THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1923. THE TAURANGA CONTEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18346, 12 March 1923, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1923. THE TAURANGA CONTEST.

The first shots are being fired in the battle for the vacant Tauranga seat. The Government candidate, in his opening speech, has given a plain and unreserved sketch of his political attitude together with his views upon some of the questions most affecting the electorate which he seeks to represent. Mr. Macmtllan does not find it necessary to adopt a tone of compromise, nor to make his party allegiance subject to reservations. He knows exactly where he stands in relation to the general situation, and has no hesitation in stating his position fully and Frankly. He supports the present Government because he believes that, more than any other party above the political horizon, it offers the country safe and stable administration, with a properly balanced regard to the problems of the day. He does not apologise for his belief. He is, he declares, a supporter of the Government by conviction, and is prepared to find reasons, from its oast record and future promise, why he should be. At the same time Mr. Macrnillan very rightly draws attention to the features of special importance attaching to the results of this contest. It seldom falls to an jlectorate to find the immediate political future so definitely in its lands, as does Tauranga at the present time. It is essential that this should be emphasised, and that everybody should realise how wide nay be the ultimate effects of the decision of the electors in this contest. The candidate was quite within his rights in reminding the slectors of the degree in which the situation has changed since last December. Tauranga now bears alone i responsibility which at the general election was shared equally by ill constituencies, the responsibility, virtually, of deciding the fate of the parties, and in particular of saying whether there shall arise a position such that no party in Parliament shall be capable, unaided, of carrying on the government of the country. It is well that these things should not be forgotten. Considerable interest will attach to what Sir Joseph Ward will have to say upon this aspect of the Tauranga contest. So far he has touched but briefly and sketchily upon party matters. No doubt he is reserving a fuller statement for delivery in the electorate; it is a subject which he cannot ignore. He has explained, up to the present, that he cannot support Mr. Massey, and that he is not an aspirant for the leadership of the Liberal Party. He aims therefore to enrol himself in the rank and file of Opposition, from which place he desires to render what assistance he can in solving the problems of the day. That is the substance of his most recent statement. It is a desire which, in different and more normal times, might be given a reception far different from the critical examination to which it must now be subjected. Success for Sir Joseph at Tauranga would mean that the majority of the Government would be virtually at the vanishing point the strongest party in the House would find it impossible to carry on; no other group has the numerical strength to form a Cabinet and undertake administrative duties ; no suggestions for coalitions, working agreements, or fusions bear any signs of possible success. By the process of elimination, a general election within the very near future lies at the end of every road radiating from the central issue. It rests, therefore, upon Sir Joseph Ward and his friends to prove one thing at the very starting point of their campaign. It must be shown that his return to Parliamentprobab'y to sit there for a very brief space before returning to his constituents —is a matter of sufficient importance to be worth the price of a genera! election. Price, in this connection, is not confined to monetary cost. It includes the distraction of public attention, the unsettling effects and the interruption of normal State administrative processes, inseparable from a general election. The cost to the taxpayer alone runs into many thousands of pounds. These preliminaries have to be disposed of satisfactorily before the campaign proper can be commenced. It is idle to talk of Sir Joseph Ward's abilities as a financier, or to extol the value which might have attached to his criticism in the last Parliament. It is perfectly true that critical ability in finance was conspicuously absent from the Opposition Party in common with the power to offer helpful constructive criticism on most other topics. Opponents of the Government have stated that Sir Joseph would have been the leaven, sufficient to have leavened the whole lump; they have not always realised how sweepingly they were condemning those to whose numbers it was suggested he should have belonged. It is not possible, however, to argue from that, direct to the point that the return of Sir Joseph Ward at the present juncture would produce similar resultb. Neither, his ability as

a financier, nor his powers as a critic, whatever they may be, would | have much scope to display themselves in a Parliament in dissolution. Instead of leavening the present Opposition, he would most cer- . tainly send the members of it back in a very few weeks' time to their constituencies. Should he succeed at Tauranga, he would probably find l i himself fighting the same battle j again before much time had elapsed. j Such considerations must influence ' | the by-election whoever the candi- '! dates may be. The fact that it is ; ; Sir Joseph Ward who carries the i j banner of the Opposition does not i provide any reason why they should (be obscured in any degree. The Government candidate has stated the facts plainly and soberly. It 1 now remains for his opponent to ' take up the challenge, and reconcile i them with his candidature. The burden of proof is upon him. He must make a case on that point before he is in a position even to begin contesting the Tauranga seat as such.