The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1928. INVERCABGILL SEAT

Southland Times, Issue 20613, 11 October 1928, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1928. INVERCABGILL SEAT

Although it is not yet known whether Mr S. M. Macalister will accede to the request, the Invercargill Branch of the Reform Party is to be congratulated on the choice it has made. When Sir Joseph Ward elected to accept the leadership of the United Party he put an end to all hope of his being returned unopposed, and once the question of courtesy was set aside by his act, the local branch of the Reform Party wisely set about the task of selecting a candidate. Colonel Hargest, whose meritorious campaign three years ago is remembered, expressed his willingness to withdraw and this left the Invercargill Branch with complete freedom in its choice. Mr Macalister, who is to be asked to stand as a supporter of the Reform Government, is a young Southlander, Invercargill-born, who has a distinguished record in his profession and in public service. After three years devoted to the Empire’s cause in the Great War he returned to Invercargill and resumed his practice as a barrister and solicitor. He was induced to come out as a candidate for the Borough Council in 1921 and at once displayed those qualities which have made him at once the most modest, and the most influential of the councillors. His work in connection with the financial affairs of the municipality have not attracted much public attention, because his disinclination to self-advertisement has assisted to minimize the effect of his administration, but the fact that two councils unhesitatingly put him at the head of the Finance Committee is an eloquent indication of the

estimate formed of his capacity by those intimate with the quality of his work. Young, and energetic, Mr Macalister is the type so badly needed in the politics of this and other countries. By that we mean that he belongs to that excellent order of men who have retained their ideate as realities, and who possess sufficient skill and moral strength to maintain their independence of thought while giving support to a Government. Those who know Mr Macalister, and his career in Invercargill has been such that he is known to practically the whole electorate, regard him as a man whose presence would be felt in the House, and whose influence would be marked. If the Reform Party is able to persuade him to enter the lists it will have an extremely powerful candidate. Recollections of the 1925 campaign in Invercargill are still green, and if Mr Macalister enters the contest we can be sure that the battle will be heard, keen and clean. It may be said that the necessity for a contest in Invercargill has been brought about by the decision of Sir Joseph Ward to accept the leadership of the United Party, but no one will regret a fight in this electorate if it brings into the larger field of national politics such a splendid type of young New Zealander as Mr Macalister.