548, 30 October 1944, Page 2

The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES” GISBORNE, MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1944. AWARUA’S CHOICE

The outstanding point to be noted in the result of the Awarua by-elee- ! tion is not so much the bare fact that 1 the National Party’s candidate, Mi. : Herron, won by the handsome majority of 2101 votes as that his margin was 1441 votes larger than the late Brigadier Hargest’s majority of CGO in 1938. In that year Brigadier Hargest, a popular man and an able and trusted politician, did not by any means have a walk-over in the straight-out contest against his Labour opponent, Mr. Beck. There was every reason to believe, therefore, that Labour’s mana was then fairly high and that a large number of electors who normally had neither strong Conservative nor strong Labour views decided to give the Labour candidate the benefit of their support. The purely country areas favoured Brigadier Hargest, but the towns within Awarua’s boundaries either voted evenly or voted Labour. The largest centre, BlufT, recorded a vote of 829 ■to 322 in support of Mr. Beck. But much has happened since 1938 to make the moderates, wavcrers or the “in betwceners”—call them wha! you will —transfer their political allegiance. And these are the people who turn the scale in almost any election. It is not the Government's record in war legislation which has caused' the significant swing towards the National Party. It has been the drift, in the face of warnings and protests that it did not heed, into a line of political thought and practice savouring overmuch of rigid socialisation and State control. In short, the Government’s domestic policy is not suiting democratic New Zealand. Increased benefits under the social security legislation and other concessions intended to improve the lot of the majority of the people have not compensated for the many uneasy manifestations of the creation of a political dictatorship and for the loss of personal freedom. CONVINCING TEST In many ways the Awarua by-elec-tion lias been a much more convincing test of public feeling than the local body polling. It is a fact, not altogether curious, that ratepayers, when electing a city or borough council, generally prefer a body of men whose financial policy is orthodox. These ratepayers want some assurance that their money will be used wisely and well, and local body electors who are not ratepayers almost invariably take that same intimate interest in the handling of local affairs. Although the same attitude should be adopted by taxpayers to the State, it is not always so. There is a tendency to regard the Government as something more remote, an institution that can be freely urged to do this and do that and help here and help there, often regardless of expense. Awarua’s choice of candidate has proved, however, that the time is fast slipping away when people want the Government to be a Santa Claus —if it means that the State is going to buy their affections and indeed buy them body and soul. They want a return to reason and solidity and safe moderation in all things political. The trend is not towards the old Tory idea of Conservatism but towards the Liberal school of thought which, from recent Parliamentary debates, seems to be the policy favoured by the party led so capably by Mr. Holland. Had Labour been content to adhere more strictly to its original election vow to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Seddon and his colleagues it would not be suffering to-day the anxiety of a telltale reduced majority, further accented, not by the actual loss of a seat, but by an electoral verdict indicating beyond all dispute the writing on thCj wall. SOBERING EFFECT? Taking in most of the Southland plains, part of the coal mining area and the port of Bluff, Awarua surrounds urban Invercargill and can hardly be described by Labour protagonists as a “die-hard Tory electorate.” The farms within its boundaries are chiefly of the dairying and mixed variety, many of them small. Between these and its country towns and businesses it represents a fairly comprehensive cross-section of New Zealand life. In the circumstances the strong confidence placed in the National Party's candidate as reflected in the voting figures comes very close to being a vote of no-confidence in the Government; it is a result which must cause the Prime Minister and his team considerable worry. Possibly it will have a sobering effect on the Government between now and the next general election. There is at least a chance that Parliament will not be faced with any more contentious legislation or manipulation of the country’s affairs in a manner that alienates a large section of the community. The Cabinet's handicap is that there may be “powers behind the throne” over which it has little control. It has been alleged that this is so. At any rate, it is known that extremists exist among the rank-and-file. In light of the Awarua verdict, will there be a fresh outcry from some of them for abolition of the country quota? It is a possibility. The Prime Minister recently announced that a Dominion census would probably be taken in about April of next year, and it is only in conjunction with a census that any alteration in the electoral boundaries could be made. In some Labour quarters the temptation to take advantage of the occasion will be strong. Restraining influences, however, would be realisation on the pail of the more responsible Labour Parliamentarians that such a course would be an admission of weakness, perhaps even of panic, and that, besides arousing unprecedented hostility among the farming community, it would dissipate tiie last vestiges of sympathy of the not inconsiderable number of electors who judge a government on its practical achievements or who have to he wooed on the hustings.