FOR OR AGAINST.

Southland Times, Issue 19690, 24 October 1925, Page 6

FOR OR AGAINST.

Mr Coates ha l ? put to the electors an issue which seems to have occasioned some comment in the Liberal camp and yet it is probably the fairest way to approach the people of this country during this election campaign. There is no disguising the fact that the Prime Minister is asking the people of this country to send him back to Parliament with a majority large enough to enable him to carry out the programme which he has presented to them for their endorsement. There has been talk of fusion, but he has given to the people a firm offer in the form of a platform and those who desire to support him have had the opportunity to join forces with him. If they have declined to do so they cannot hope to escape the implication their .refusal involves. There is an idea put forward by some Liberal writers that Mr Coates is the man to lead the country, the only man it is suggested, and yet he is calmly told that he is the creature of other men less worthy than himself. That is a lefthanded compliment and it is used to suggest that he has not a unified party behind him. To that Mr Coates has replied by saying openly: “Those who are not with me are against me,” and the electors who desire to give Mr Coates the chance to make good must take that statement into account. It puts forward no new doctrine in politics and it is really commonsense, because as he is at the head of a party and is appealing for sufficient support to give him a majority, those who desire to see Mr Coates remain at the head of an effective Government must support the candidates he endorses. This country is seeking stable Government; it wants a Government backed by an adequate majority, and it follows that if the majority of the people are for him they must be for the candidates pledged to support him. There need be no misunderstanding on this point and it is desirable that there should be none.