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Grey River Argus, 24 July 1913, Page 4

We should feel honoured. The ' West Coast Times, has devoted a whole column to the annihilation of the Argus on the ground of alleged inconsistency. The article appears in" a two-page supplement as an elaborate attack on the Red Fed organisation. The contents are quoted from different sources, and the whole constitutes cheap advertisement for the benefit of Mr Michel. As to the attack on this journal, we are very little concerned. I t would be a mere waste of words to try to argue with a journal that fails to realise the obvious difference between supporting an individual and a political principle Not one word has been written in this journal in' the course of the election that the editor is sorry for or willing to withdraw. It is a matter of indifference to us wfyat may be said by the Times, Mr Massey or any of his colleagues. W € are under no compj'iment to either Mr Michel or the Government. We can easily understand why our contemporary is so ardent a supporter of both, especially in regard to .the latter, which publishes Government advertsements affecting this district, though the Times circulates only ten or a dozen copies Mn the town. But that can be allowed to pass. The Argus is just as consistent in its prin- ,' ciplcs as it has ever been, and is mot bound to any' party or individual. It certainly has been perfectly free and untrammeled in any way for the last 30 and odd years, as everybody in this town knows. We have already explained showing how preference for a particular candidate does not necessarily imply Voting for all' his principles, and we quoted the Otaki and the Grey Lynn elections 'as showing how the Refomers — the paragons of ' all ,the virtues — looked at the matter in precisely the same light. The Reform party put in Socialist candidates, for want of men more to their..liking, simply to defeat the Liberals. The position here is reversed. In'default of Mr Hannan, nearly two-thirds* of the Grey Liberals, who have aleady shown that they do not want an outside nominee nor the Massey Government, are resolved to choose- the* lesser of two evils. They do not sympathise with the Red Feds or Socialists, but they are not t 'above using Mr Webb as an instrument to serve thejr purpose. Nor are they any * more scared than the- Argus is at being 'charged with inconsistency. When the morning- after the election we indicated that Mr Webb would most probably win. the election we were guided by the fact that Mr Michel polled very little more than one-third of the votes, and that if the Liberal vote had not been divided Mr Michel's chance must have been hopeless. Whatever the extreme views of the Socialistic crowd may be, they at least have a certain claim to Liberalism, but no sympathy at all for the Reform Party, -the very embodiment of old'time Toryism and all thaf 'it implies. Thrf Grey electors thave every fre© man's right to resent the attempt to gain their^ allegiance to a Government with a policy that 'is as hateful to the people as it is to go outside the district for a Candidate while they had one of their own worthy of all confidence and support. For Mr Hannan is a gentleman by nature and a Liberal by conviction and the experience^ of life. It was for these reasons that we gave Mr Hannan our support without asking for any profession of policy. As the late Pierpont Morgan said, he put character before money and trusted accordingly. We believe that the interests -of the public would be quite* safe and well looked after had the electors the gratification of sending Mr Hannan to Parliament.