The Sun FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1916. A WELL-DESERVED SNUB.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 787, 18 August 1916, Page 6

The Sun FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1916. A WELL-DESERVED SNUB.

The result of the by-election at Pahiatua yesterday, when the Coalition candidate, Mr G. H. Smith, was, given a small majority over the In- j dependent representative, must be i regarded as satisfactory by that large majority of people who view with disfavour political diversions during war-time. Mr Smith's nar- j row victory can scarcely be consid- j t red an enthusiastic compliment to ihe National Government, though it' can be claimed that Mr Ross, the j runner-up, was pledged to support i the present administration. Mr Ross has a personal standing in the dis- i triet of some importance, which would stand him in good stead in i . i the contest just concluded, and this j would account in great part for the i excellent light he made. But if the majority of the Coalition nominee ! was a little disappointing, what is to be said of the votes polled by the j Labour representative? They arc,; indeed, humiliatingly meagre. This rebuff is not to be wondered at when it is remembered, as was first point- j ed out in our columns, that the syn- j dicalist organ was behind Mr Mac- j farlane, and had announced him as j a strong anti-conscriptionist. As; soon as it was decided to run a La-j hour candidate, the "Maoriland Worker" took charge, and Messrs McCombs and Paul, two Parliamentarians strongly opposed to conscrip- : tion, went up to the electorate to suppport Mr Macfarlanc. There is I a shrewd suspicion that that gentle- j man's platform was framed for him by the journal mentioned, and, since one of its planks was anti-conserip-tion, it naturally received the advocacy of the member for Lyttelton and Mr Paul. The mere suggestion that the Labour nominee was pledged to the repeal of the Military Service Act was sufficient to damn his chances from the beginning, and his political friends must bear their share of the humiliation contained in the paltry figures which stood opposite Labour's name at I'ahiatua yesterday. The verdict on the anti-con-seriptionists, so emphatically expressed by that electorate, can be j taken as representing the general j opinion of constituencies throughout ! New Zealand. The country, as a [whole, was behind the Government in its provision for compulsion when other means of bringing the men to the Colours in adequate numbers had failed, and, though some few misguided politicians and would-be j public leaders hold the contrary [opinion, the people of the Dominion are united in their desire and dej termination that New Zealand shall play her part in the great war as !she should. Political principles and vague theories as to the rights of [individuals are out of place in our scheme of things to-day, and it is [well that the by-election was held, since it gave a section of the people j an opportunity to say with emphasis jjust what they thought of the anticonscriptionist agitators, and what I'J'j per cent, of Ihe electors elsewhere j are thinking. It is too much to hope that the snub will make the opponents of compulsion realise the error of their ways. We are afraid i they are too thick-skinned for that, ibut their discomfiture is, nevertheless, unusually pronounced, and will ibe enjoyed by everyone outside their unpatriotic and rather motley I following, because in the eyes of the country the rebuff was well de--1 served.

It is reported from Switzerland that the Pan-Gcrmanists arc asking that Theodore Wolff, editor of the "Berliner Tageblatt," should be suppressed, on the ground that his articles arc exercising a depressing inlluencc on financial and industrial interests. No doubt the German expansionist parly, which whooped so loudly for war in the beginning and talked so magnificently of conquered provinces and amazing indemnities, is itself considerably depressed by the ruin which has overtaken its aircastles, and cannot bear to be reminded of it. The "Tageblatt" was suppressed for a little while at the beginning of this month, owing, it was said, to its comments on various peace movements, but the real reason was its attack on the "interests" that stand behind the armament (manufacturers. Copies of the "Tageblatt*' containing the offending article reached England, and some of (lie English papers give a full

translation of it. The "Tageblalt" backs up the suggestion of other Ger- ' man newspapers that a certain memorial presented to the Imperial! I Chancellor, in which the war aims ■ lof I lie armament industry and its i ; associates are explained, should be' I given publicity. But it also insists, I that in such case certain other mc-i mortals representing other interests ; must also be published, and this does not suit the book of Ihose news- | papers which serve Krupp,and which I only wish their point of view to be displayed. Practically the "Tageblatt's" article is a challenge daring "secret wire-pullers" to display their hand. "It will then be seen,"' it says, "whether the determining objects of the big war purveyors and I contractors in drawing up the I memorial were 'national' ones, j as they allege, or whether it is sim- ! ply a question of pocket interests, I. . . for the sake of which the (war is to continue endlessly. It is ! evident that it is impossible to talk ! about all this without touching on ! the connection which already existed I prior to the war, and which coni Unites to exist between a section of the armament industry and certain ! personalities whose efforts are mainj.ly directed to inflaming Chauvinistic j feeling." Talk of this sort is obviously too direct to suit the Pani Germanists.