The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1913.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3993, 25 July 1913, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1913.

There will doubtless be a good deal

Mr. Webb and his Win.

of jubilation in Labor circles over Mr. Webb’s victory in

the Grey contest, which, it must be acknowledged, was certainly'of a substantial character. As far as the great body of the electors throughout the Dominion is concerned, however, it must be the position that they will be greatly disappointed that circumstances should have arisen which have enabled such a result to come about. In the defeat of Mr Michel, the Reform candidate, there is, we feel, more than meets the eye. We do not believe, for instance, that in a contest in which the issue was simply one of political views Mr Webb or any other “Social Demo-, crat” or “Revolutionary Socialist’’

:: : , a ft nominee could have defeated a sup-, porter of the present Government. The fact of the matter is, it " will be ’ agreed, that the latest political aspirant who has had the magic letters “M.P.” attacJied to his name, had the advantage of circumstances which would not be likely to occur in other than a by-election. What we say is in short that Mr .Webb has to thank neither his own popularity nor the political creed which lie espouses for his return to Parliament. Unquestionably Grey is remarkable for the strength of the Federation of Labor movement within its borders, but no one will believe—it can, we think, be safely said —that the result of the poll goes in any way to sllow that a majority of the people in the district approve of Mr Webb's views on, say, the defenco question, and the settlement of industrial disputes, etc. For his return Mr Webb has, it seems to us, to thank the disappointed Liberals who, when their own candidate was defeated, became so bitter —or rather a great many of them: did—that..they made up their minds that if they could prevent it—and they -were in a position to do so—the Reform Liberal should not get into office. In this regard it is worthy of mention that for the most part the attitude of the Opposition press has been—not that the Liberals of Grey should at the second ballot vote for a “revolutionary” like Mr Webb, but what amounted to the same thing that they should vote against a “reactionary” which is how they dubbed Mr Michel. As far as the chief organ of the Opposition—' “The Lyttelton Times” —was concerned it very skilfully pointed out that at some of the second ballots on the occasion of the general elections the Reform party —where it was not representedl in the final tussle—threw its support against the Liberal candidate, with the result that at Grey Lynn and Otaki, for example, Labor candidates wore victorious. But it was not straiglitout suggested that this would be an admirable course for the Liberals of Grey to follow. Oh, no—it merely put matters this way: “It is scarcely necessary to remind them (the Liberal electors of Grey) just now that Mr Webb is much more in sympathy than Mr Michel is wit real Liberalism, etc., etc!” In this connection we may here mention that after the first ballot Mr Hannan, the defeated Liberal candidate, lost no time in declaring that he would vote for Mr Webb and do his.best to secure Mr Webb’s return. That it was simply an instance of political pique on the part of the Liberals may also bo gathered, from the fact that prior to the first ballot, 'when it was, of course, not known who would get into the second ballot, Mr Webb and his supporters condemned both the Liberals and the Reform Liberals. His advertisement in the Greymouth press for example, asserted that apart from the Social Democrat party no other party offered the workers “security for organised Labor” ; that other parties “defended conscription” and so on. To our way of thinking the incident in regard to the election which goes furthest to damn the greatly attenuated) prospects of the old Liberal party was the fact that even such a staunch supporter on that side of politics as Mr McXab saw fit to wire Mr Webb “to go on and win.” How the ex-member for Mat-aura could have gone so far is simply astonishing, especially seeing that prior to the introduction of the national defence scheme lie toured the Dominion in support of the great principle, which is not favored by Mr Webb. It is equally tlie position, that, whilst Mr Webb is a firm believer in the general strike as a proper method to settle industrial disputes, Mr McXab lias all along strongly favored the principle of arbitration. And so on. and so on. The only grain of satisfaction that the real Liberals in the Dominion will be able >to find to console themselves is, we should say, the fact that Mr Webb’s return to Parliament will go to assist a party or rather a coterie which has so few members in the House as to make itself anything but dangerous. We entirely fail to see that'bis success can under the circumstances be taken to indicate that the United Federation of Labor is now about to make a strong and favorable impression on a large section of electors of this Dominion.