THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1913. THE GREY ELECTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15825, 25 July 1913, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1913. THE GREY ELECTION.

The'result of the second ballot for the Grey electorate, which is to give the seat to Mr P. C. Webb, the Syndicalist candidate, for the balance of the present Parliament, is, in view of the factors that came into play in the past week, not by any means surprising. It has been found in countries with a larger experience of the second ballot than New Zealand has had that the system enables the supporters of a candidate who is defeated at the first ballot to vent their disappointment over this result by spitefully recording their votes at the second ballot against the most eligible of the candidates remaining in the contest. The defeat of Mr Michel yesterday may be attributed to the operation of 6ome such cause as this. He was beaten not because ho was not the superior of the candidates, not bccause he was not t' )o representative of the more progressive party, but simply because, in their chagrin at the defeat last week of their own candidate, the bulk of the supporters of Mr Hannan determined to prevent the return of the man to whose

appcarance in the field the rejection of the Oppositionist was attributable. The motives by winch these electors were actuated, were not precisely lofty. Doubtless, however, they were of the opinion that the end justiiied the means, and if they are proud of the result of their action we are not greatly concerned to question their right to the enjoyment of it. As we observed a week ago, the town of Greymouth was ' the key to the position. At the first ballot Mr Hannan obtained 1092 votes there. Yesterday, when the number of votes polled in that town exceeded by one only the number registered at the first ballot, .Mr Michel increased his total by 338, while Mr Webb's total was increased by 753. In Reefton, which is, next to Greymouth, the most populous centre in the district, the votes that were the object of competition were distributed in a similar proportion, Mr Michel gaining £H and Sir Webb 232. Outside these centres, in, the mining settlements, where the Federation of Labour has its stronghold and tho Socialist.hymn is in greater favour than the National Anthem, Mr Webb had swingeing majorities. But it was Greymouth and Reefton that put him in, despite the fact that Mr Michel led him in both places. It is to the votes of hundreds of electors there, who have for the time being subscribed to the doctrine'of the general strike and to the impossible politics of Mr Webb, that the Social Democratic 'party owes its first political victory.

Defeated though he has been through a : combination against him of elements that might have been supposed to be irreconcilable, tho honours of the contest rest with Mr Michel. He offered himself for election as the representative of a party which has not hitherto ventured to put forward a candidate for the Grey constituency. In all' the days of manhood suffrage that electorate has chosen a member who sat on the side of tho House which came to be identified with the side occupied by the Continuous Ministry and its supporters. Nor ha 6 there, excepting on one occasion, been any attempt, until the by-election this month, to change the political complexion of its representation. That exception was provided at the general election in 1911 when Mr Webb, the new member for the district, endeavoured to capture the 6eat from Sir Arthur Guinness for the LabourSocialists. Mr Michel has, therefore, created a Reform vote in the constituency! When it is considered that he was late in entering the field and that he was handicapped by the fact that ho bad thrice been defeated for the neighbouring electorate, in which he resides, he mustbe held to have accomplished wonders. The vigour and ability, moreover, with which he conducted tho election have marked him throughout the dominion as a man who must be counted with in the politics of the country and who mtist yet make his name in the councils of the nation. He has placed a good fight to his credit; he has evinced courage and grit of a high order; and he has shown determination of the kind • that must eventually achieve success. Mr Webb owes his election to entirely fortuitous circumstances Upon his personal merits and upon his political and industrial programme he received the support a week ago of one-third of the electors, chiefly, it may be inferred, men and . women imbued with the principles of the indus-, trial unionism that expresses the aims of the organisation of which he is a promi-

J What the nature of this industrial unionism i 6 that Mr Webb champions -we have indicated on various occasions, We need not repeat what wc have said concerning it, but it is of interest to know how Mr David M'Laren, the only Labour member in the last Parliament of the dominion, described it in a speech in Wellington this week, "The industrial unionism advocated by the Federation of Labour in New Zealand was,"- he said, " a form of syndicalism, a doctrine which taught that a labour trust should be formed for the purpose of taking over the industries by direct action—in other words, by force. ... Its programme included strikes of all kinds and sabotage, which meant the destruction of property. In bis opinion, the New Zealand Federation of Labour was teaching this form of industrial unionism, wrapped up in ambiguous names, because it knew its purposes could not be put in plain terms without being condemned by the workers of the country. The Federation of Labour had even made it clear that its purpose was to use strike methods and to deny the rights of local unions, and that meant that its industrial unionism, was an attack .on trades union principles." The journalistic mouthpieces of the Opposition have, however, since it became known that Mr Webb was to bo opposed by Mr Miclicl in the second ballot for the Grey, claimed Mr Webb as ;i member of that party. Tho fight at the second ballot was, they have said, to be a straight-out party one. " Mr Webb," we learn from one of these journals, "is soundly democratic in his views. He stands' for progressive legisla-

tion. . . . His platform must appeal to every staunch and t thoroughgoing Liberal in the electorate." Wc wish tho Opposition joy of its new alliance. It has enabled it to claim the temporary success, that a constituency, which has never given the Reform party a member, has returned a representative who will vote against tho Government, But/the Opposition cannot but forfeit the support of moderate and reasonable people in tho community, who have associated themselves with it' in the past, when they learn that the programme of the Social Democrats is regarded _by the party organs as sound, progressive, and liberal, This is the Opposition's own affair, of course, and we have no cause to complain about it. But it does suggest that' tho party is steadily becoming more and more hopeless.