THE WAIPAWA ELECTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20690, 9 October 1930, Page 12

THE WAIPAWA ELECTION.

The decisive factor in the Waipawa election contest appears to have been the exceptional personal qualifications of the United Party's candidate, which enabled him to win the support of a majority of the electors, in spite of the handicap of his partisan association. Mr. Jull has been for many years prominent in public affairs, both local and, national, and had many claims for promotion to the Legislature, so that the electors of Waipawa have reason for congratulating themselves that their representation has been entrusted to a man of wide experience and proved ability. Obviously, their decision cannot be regarded as a popular judgment upon the policy or the achievements of the United Party. If it were claimed that the election is an endorsement of the Government's policy, it would be necessary to ask Waipawa to explain what that policy is, for no one, least of all the Government itself, can discover its intentions. The only purpose that has been revealed since the reconstruction of the Ministry has been to avoid responsibility. The Government escaped from the difficult task of reducing expenditure by piling on more taxation. Having failed in its boast of curing unemployment, it has shuffled that responsibility on to a board, not yet in existence, and delegated to it the task of administering the crudest scheme of unemployment relief ever written into legislation. In the case of railway construction, it has confessed its impotence 'by asking a Parliamentary Committee to find an escape from the programme of hopelessly unprofitable extensions into which if- plunged and has gravely introduced proposals for continuing the accelerated expenditure on them. Such matters as these could not have been fully considered by the electors of Waipawa, possibly because the United Party distracted their attention by attacking the administration of the Peform Party, and keeping the deficiencies of its own record discreetly in the background.