The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1919. THE ELECTION AND PARTIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16983, 15 November 1919, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1919. THE ELECTION AND PARTIES.

The list of election candidates which ive publish in another column will be aiablc to alterations tor at least a fortnight, possibly for three weeks yet. The elections are expected to be held on December 11th or December 18th, and the law requires that nominations shall close ten days before polling day. .Even as the list stands, however, it presents an interesting- basis tor comparison with the candidatures of five years ago. In the first place the number of political aspirants _ is much greater. After last election it was noted officially that the abolition of the second ballot had been responsible for a great decrease in the number of candidates. The total mimber of candidates in 1908 was 219, in 1911 220, and in 1914, 174. It is possible, of course, that the system of election may have- done much less to restrict the field for the last contests than a world-wide war, begun three months before, which might, well have the effect of making oolitical issues seem of small importance. To the increased interest in nolitics after five years durinc which they have been dormant can be attributed the fact that the. number of contestants this year, with more still

declaring themselves, comes already very near the highest toluj •M those quoted. An early prediction for. this year's elections was that the number of independent candidates would be imprecedentedly large, and that forecast promises to be verified. At the last elections only three lude-i pendents stood," including Mi Myers, who has seldom been distinguished from an official Liberal. This year Ave have, at l the present stage, over a dozen candidates who describe themselves as Independent Liberals,; and roughly as many more who prefer to be known as Independents. Thirty aspirants, altogether, apart from the independent or moderate Labour men, prefer not to pledge themselves - to either Mr Massey or Sir Joseph j Ward, but to make their party] ties, if any, wdieu they caii seeji how parties stand, or how thosej leaders might conduct themselves! towards the extreme Labourites]! anxious to hold the balance ujfi power in the new House. The number of these might be larger. It is large enough to indicate a feeling which has grown in ail the electorates that the old party divisions are now out of date, and that something more ia needed for the future than a struggle between names. As we have said, the election list as it stands to-day may be altered veiy considerably yet before nominations close. Some candidates may be expected to drop out, some others, when the field is narrowed, . may take party names, and, though the time grows late for commencing a campaign, new candidates may yet_ be announced. It is wortl noticing, however, that a fort night before nominations closei for the last elections, the list had almost'assumed its final form. L contained only six more dates, including one more Inde pendent, than those who went t< the poll. ' Apart from, tho number oi candidates who prefer to be fre< from party names, the outstand ing feature of the present list i the absence of Reform candidate for more than four out of nin North Canterbury seats (exclud ing Ashburton) for which officia Liberals are standing. Nortl Canterbury, more especially Christchurch, appears, even inor< than usual, as a citadel of the Liberal Party. South Canterbury seats in the past have beei very closely contested by th« Reform Party even when it ha; not won them, but the experienc* of Reform candidates for the Chxistchurch electorates has not been encouraging. In the extent of its devotion to the Liberal Party, founded on the great deeds of twenty years ago, I\forth Canterbury stands alone, apart. It is proud to Jive in the past, outsid< of all the political movement o other provinces, though ths Liberals it has sent to Parliamen have not included many of th bright stars of the dominion' Legislature. So completely hav they lived for the name and th memory of Liberalism that, at : meeting of the Progress Leagu held this week, sharp stricture were pronounced upon them foi taking too little interest even ij movements to assist the develop ment of Christchurch and Canter bury. "They are faddists, the: run on one line," pronounced i critic, "and don't care wha haopens elsewhere, with the re suit, he urged, that the N/ortl Island went ahead and Canter bury did not. Even so, politi cally, all North Canterbury tend: to run on a single line. That i ; much less true of this end of th< province, though the two ar< grouped often as if they had the same tendency. To be the last home of failing causes, to cling ±6 the ancient banner when others are fighting for the new—there is something touching in such rl devotion, but we can imagine better ambitions for a community anxious, at the same time, to keep abreast of progress. (