The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 20, 1928. THE REFORM PARTY'S DISASTROUS CAMPAIGN.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10748, 20 November 1928, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 20, 1928. THE REFORM PARTY'S DISASTROUS CAMPAIGN.

The ronmion ts in the Home press on the recent General Elections in this Dominion are both varied and interesting. Some of the overseas journals suggest reasons for the defeat of the Reform Party, and others attempt to explain why the TJniteds did so well. According to the London Times, Hr. Coates’s policy of stern economy led to his downfall; whilst the Observer, on the other hand, holds that Sir Joseph Hard did so well because he combined Asquithian leadership with a LloydGeorgian programme. Students of national politics in this Dominion will, however, not be content until they have sifted out the full explanation in detail. It may ho pointed out that the Reform Party would have done somewhat better if more efficient election management had been displayed. The Southern Maori scat, for instance, was lost simply because a strong Independent Reformer insisted on going to the poll as- well as Mr Uru, the /sitting” member. In the case of Wellington East, also, the seat was thrown away, on account of M!r. Clark, an Independent Reformer, refusing to withdraw in favor of Mr Forsyth, who held the seat in the last Par-

liament. It will be noted also that the Government candidates for the Bay of Islands, Kaiapoi and Waikato have been beaten on the first count only by a handful of votes in each case. For all that, it would bo idle for anyone to argue that the Reform Party did not fare badly at the polls. What, jn addition, stands out prominently! is that poor candidates . were selected by the Reform Party for some seats. A Government candidate for one; of the northern seats, for instance, had to confess that, jnsifc prior to his selection, ho; had applied to the United Party for work in " connection with its campaign! Then, again, in the case of the one . of the • Taranaki seats, the Reform candidate admitted that lie had been dragged back into the arena after lie had made it known that he did not wish to re-offer liis services! Mr. Qoates, too wa>a greatly handicapped on account of the lack of adequate Ministerial aid on the hustings. On "liis part, Mir. Downio Stewart did his best to assist his cliief, hut his . exertions, wet e taxed by liis campaign in the southern electorates. Most of the other Ministers were content to give fiyst; consideration , to their own personal interests. And at. least - two of them, Messrs. McLeod and Hawken/ made a very poor showing on their own behalf! Perhaps the. most unhappy member of the Cabinet was Mr. Hawkon, who /was, .seemingly, beaten from the . outset, for an address which he delivered at the preelection Reform Conference, and whicli was, broadcasted by the ‘ ‘Newsletter,’ ’ ! killed his chances of re-election completely and, what is more, did his party an immense amount of harm in many electorate? Without going into the details, on

this occasion, tho fact remains that certain aspects of the Reform Party’s case cam© in for a very rough handling, rightly or wrongly, from the United's in a large number of country electorates and from Labor in the main centres of population.