Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERYEVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 9, 1928. THE ELECTION ISSUE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16797, 9 November 1928, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. P U BLISHED EVERYEVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 9, 1928. THE ELECTION ISSUE

Hitherto wo have dealt with the •election issue from the standpoint of the national interest and have endeavored to show how unwise it would be for the people to bring about tv change of administration at the present time. There is another angle from which the issue must be considered, and that is the question of representation of local interests. The East Coast of all districts in this Dominion is one still needing aids to development. To secure, these aids to the fullest possible extent it is desirable that the district should maintain the strongest possible representation in Parliament. The district has been fortunate in possessing as its members two gentlemen who have given the closest attention, to Ideal requirements, and who by force of. character and their personal influence with the Ministry and members of Parliament have been'able to impress upon the. Legislature’ the great potentialities of the district, and the national advantages to be derived from the development of the East Coast. One of these representatives holds the important position in the Cabinet of Minister of Public Works, and it must be said for the Hon. K. S. Williams .that since he assumed that office he has endeavored, whilst doing justice to other parts of the Dominion, to give Gisborne and the East. Coast “a square deal.” No previous Administration had attempted to do this. It was always the burden of complaint front the people of this locality that this was “the peglected East Coast” —‘‘the Cindarolla district of the Dominion.” From previous Governments we got promises; from Mr. Coates, Mr. Williams antj their administration we have had performance . in a larger, ampler and more satisfying manner than ever we could have anticipated under a Government which had no local connection and little knowledge of the great possibilities and peculiar difficulties of the East Coast. Whilst the main credit for this attainment lies with the Prime Minister, who has been eminently fair to this district, and to liis able lieutenant, Mr. Williams, no little Credit lies with Mr. Lysnar, the igember for Gisborne, who in season and out of season has pressed the claims of his constituency. 'lt was Mr. Lysnar’s indefatigablo energy in inducing Ministers of the Crown and members of Parliament to visit the constituency and his constant reiteration of the district’s claims .that, induced Parliament to realise what a vast portion of the public estate, capable of adding tremendously to the Dominion’s production of wealth, lay in the East Coast area. Mr. Lysnar has neglected no opportunity to put Gisborne on the map. He is a man who lias not been afraid to voice his own opinion and that of his ebnstituene.y on every matter of public interest. that has come before Parliament. Ho has stood uncompromisingly against every subversive movement calculated to hamper the progress of the Dominion and impair the prospects of the East Coast, whose future rests so importantly upon the maintenance of sound finance, sound principles in administration, and a freedom from the turmoil of class Warfare. If through .the unhappy experience of what one member has described as ‘‘only an electoral miracle” there should come about a change of administration, what could this district expect from a Government by either of the alternative parties? Neither a Labor Government nor a United Party Government would have any special interest in Poverty Bay. Those who are heading the latter party are mainly South Island candidates, viewing suspiciously and enviously development in the North. Some of the leaders have openly expressed •themselves as antagonistic to the prosecution of the East Coast railway. Any policy for East Coast development, that a Labor administration would be able to bring in would have to secure the approval of a Labor caucus, in which diversified interests from all parts of New Zealand would be clamoring for “loaves and fishes,” and in such an event we should surely be back where we were 20 years ago when Gisborne had to be content with scraps of expenditure thrown to it after other claims had been satisfied. It cannot be claimed that either Air. Coleman or Air. Aloncur, or Air. Clayton, would be able to exercise anything like the influence that Air. 'Williams and Mr. Lysnar are able to do’ to secure substantial votes commensurate with the needs and the claims of this great territory, for the development of which in the past they have worked so indefatigably. The prospects —the strong prospects—aro that the Reform Government will be returned to power. The most that, the opponents of that Government can hope for is that they will be able to reduce its majority in Parliament.. It would be ungenerous of this district, after what has been done for it in recent years, ro give the Government a “slap in the face” by electing candidates who were not in sympathy with the Government, and who by their, attachment to parties in opposition to the Government policy would be hampering the attainment of the various objectives of national progress that that Government. has laid down. One of the chief objectives of the Government’s policy is to give the East Coast communications equal to those possessed by other parts of the Dominion. Air. Coleman, Air. Aloncur, and Atr. Clayton may bo fully in accord with that objective but as members of their respective parties they would be “voices crying in the wilderness.” Happily wo do not. consider there is the slightest possibility of any one of those three candidates securing the vote of the majority of the electors. The people of Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty must realise that it is to their interests to maintain the present connection with a Government which has done vastly more for East Const development than any previous Government has ever attempted, and which is fully determined to bring the various works now in progress to a state of completion at the earliest possible date. It is idle to pretend that the adoption of Sir Joseph Ward’s fanciful loan scheme would accelerate the prosecution of these works. Other districts would want their cut. out of tho borrowed millions and any new Ministry seek-

ing to consolidate its position would be bound to scatter its favors as widely as possible. Besides there are natural difficulties to bo overcome — great viaducts to be built and tunnels to be pierced—which would make it impossible to effect, completion within the two or three years that some candidates suggest as a reasonable time for completion of the work. Air. Coatos and Mr. Williams have promised that no time will be lost in tackling these works of magnitude and bringing lhe railway to completion. It was no fault ,of theirs that delay was involved in the settlement of the vexed problem of the- route. That delay was forced by a very strong local agitation, which very few of those who are clamoring for the completion of the railway did anything to combat. The detailed survey ofithe inland route has been pushed on, and the data of the engineers is almost ready for submission, and we have no doubt that within a very short time the Government, having weighed the merits and cost of the respective routes, will order the commencement of vigorous construction work on the Gisborne-Wairoa section. We have their assurance that tHis will be so and we,prefer"to trust the word of AH. Coates and ;Alr. Williams to any shadowy promises of their opponents. Time has not been lost in the bringing of the railway to Gisborne as anyone can see who journeys between here, and Napier and observes the large army of workmen employed gnd the substantial progress made in the construction of the line. The Government has kept faith, and the'electorates of Gisborne ,aiidt«Bay of. Plenty would be acting in conformity, with, their best interests, their "gratitude,; and their*;splf -respect to . accord" the Government the very fullest measure of support. v.