The Waipawa By-Election

Northern Advocate, 18 November 1940, Page 4

The Waipawa By-Election

THE result of the by-election for the Waipawa seat in the House of Representatives, rendered vacant by the death of the late Mr. A. E. Jull, is one with which the supporters of the' National Party hfive every reason to he pleased. The party not only retained the seat, but its candidate secured the very substantial majority of 1656, a margin which it is expected will be increased when soldiers’ votes, as well as absentee and postal votes, are accounted for.

Comparison of the votes cast at the general election in 1938 and at this by electioif held two years later, makes interesting reading'. At the general election the late Mr Jull polled 5070 votes as against. 4624 by Mr H. M. Christie, the Labour candidate, the majority for the Nationalist candidate thus being 446. On Saturday the Nationalist candidate, Mr Ct. C. Barker, received 4630 votes, as against 2974 by Mr Christie, who again was Labour’s representative. As stated, a considerable number of votes remain to be counted. v

Analysis of the figures will no doubt provide material for much discussion, but the fact remains that the result of the byelection should be regarded by the Government as a straightout declaration that the farmers of the Waipawa electorate are not satisfied with the treatment the primary producers of the Dominion have received.

The result also indicates very plainly that the people of Waipawa think, with the people of the Dominion, that everything should be subservient to the task of winning the war, for there war, doubtless considerable resentment against a by-election being forced on the country at a time of national stress such as New Zealand is passing through at the present time.

The Government would have been well advised if it had allowed a Nationalist candidate to secure unopposed election for the Waipawa seat, but that, of course, is a matter for the party leaders, who must now realise that they were foolish to allow straws to reveal the direction of the wind.

The by-election will serve a good purpose if it brings home to the Government a realisation, that public opinion in the Dominion is critical of some of the incursions into Socialism made by the Labour Party, and leads it to ensure that there is no more interference with private enterprise than is absolutely necessary under the circumstances.

There will be agreement that a certain, amount of State control and restriction may be necessary in wartime, but the Government should give an assurance that measures of .control, put .into operation as wartime measures will not be continued after the war. That is but one of the lessons of the result of the Waipawa byelection, which, apart from its local importance, must be regarded as significant in a wider sense.