The Sun WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1914. POLITICS AND PASSION.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 35, 18 March 1914, Page 6

The Sun WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1914. POLITICS AND PASSION.

The General Election is still eight or nine months ahead, but it is clear from the preliminary skirmishes that it is going to be the bitterest contest for party supremacy that the Dominion has seen for a very long time. If all this intensity, of feeling arose ojit .a conflict over" some great public question on which public- opinion was sharply divided, it would be understandable enough. Unfortunately 7 Che cainpaign is not being fought on principles: it is rapidly degenerating toto a struggle in which the personal ambitions of individuals, and the antipathies of certain factions are playipg a . much more prominent -part t t han any desire to give effect to political ideas. , The. main factor in the unpleasantness is the soreness men who had been running the country for a great many years at being ousted. This desire to regain office is perfectly natural. There is not much in politics for any man of action and energy unless he has a reasonable chance of entering into the enjoyment of a Ministerial portfolio, after serving his probation as a private But once "having attained Ministerial rank, the prospect of remaining indefinitely in Opposition is doubly repugnant. Consequently our Liberal friends are out after their lost jobs with a vengeance, and they are not troubled with any fine scruples about the methods they employ. : But the greatest bitterness is being shown by militant Labour. The Social-Democrats are out mainly for revenge. Beaten over the strike, and convinced against their will that strike tactics won't avail very much as long as the enforcement of tlxe law is in the hands of the Massey Government, the Social-Democrats would like to pay out the Reform Party, and see it replaced by another that would be more amenable to any pressure they might be able to exercise. On the other hand the Reformers have no intention of being shunted, and their campaigning is none the less vigorous than that of their opponents, even if it is more dignified, and is freer from the offences against good taste that have characterised the electioneering of the past few weeks. No doubt the party newspapers could exercise a restraining influence if they chose, but they are even worse than the politicians for whom they barrack. Day after day their columns are filled with jeers, charges of misrepresentation and prevarication, unworthy insinuations, and violent partisanship. Apparently their object is to make every elector subordinate his private judgment and become violently partisan for the time being. They may succeed, but it is liard to see what good can come out of a contest so completely dominated by passion, prejudice, and .hatred.