THE GREY SEAT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1309, 24 April 1918, Page 3

THE GREY SEAT.

FOUR CANDIDATES. KEEN FIGHT EXPECTED. CONSCRIPTION THE ISSUE. [Special to The Sun.l GREYMOUTH, April 23. Tor the second time within six months the representation of Grey In Parliament has ceased, and the duty is cast upon the electors ot choosing another member. Naturally in Labour circles there is intense disappointment at the disqualification of Private P. C. Webb J,rom seeking re-election, and a hitter resentment against the Government for alleged persecution is apparent. This condition tends to unify the warring factions which have lately existed in the mining centres. The position, therefore, is that with Webb (who also commanded a block Labour and.Catholic vote) out of the way, the field is an open one. Little thought was given to the matter bv the public till Saturday, when Mr James Kerr arrived from Petone and announced that he would contest the seat, "as a Liberal supporting the National Government. The news caused epiite a flutter of excitement in local political circles, and early on Monday morning a movement was launched with the object of bringing out Mr T. E. Coates, who, after some hesitation, agreed to comply with the request of his friends. In addition to these, it is probable that Mr P. Wilson, a mining expert, of Christ church, and formerly Methodist minister at Reefton, will be a candidate. Meanwhile Labour had not been inactive. Mr R. Semplc having refused to entertain any idea of entering the political arena, Mr Mark Fagan (secretary of the Inangahua Miners' Union) was approached, but he also turned down the overtures. She choice thereupon fell upon Mr . E. Holland, who had all along been regarded as the strongest man Labour could bring oout.

The position, therefore, is that today four candidates have been announced, viz.:—

Mr James Kerr, proprietor of the "Petone Chronicle," an ex-sub-editor of the "Grey River Argus," and a former borough councillor and chairman of the Grey Education Board. Mr Thomas Eldon Coates, barrister and solicitor. Mr Coates is also a farmer, and the mainstay of the West Coast farmers' organisation, and an ex-mayor. Mr Henry E. Holland, ex-editor of the "Maoriland Worker," and well known in New Zealand Labour circles. Mr R. Wilson, managing director Boatmahs Consolidated Mines, Ltd., and the New Kecp-it-Dark Co. He has taken a prominent part in public matters in the Grey electorate for the past ten years. For several years he was a member of the Inangahua Hospital Board, and has taken an active interest in the development of the West Coast industries. Since the war began, Mr Wilson and his partv have put up the sum of £OO,OOO for West Coast enterprises, to which may be added the £IO.OOO subsidy the Government gave to Boatmans.

Mr Kerr stands as a supporter of the Government, Mr Coates probably as an Independent, and Mr Holland as a straiglit-out Oppositionist. Mr Wilson' is a keen supporter of the National Government in its win-the-war -policy. It is yet too early to prophesy, but the general opinion is that Messrs Coates and Holland will run one another neck-and-neck. The chief issue will be conscription. The campaign, if short, promises to be as strenuous as the by-election which made Grey notorious in 1913. The electrical undercurrent is already running strongly.