The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1914 THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 23 September 1914, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1914 THE GENERAL ELECTION.

It is satisfactory that the question of holding the General Election has been decided, and it would seem that the Government/has taken the best, if not the only course open to it. No doubt, as is usually the case in such, matters, there is much to be &xid on both" sides. It is quite true that owing to the war political matters do not so completely engross public attention as they usually do, but that does not appear to ibe a sufficiently strong reason for changing the whole course of the business of the country. Public men- have been daily telling, us that it is unwise and -unpatriotic to permit the ;war to distract

attention fixjm private business and paralyse effart, and the advic© should apply to xiublic affaii-s, ■ Th.© serious difficulty about postponing the elections wmld have been th& flouting of the Constitution. . Parliament was elect€>d for three years, and has no riftKi or title to ©xtend its own life. JSk) doubt it may tto replied that the Constitution was Kiade for ordinary times, arid that when exceptional cir-. cumstances arise, the advantage-of the State is the> highest law. Whether the circumstances are strong enough to warrant the application of this principle is a matter on which, debate may be expected to wax warm. The country is not being overrun by the enemy nor is it likely to be attacked, and certainly the war crisis is not so severely felt in New Zealand as to warrant any panic, or to justify any paralysis of xn*blie affairs. If there were to be a postponement of the election for several months the position might not be materially different to what it may be expected to be in December-, if there were.to be a postponemeiit over another session of Parliament events might happen in the interim wMcb. would make it extremely inconvenient to have in office a Parliament and a Government which could not legitimately claim to possess the authority and confidence of the people. It could be said with undeniable force that its mandate had run out. So much from th.c general point of view. From a strictly party aspect the failure to hold an election would create a good deal of trouble. The Government could be very easily accused of straining the Constitution to retain office, and of holding it- without any constitutional or moral right, and thia criticism might conceivably be very embarrassing to them if circumstances arose compelling them to take some responsible and serious initiative. The case of the Commonwealth elections may not bo altogether on all fours with the position % in New Zealand, because there the dissolution had taken place before the war broke out, but nevertheless it cannot be said that any serious difficulty arose owing to the holding of an election. It is true the Government was thrown out. which may or may not have been a good thing for the, country, but certainly it will not have any effect on the attitude of the country at large towards its Imperial responsibilities. But the very fact that the Government in the Commonwealth failed to win the elections must have made it all the more difficult for Mr Massey to propose a statutory prolongation of Ms holding of office. The Government has been told over and over again by the Opposition that it is to be swept away at the next polls, and it needs but little imagination to foresee the emphasis with which this would have been repeated and rubbed in if he had decided in favor of prolonging the life of a Parliament in which he has a satisfactory working majority. Admittedly the position is not free from difficulty, but on the whole the wisest and certainly the most constitutional course has been taken.