The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1893.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10108, 5 August 1893, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1893.

In the course of a few weeks the Colony will ba face to face with it, general election. Already there are premonitory (signs of the approaching contest. Members are keeping in much closer touch with their constituencies, and intending candidates are setting to work assiduously. Wo anticipate on this occasion much more complete organisation by both parties than they have previously displayed, and the verdict of the constituencies will thus represent with greater accuracy the views of the electors. Up to the present, however, the number of new electors enrolled has been disappointing. Enquiries we have made lead us to the conclusion that the electors have not, aa a body, wakened to the importance of enrolling only qualified persons. Yet it should be borne in mind that it is by the purging o£ the rolls, and the enrolment of those who are qualified, that elections are won and _ lost. It ia emphatically’ the duty of each elector to see that his name is on the roll; and it ia to the interest of every Liberal to see that his i’ellowLiberals are not disfranchised through procrastination, inadvertence, or error. One class should ho especially looked after. Y\ r o refer to the young men who have attained their majority since last election. To emphasise the position, and remove misapprehension, we may point out that every British subject of the age of twentyone vears or over, who has resided in the Colony for a year, and iu the electoral district iu which ho lives for six months, is entitled to be registered as an elector, bfumbers of young men a.ro unregistered, without doubt, aud we urge them to set to work at once and sea that they are put in a position to exercise their voles. The work of purging the rolls is hardly less important. The present system by which this is loft ia the hands of one central registrar leaves much to ba desired. There is a strong and not unnatural disinclination on the part of clerks of local bodies to place their knowledge free of remuneration at the disposal of paid Government officials. In scattered districts rab-registraw might facilitate the work or registration and purging. In the meantime the best must be made of the law as it stands, and we have no doubt the registrars of electors will bo grateful for auy assistance afforded them by either political organisations or private individuals.

The electors are certain to have a plethora of candidates to choose from. This may be regarded as a healthy eign. Political life never was more active in New Zealand than it is today. A multiplicity of capable man willing to serve their fellow-colonists is conclusive evidence of this. In the fact lies also a menace to the Liberal Party. The danger is that votes may he split through the candidature of Liberals whose claims and abilities are perhaps of somewhat equal merit. The Conservatives never split their votes. They pick their men and warn off all others on the same side; whilst they eagerly seize on every opportunity of slipping in between two Liberals, as was the case at Ashburton in 1890. It is of course the business of the Liberal organisations to see that their forces are consolidated. Indeed, the primary object of all political organisation should be to concentrate effort so as to secure the return of the selected candidate. The ever-recurring Independent candidate will, of course, again present himself. He is a gentleman closely related to the historical Mr Pacing-Both-Ways. Ho professes a. keenly judicial mind, which enables him to sep so much that is good and so much that is bad in both sides that he is unable to decide definitely where the balance lies. He shuts his eyes to past experience, and the lessons of even recent political history. He declares his mijud to be unsettled as to the merits of parties. He will form his conclusions later on, and in the meantime begs the electors to leave him with a “free hand.” Against candidates of this stamp it is hardly necessary, perhaps, to warn the electors. Yet there can be little doubt that oven intelligent people are sometimes misled by so-called “ independent” candidates who obscure the great political issues involved in the hope that they may be able to pick up votes from both sides. Wo have had, during the present Parliament, an objoct lesson regarding “independent” members. Messrs Pish, Fisher and Gr. Hutchison broke away from the Liberal Party, hoping to achieve immortality as free lances. What has been the sum total of their achievements r* Messrs Pish and Pisher have committed political suicide, and Mr Hutchison has nppar~ ently come to recognise his mistake, and during thifc session has shown unmistakable signs of a desire to return to the Liberal fold. The moral of this is, that whilst the present system of party government obtains, the usefulness of men of even more than average ability will be largely measured by their loyalty to their party. The electors of Canterbury will, it is hardly necessary to point out, have little difficulty in deciding which of the two political parties possesses the greatest claims to their confidence at the ballot. They sent the Liberals into power at the last election, and experience has proved that their confidence was not misplaced. The direct taxation has been reorganised, and | has proved a pronounced success, t Improvements have been exempted | from taxation, industries havo been < encouraged, and even-handed justice j has been meted out to classes who before wore burdened un- | justly. Labour questions have been I vigorously faced, and an honest | attempt made to deal with them 00 as |

1 to assist the unemployed without un- ! fairly burdening the'taxpayer. The ; Colonial finances have been put on a ] sound footing, and a death-blow has ■ been struck at borrowing by showing j that from current revenue fiufiici 't sumo can be taken to prosecute public | works at a reasonable pace, Riually, j for almost the first time in the history of the Colony the land laws Lave | been so arranged as to encourage . hand fide settlement and dhr | courage speculation, and dummyj ism. liucn a record demands the j attention and examination of every i honest man. What is the alternaj live the Conservatives have to offer ! the Co]onv ; J It Las at last been i resolve * into two features: —(I) 1 Opposition to tbo graduated Land I tux.; and (2) hostility to the co-opera-j live labour system on Government ; contracts. That is tbo whole burden ;of their complaint. Wore it possible ; to put forward an Opposition policy i poßferung the elements of soundness I and stability, Mr Rolleston and hia ! friends would bo only too glad to j make the effort. They are unable to do so, and at the general election they will in vain ask the country to accept them at their own. appraisement. The Liberal policy in before I the country. The Conservative S policy is at present buried within I the inner consciousness of the | leaders. But while the Colony | has a clear and definite programme j before it, and its affairs are admiaisj tered capably, it is idle for the | Conservatives, “ charm they never so j wisely,” to claim support for a policy | which may bo anything or nothing; | but which, judged by past experience, jis more likely to be the latter. The | duty of the Liberals is clear. The | elections are rapidly approaching, and it behoves them to drop all minor questions and side issues, and keep to the broad principles of the party of | progress.