NOT TO BE DRAWN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18389, 3 May 1923, Page 8

NOT TO BE DRAWN.

MR, WILFORD AND OAMARU. 'PITHY CROSS-EXAMINATION. NON-COMMITTAL ANSWERS.'. [BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHRISTCHURCH. Wednesday. Passing through Christchurch to Wellington to-night on his way from Oamaru, tho Leader of the Opposition, Mr. T. MWilford, M.P., stated that, ho had no comment to make upon the result of the Oamaru election. "Do you regard your win there as more than balancing the defeat at Tauranga?" asked tho reporter. Mr. Wilford, after asking several questions as to what the query actually meant, did not actually answer the question, but made a brief statement to the effect that at Tauranga the Reformers had slipped back by several hundreds of votes, and in Oamaru tho Liberals had clearly appreciably increased their numbers. "Do you think the Liberals are any nearer office now than they were before?" pursued the pressman. " Br —r —r —r," was the reply. '• _ "If you can put that into print that is my answer." In conclusion the reporter asked Mr. Wilford if he could expand" his allusion in Oamaru to the " Re-birth of Liberalism." " Not so that your editor could understand " was Mr. Wilford's smiling reply. OPINION IN WELLINGTON. A PERSONAL VICTORY. POLITICAL ISSUE CLOUDED. [BV TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] "WELLINGTON. Wednesday. The New Zealand Times is wildly jubilant over the result of the Otfmaru by-election. "A Liberal victory," it exclaims editorially. "After long travail the turning point has come and Liberalism in New Zealand can look : forward with serene confidence to the future. Mr. Macpherson is the representative _ of Oamaru in tho House of Representatives and the Government majority is reduced to the point declared by the Prime Minister to be unworkable. What the Prime Minister will do about it is his affair. He has to face his defeat." How large that defeat appears to the Times may be gathered from the solemn assertion, never has any Government suffered so tremendous a defeat in any electoral contest."

The Evening Post observes dispassionately that to describe the latest decision as a '"great Liberal victory" is misleading. The Liberal victory was really won at the general election and the by-election has only confirmed that result. Reports of the campaign ma'de it clear, says the Post, that the fight was being waged mainly on personal § rounds. Oamarui electors had to choose etween Mr. Lee and Mr. Macpherson, and they chose Mr. Macpherson. Of course, it may be deemed that the choice was- between Reform and Liberal, but, whatever may have been the issue in the general election, wo believe the by-elec-tion decision was as much personal as political. ':'•(. ■■' The Dominion says : —The result affords a further proof of the instinctive resentment of the average elector to the •unseating of a successful Parliamentary candidate on legal grounds. Electors do not trouble overmuch as to the justice of the ! petition. Their sympathies usually go out to the candidate whom the; law has unseated. In the by-election, Mr. Macpherson cleverly turned this feeling to his own advantage. It is probable in ordinary circumstances that the 'Hon. E. P. Lee would not have troubled (to petition to upset the election but in view of the state of parties and the petitions by opponents of the Government to upset the election of : the Hon. C. J. Parr and Sir Maui Pomare he, no doubt, felt it his duty to the Government and to his party to do so. Though his action was justified by the circumstances and by the judgment of the election court,, it no doubt, as usual in such cases, militated a'gainst his chances of success in the contest'by gaining for his opponent a "sympathy vote."

LIBERAL MEMBER'S VIEW. : VICTORY FOR FAIR PLAY. . (BX TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] DUNEDIN. Wednesday. Mr. T. K. Sidey, M.P., stated to-day that Mr. Macpherson's victory at Oamaru was notable. In a measure jt was due ho doubt to the appeal made to the electors' sense of fair play in the fight pub up against, the Premier and the whole influence of the Government in office. Mr. Macpherson greatly enhanced his reputation as a platform speaker. Mr. Massey, by the extraordinary extent to which he carried personal intervention, had only himself to thank for his humiliation. The country had never before witnessed so shameless a"n attempt to bribe a constituency with publio money. It was not a good precedent, and furnished another illustration of the failure of Reform to live up to its profession. Fortunately the Oamaru electors had risen superior to the influences to which \ they were subjected, and provided an object lesson to the country which it was- hoped would not be lost upon the present and future Government and on Prime Ministers.