THE GREY CONTEST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17328, 30 May 1918, Page 4

THE GREY CONTEST.

The result of the contest for the Grey seat, which was decided yesterday, should be much less disappointing to the loyalists in the district and throughout the dominion than to tho Bolshevists. There is probably no constituency, without exception, in the whole of New Zealand in which the candidature of a man holding tlio extreme views of Mr H. E. Holland would be more likely to be successful. Any person offering himself for election to Parliament for Grey, who is violently opposed to tho maintenance of existing institutions, who is against a Government that stauds for the rule of law and of order, who is against everything that is associated with the preservation of a stable social system, who is against the utilisation of the most effective means of defending national liberty, is assured of solid support from a large section of electors, composed principally of coal miners, which has acquired for itself an unenviable notoriety through its acceptance of the most revolutionary views. In Mr Holland this section of the electorate had a candidate after its own heart. There is no more thorough-going extremist in the dominion than he is. In the face of this, it was a trifling consideration that he had to be imported into the constituency to contest the election, and that the adoption of him as a candidate exposed the hypocrisy of the claim, urged as a reason for the exemption of the former member from the obligation of military service, that it was essential that the district should be represented in Parliament by a practical miner. What, however, does the result of the election show? It proves conclusively that "the grip of the extremists upon the Grey seat has been very materially weakened. As compared with the returns at the contested election in 1914 the Labour vote has declined from 3841 to 2853—a drop of 988. On the other hand, the anti-Labour vote fell by 218 only. It will be seen that the polling yesterday was light—remarkably light in view of the great exertions that were made on behalf of the Labour party, which spent money very freely and imported speakers from as far away as Otago to assist its imported candidate. But the lightness in the polling was itself in favour of Mr Holland. The extremists, to whom he confidently looked for support, are, by the nature of their occupation, exempt from military service. The reduction in the polling must be largely attributed to the absence from the dominion on active service of electors, to whom,' if the extremists had their way, adequate reinforcements would be denied. In all the circumstances the result of the election should bo regarded with grave apprehension by ivir Holland and his supporters. Its chief significance is of a character that should fill the loyalists of the district with encouragement. While it replaces one extremist in the House by another, it suggests that th« next election may be fought by an antiLabour candidate with a much stronger expectation of success than Mr Coates can have had when he somewhat belatedly entered the contest which has now been concluded.