THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1922. THE WAITAKI SEAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18720, 25 November 1922, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 25, 1922. THE WAITAKI SEAT.

Mn Bitcheneßj who is seeking election for the Waitaki seat, does so as a wholehearted supporter of the Government. He might very reasonably claim that his own record during the three years -for which he has represented the constituency entitled him to look, with some degree of confidence, for the support of the elector®. He took a very honourable place in the House of Representatives in the past Parliament, and it was generally recognised among members that in the arduous but not showy work that is performed by parliamentary committees Mr Bitchener was one of the most useful of their number. But,. Mr Bitchener tells the electors, the issue upon which they have to express their opinion is whether the present Government is to be continued in office or whether the country is to submit to the alternative of a Government which shall either bo a Labour Government or else a Government controlled by Labour. If people throughout the country fully .realise that this is the choice that lies before them, there can be no doubt that the bulk of them will express themselves strongly in favour of the retention in office of the Reform Government. The danger is that, in the belief that the Reform Government is assured of a majority in the next Parliament, electors may be tempted to give their votes, possibly cm personal grounds or possibly on less meritorious grounds, to autiGovernxnent candidates. It is the height of political wisdom to take anything for granted in an election. If a few hundred electors in each of a dozen constituencies, who would be greatly chagrined if the Government were defeated, were to vote for an anti-Govem-ment candidate simply because they were impressed! with his sincerity or because they admired his pluck cr because for other reasons they entertained generous sentiments towards him, they might easily bring about* the very disaster which they wish to avoid. Mr Bitchener lias placed the party issue very clearly in his speeches. is impossible to suppose that the majority of the electors in a constituency like Waitaki have any sympathy with the programme of Socialism which the Labour Party puts forward. They are too shrewd to fall a victim to the “many enticing baits,” as Mr Bitchener puts it, “ in the shape, of plausible arguments ” which the Labour Party is addressing to them. They are people with a stake in the country and, when they know that the Labour Party aims at the complete destruction of private ownership in land, not merely in the country but also in the towns, this knowledge in itself should he sufficient to induce them to cast their votes in such a dh'ection as will maintain the present Government in office. ,