TRIUMPHANT LIBERALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18389, 3 May 1923, Page 6

TRIUMPHANT LIBERALS.

Those who hoped that Mr. Lee would be returned for .Oamaru will find some consolation for their disappointment in amusement at the exuberant rejoicings with which Mr. Macpherson's friends have acclaimed his success. They do not make any pretence of maintaining calm and modesty in the moment of victory, but have expressed., their jubilation in terms that approach very closely to gloating over the defeat of Mr. Lee and the humiliation, as they regard it, of the Government. Such excitement suggests that the Liberal Party has been surprised by the result of the poll. Mr. Wilford's explanation is amusing for its inconsistency and its extravagance. He proclaims Mr. Macpherson's return as "justice triumphant." and the hyperbole contains the truth that the balance of votes was turned in his favour by sentimental objections to the invalidating of the previous poll on technical grounds. But to interpret the verdict of Oamaru as an endorsement of the contention that the promoters of the petition were unjust is ridiculous nonsense. Had the three petitions promoted by the Liberal Party been upheld and the challenged candidates been re-elected, would Mr. Wilford then have described the issue as justice triumphant'' The representation of Oamaru remains as it was before the petition proceedings began. How then can Tuesday's poll have been the "rebirth of Liberalism-? 7 ' If Mr. Wilford means anything by that phrase, it is that, in December Oamaru was anti-Liberal, that Mr. Macpherson's majority was an accident, and that but for the I petition, the party would have no I right to the seat. The Liberal ; Party is to be congratulated on its | success, and, if its leader and others I had not been so intemperate in their I celebration, it might be said, as Mr. ! Wilford did of Mr. Lee's attitude. | that they took their victory like 1 sportsmen.