The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1918. BY-ELECTIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVII, Issue 16717, 20 December 1918, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1918. BY-ELECTIONS.

The results of the by-elections decided yesterday are that the Government candidate, Mr Nash, has been returned for the Palmerston North seat, left vacant by the death of Mr Buick, and the Labour candidate, Mr Semple, for the Wellington South scat, of which the late Mr Hindmarsh was the previous member. The political character of both electorates remains unaltered. The result announced is the result expected in each case. It was thoup'ht that, if town workers showed a lack of' sense, country voters would prevent the return for Palm erst on North of acandidate who announced quite frankly that lie stood as a Bolshevist. We must hope iu charity that the Labour candidate for this seat, Mr Galbraith, had as little eoneention of' what Bolshevism really means as his supporters must have had. The Government had so little expectation of s'hakinn- Labour's supremacy in tlie Wellington seat that it did not even nominate a candidate a<ya.inst Mr Semple. His principal opponent, Mr Frost, stood as an Independent. Bolshevism did not fio-ure in Mr Sempi!e"s speeches. He even suggested that some credit might bedue to him, as a- miner, for the frreat number of' men of that call--1" n £>• who enlisted voluntarily in the first mouths of the war, .a. course in which they were certainly not encouraged by the political Labour Party. It. was gathered from his isneeches that no Government had done any-, thin"' for the,workers up to this time and great promises were made of what they would receive if he were elected. Mr Semple has still to- show how he. will shaue politically, but it is not the best promise for a new period of reconstruction when a city electorate can return, over sober candidates, one who lias been most conspicuous in industrial strife. The new. member for Wellington South has been returned with more tkaja a two to one majority, but those figures really are misleading*. >Wellington can hardly have seen an. election previously in which such' small interest was shown outside of Labour circles, and .the vote cast for Mr Senmle affords no indication of any increase in the strength of political Labour, or that a stixing candidate, standingfor the Government and supported by it, would not have Avon the seat. Its inferences are altogether to the contrary. Less than 4000 votes were cast for all the candidates, as acainst 7-564 at the general election, and Mr Semple was returned with 2412 votes as against 4279 given then to his Labour predecessor, 'standing also iu a triple contest. When the two polls are considered together the Government has but small reason to feel pleased with them. It was no brilliant victory that was achieved by its candidate for Pair merston North, and no rnana was saved by the faint-heart policy which preferred to let the city contest go by default, rather than risk defeat. A review of the last six by-elections gives more cause for the Government to consider where it is wending. Three of them —Westland. Wellington Central, and Wellington South—have been won by official Labour, one —Taranaki —by a Liberal o~~onent of the Coalition, and two —Wellington North and Palmerston-—by the Government. Possibly it has been difficult- to induce strong candidates to op,/pose the Labour extremists, who : have formidable weapons in their tongues and whose followers, in city contests, have not made . things eaisy for opponents' orai tory. Apathy of the public has ■ been shown in more than the 1 last two elections. But it is the Government's duty to take all steps possible to lielo to dispel . this apathy. It should make its • own case heard for all that the case is l worth, and it would be [ absurd to say that, in answer to such reckless accusations as its !; extreme opponents ma< 7 re, it lias ■ not a powerful case. It should fight elections hard every time, not put up candidates and desert tliem. as it did in the case of 1 Wellington Central, or let conflicts go without even stating r which candidate it nrefers, as in , tlie case of Well in "ton South. ' No Government is so strong- but j; that political anathy can destroy it, and political apathy, in elec- ' tors, is death.