WELLINGTON NOTES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 1153, 24 December 1918, Page 5

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE BY-ELECTJONS. ANOTHER LABOUR TRIUMPH. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Dec. 20. Thanks to the energy and organisation of the Labour Party, to the apathy of the other parties and to the opera-lion'-'of the. "party truce," Mr Robert Sempie easily defeated his two opponents in-rthe. by-election for Wellington South yesterday. As at the previous by-elections ror Wellington North and Wellington Central, the Labour Parly spared no effort to secure success, and the votes polled by the new member probably represent the full measure of its strength in the constituency. At the general election four years ago the late Mr Hindmarsh, who was supported by both the Labour and the Liberal parties, polled 4279 votes, Mr J. P. Lulce, the champion nf the Reform Parlv, 306-1, and Mr R. R. Williams, an Independent, 221, a total of 7624 votes. Yesterday Mr Sempie polled 2412 votes, and the two Independent candidates between them IG7B, a total of 4090 votes. The figures tell the whole story of yesterday's contest. Right of Succession. The way of the Labour Party was made all the easier yesterday by the fact that neither the Liberal Party nor the Reform Party felt called upon to tak'e any part in the contest. Mr Hindmarsh belonged to neither of these parties, though of course his sympathies were generally with the Liberals, and neither of the party leaders felt they had any right of nomination in the constituency. Sir Joseph Ward before he left for London gave it as his opinion that though the Labsur members of the House had not subscribed to the party truce, the spirit of the agreement conferred upon them the same right of succession in the case of a, by-election as it reserved for the Liberals and the Reformers. In the view of many politicians this was straining chivalry a little too far, but no one seems to have had energy enough to seriously challenge the Liberal leader's decision. Public Indifference. This being the case, neither of the Independent candidates opposing Mr Sempie had the slightest chance from the first. The three local papers appealed to the electors to save the constituency from the reproach of returning a "disloyalist" to represent them in Parliament, but the great; majority of the Reform and Liberal voters refused to be moved into action. Mr Semple's presence, in Parliament, they said, was not going to affect the war policy of the country one way or the other, the other candidates had no claim upon their support, and anyhow the Government had given Ihem no lead. The Evening Post scolded the Government for its inaction, the New Zealand Times called the blood-stained fields of Europe to witness against the policy of the Labour Party, and the Dominion regretted the election should go by default. But the Labour Party alone was stirred to enthusiasm. From Prison to Parliament.

Mr Pemple himself never had any doubt about the result of llio. eonlest. and of course he regards the successes of tlio Labour Parly in WcllingLon as a. good omen for Ihe vindication of the principles of true democracy at the next general election. But, off the platform at any rate, he is not hugging- to himself any delusions about, the future. He does not expect the Labour niillenium to arrive to-morrow or the day after, but the fact that Mr Holland, j\Jr Fraser - and himself, companions in prison, are now fellow members of Parliament fills him with high hopes. He believes that industrial bitterness and .strife will disappear before an educated public conscience and that the workers will attract to their side the big battalions necessary to secure the ultimate triumph of the practical hunianitarianism. of which they are dreaming.