THE SILENCE OF A PARTY LEADER

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12298, 18 November 1925, Page 6

THE SILENCE OF A PARTY LEADER

We remark a curious, if not significant, post-election omission. It is the silence of Mr H. E. Holland on the result of the poll. The secretary of the so-called Labour Party has made two earnest endeavours to prove that the Socialists actually gained ground by losing seats. Here and there, when inquests were being held after November 4th, returned and un-returned Socialist candidates smiled wintrily over the outcome. But the Leader of the party has retired into reticence. Up to the time of our writing, he had not publicly commented on the election. There has been no message to his people either of comfort or complaint. / . ' , The chief of Commonwealth Labour, Mr M. Charlton, has acknowledged defeat before the final figures are known., Mr Hoi-" land has uttered no sound. The responsibility of reviewing the debacle has been left to the pirty secretary and the party’s omoial ergan, and both bungled the job. And Mr Holland, whose plain duty it was to make an official pronouncement, stands dumb, speechless. He has not exactly proved himself a political Napoleon on this occasion, though, perhaps, like Napoleon, his St. Helena already awaits him.