THE HUTT BY-ELECTION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 18 November 1929, Page 6

THE HUTT BY-ELECTION.

The by-election in the ITutt electorate, made necessary by tlio resignation of the Hon. T. M. Wilford, who becomes High Commissioner in London, will provide the electors of that area with a renewed interest in polities in what would normally be the “off season,” and it is certain that the rest of the Dominion will also take more than passing notice of the campaign and its re-

suits. In most quarters it has been predicted that, in the event of the seat being contested by each of the three parties, it will be' a “gift” for Mr Nash, the Labour candidate, •who polled heavily in a straightout contest against 'Mr Wilford at the last General Election. Present indications are, how. ever, that the anti-Labour forces are determined to make certain that the “gift” is properly delivered to the Labour candidate by entering three opponents in the field against him. The other two parties, United and Reform, are not, to be sure, responsible for the presence of Mr Bennett, who has chosen to enter the campaign as an Independent, and doubtless Mr Bennett’s determination to go to the poll has not given unalloyed pleasure to cither of them, but the mistake in tactics which the entry of the fourth candidate appears to be must be laid at the door of the anti-Labour section gen. orally. It will bo commonly said that ‘ ‘ anything might happen ” in a fourcornered contest, but the chances seem to be that only one thing will happen and that will be something which will please Mr Nash and the Labour Party. Mr Nash would certainly be a valued acquisition to the Parliamentary Labour Party, for he is an old campaigner and a man of sufficient interests in affairs outside politics as to deserve and command the respect of many who do not see eye to eye with him on affairs political. It remains to be seen how the votes which were accorded Mr Wilford, whose personal i>restige in that electorate was high, will be distributed among the Reform, United and Independent candidates; no guess--1 work is necessary to account for the bestowal of favour showered upon the Labour candidate last year, for Mr Bennett’s independence is not flavoured with a bias likely to appeal to Labour or near-Labour voters.