THE TUAPEKA SEAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14212, 13 May 1908, Page 4

THE TUAPEKA SEAT.

The bye-election contest for the Tiiapeka parliamentary seat is likely to be Unusually interesting and keen if.the number of prospective candidates I already understood to be entering the ' field, tfaii be taken as a reliable guide.

So far five candidates have been definitely named as more or less certain ; to come forward, but it is hardly to i ■ ba anticipated that on polling day the : electors of Tnapeka will find so wide ' a choice open to them. The. identity of the candidate who will have the honour ' of being the nominee of the Government yet remains to bo established with absolute certainty, though indications are not lacking as to where the mantle will fall, Tho election campaign opened in real earnest at Lawrence on Monday night, when Dr W. A, Chappie addressed tho electors as an aspirant for their support. The Tuapeka bye- , election gains interest from tho candidature of Dr Chappie, whose associa- c tion with the district in question, if not intimate of late years, is at least something more than a matter of mere juvenile recollection. However his claims to the support of the electors of Tnapeka compare with those of tho other candidates who will bo Ills opponents, Dr Chappie as an aspirant for political honours lies under no suspicion of being one of the class who have earned for themselves the somewhat contemptuous sobriquet of " professional politicians." His political address at Lawrence was an unquestionably interesting and able deliverance, and served to indicate oil how wide a field of subjects Government and Opposition in this country find no vital cause of estrangement.- It emphasised none the less the exception existing in the case of Socialism, and the speaker made light of the charges made against the Administration of being unduly Socialistic in its inclinations. Ho argued that there is a fallacy in describing the legislation of the present Government as Socialism because it is Socialistic; but his illustration was not very convincing. That a man may be horsey and yet not be a horse is a very sound contention, since a man is not able to become a horse. There is, however, not the same barrier betwixt what is Socialistic and Socialism itself. Our recent visitor, Mr Keir Hardie, is a Socialist, and ought to be a judge of Socialism and able to recognise it at sight. The member for Merthyr-Tydvil in the House of Commons has, in giving his impressions on his return from his tour of the Empire, left no room for doubt as to his judgment in regard to our legislation in New Zealand. He was delighted with the condition of New Zealand from a Socialistic standpoint, and spoke of it as the nearest approach to the ideal State he had seen during his wanderings. It should not be necessary to explain what Mr Keir Hardie understands by the expression "ideal State." He said: "I found every encouragempnt for the future of Socialism in most of the colonies. In Australia and New Zealand its doctrines have ceased to be the bogey which they once were. In fact, the Labour party is Socialistic, and much of the legislation has been earned out on those lines." In view of such an opinion as this, is it reasonable to believe that the attacks made. upon tho Government by those who cry "Socialism! Socialism!" are as ill-considered as Dr Chapplo would lead us to suppose? Most thinking people, we imagine, will be disposed to agree with Mr Massoy that the point is rapidly being approached at which tho drift towards Socialism, its continuance or its check, must become the issue overshadowing all others in the minds of the electors of New Zealand. It is curious that the Government should choose admittedly Socialistic methods in fostering to the utmost, as Dr Chappie says it is doing, private enterprise and the advaucement of the individual. Socialism, however, occupied but. a small portion of Dr Chappie's attention in his address at Lawrence. His discussion of the needs of the district and his advocacy of a more rapid continuation of tho Lawrence-Roxburgh railway must have been quite to the taste of his hearers.' Like racst people who really know tho country, Dr Chappie has evidently a large faith in the resources and possibilities of the Otago Central district, as well as an appreciation of its needs in the way of • irrigation and other things. His remarks on the subject of population are worthy of study by those whose endeavour it has been to persuade the Government to discontinue the very modest scheme of immigration which it at present carries out on the ground that an influx of immigrants tends " to prejudice, the national condition," whatever that may mean exactly. The Department' of Immigration has been taking credit, or rather giving it to the High Commissioner, for the addition of " a fine and sturdy class of settlers'' to the population of. the Dominion, but investigations made by Dr Chappie on his own account seem to have convinced him that there is much room for improvement in the selection of emigrants from the Old Country. We are quite prepared to believe that under . the present system it is impossible for the selection to be made, as carefully as is desirable, and if this be so the Department should aim at the establishment of a better system. In some sugi gestive, comment upon the Arbitration 1 Act Dr Chapplo, it will be noted, ex- . presses a large faith in the survival of our arbitration legislation as the remedy for industrial friction. His suggestion s for the permanent settlement of the : vexed question of preference to uuioni ists may have recommendations ,in [ detail, but in outline it appears to /be somewhat lacking in regard for ' the • liberty of the individual, sinco it would ; make him. as a trade worker an ipso ; facto unionist.