The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1928. ELECTION ISSUES

Southland Times, Issue 20618, 17 October 1928, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1928. ELECTION ISSUES

Although the campaign has not gone far enough to crystallize any paramount issues for the electors, it is generally understood that the real contest is between the Reform Party and the Labour Party, with the new conglomerate called the United Party struggling to secure enough seats to place the balance of power in its hands. That possibility has been envisaged by the members of the United Party and it is enough to reveal the poverty of its political ideas as well as the dangers circling about the third party in the field. It is a peculiar thing that the United Party, which in the main consists of Nationalist members, should now be struggling to pose as the revived Liberal Party while they lack the courage to adopt the old title. Mr Holland, on behalf of the Labour Party, is attempting to woo the farmers in the face of the fact that he and his colleagues cannot fail to endorse any proposal which will increase the wages of workers in the primary industries, despite the inability of the farmers to bear the additional burdens and despite the more stupendous fact that land nationalization is still the party’s object. Members of the United Party are also seeking to show the farmers that they have a claim to the farmers’ votes, in spite of the paucity of farmers in their own list of candidates, while the Reformers include a majority of men who have made their livings directly from the

land. When the farmers are being tempted to believe that the Reformers do not give consideration to the rural problems let them examine the personnel of the three parties in the field: they will find that the Reform Party by a big margin includes the largest number of farmer members. When Mr Coates took office after the last election it was with the clear understanding that nothing spectacular would be attempted. The prospects were against anything of the sort. New Zealand, in common with most other countries, was entering a period of depression, and while it may be argued that the unemployment problem of this Dominion is not made any lighter or solved by references to greater unemployment in other countries, the existence of these problems in other countries is the surest indication that the causes are not local. If the United Party were in power its members would be the first to say that unemployment could not be laid to the blame of this country and, if we remember rightly, Sir Joseph Ward, from his place in the House, reprimanded those who blamed the Government for the depression which threw so many men out of work. Mr Coates must expect to incur some odium as a result of this period of world-wide difficulty, but he is entitled to draw the attention of the electors to the fact that this Dominion has come through the post-war period with striking success, in spite of the steady croakings of his critics who prophecied wholesale bankruptcy at every turn. It is natural that the Government’s critics should magnify the mistakes or the apparent mistakes and unfortunately it is accepted politically that they should fail to credit the Government with good intentions or with any good work in the face of difficulties. The evils of politics and much of the futility of political speech-making is to be found in the inability of the Government’s critics to see one good thing in its record. This weakness is not peculiar to any one party, but its existence is none the less a fact, a regrettable fact. The fruits of it will be seen in the citation of imperfect statistics or the use of figures insufficiently explained as evidence to prove some criticism. In the broad sense the real issue is between the Reformers and Labour, whose policies are patently opposed. The middle course party unfortunately makes for triangular contests which ihay give us a period of instability. It is unnecessary at this stage to go into the details of the campaign arguments. The leaders have not all spoken and the contest is not yet fully joined, but it is not too soon to impress on all electors that the case which offers unrelieved condemnation of the Government is not sound; that the Oppositionist is a critic who has not had to face the task of handling the problem of which he speaks; that a full analysis of statistics is necessary before they can be accepted; that mere repetition is not proof, and that the easiest thing in the world is the framing of an attractive policy in general terms, while one of the most difficult is the application of it in a practical manner. It is generally accepted that the politics of this country are free of corrupting influences, and yet the criticism of any Government is expressed in terms which convey the impression that the members of the Cabinet are either rogues or fools. Every unprejudiced man knows that the bias of party politics is the cause of these wild condemnations, these grave charges which are used so light-heartedly, and so he learns to proceed cautiously and test the political utterances for himself, regarding with suspicion the candidate who understates the case to suit his own ends.