The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1935. THE VOICE OF WAVERTREE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20028, 8 February 1935, Page 8

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1935. THE VOICE OF WAVERTREE.

So many factors have to be taken into consideration in assessing the significance of the result of the Wavertree by-election, that it is certain that almost every political group involved in the contest will find no difficulty in explaining away the result, to their own peculiar satisfaction. The British Parliamentary Labour Party will hail the capture of the seat as the forerunner of more victories ahead. Manifestly, the substantial increase in the vote polled by the Labour candidate in a constituency that in the general election gave the National Conservative candidate a majority of nearly 21,000 votes', entitles the Labour Party to all the satisfaction it can draw from the result. To have increased ihe Labour poll from 9,503 at the last general election to 15,011 in the by-election decided yesterday, is in itself an arresting attainment. Obviously, the Labour Party benefited substantially by the disturbed political atmosphere in which the contest was fought. From end to end of the United Kingdom, hosts of unemployed, their dependents and friends, as well as the rank and file of the general supporters of the Labour Party, are at the moment in open revolt against the new plan the Imperial Government has introduced in place of certain phases of relief measures. In almost every centre the unemployed are voicing the loudest protests against the Government’s new programme, which is embodied in the Unemployment Assistance Bill. Late in December the voices of representatives of Parties outside the official Opposition, were raised in protest, and the severest criticism was directed at tlie Government by some of the younger members of the Conservative Party. The Member for Aberdeen, for instance, who sits on the benches occupied by Mr Baldwin and his colleagues, complained just before the Christmas recess, that the “Government is in a trance and had faltered during the previous six months when action was vital to the interests of the nation.” It was this member (Mr B. J. D. Bootliby), who last week precipitated a discussion that culminated in one of the most violent scenes witnessed in the House of Commons for many years. He charged Mr Ramsay Macdonald with refusing to “raise a finger to help the Scottish fishermen.” This criticism gave the extremists in the Labour benches the longsought opportunity; indeed, one member indulged in an unrestrained outburst such as is seldom heard in the Imperial Parliaments. The House of Commons was told: Mr Macdonald is head of a Government that is engaged in a brutal conspiracy to smash the family life of the country. He is a coward because he is not present at the debate on the subject. He may die honoured in the end, but he will possibly be deservedly cursed by thousands of decent and kindly souls, who this winter’s night in Scotland are suffering what nobody can tell.

In the tense atmosphere created by such outbursts, which have been followed by vigorous massed protests against the new scale of unemployment relief, the by-elec-tion was contested. The success of Labour is not surprising because the forces of anti-Labour were divided into three divisions, the Conservative poll actually eclipsing the Labour vote by over 9000 votes —another instance of the success of the strategy of divide and conquer. One significant feature, in view of the activity in Liberal circles, following the somewhat dramatic emergence from semi-obscurity of Mr Lloyd George, armed with a new recovery plan, is the poor showing made by the Liberal standardbearer in the Wavertree byelection. Out of a record poll of 41,000 votes, the Liberal candidate drew the support of 4,208 electors. Manifestly if the polling at Wavertree reveals a turn in the political tide, as the supporters of Labour will no doubt suggest, the result plainly demonstrates, in view of the ignominy suffered by the candidate representing the remnant of Mr Lloyd George’s old party, by the loss of his deposit, that the tide has turned definitely away from the Liberals and the real issue in the impending political clash in the United Kingdom will be determined between the groups associated with the National Government on one side, and the Socialists on the other. It can be said quite plainly that the electors in the Wavertree constituency have made a definite pronouncement: on the one hand, they have expressed their dissatisfaction with the plans laid by the National Government to meet existing problems and difficulties, and they have repeated, too, the verdict of several other byelections, that the country, as a whole, does not regard the Liberals as an alternative of the existing political regime in the Homeland.

IN THE DARK! It is rather significant that reports of the complaints voiced by members of the Temuka branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union alleging that they have been kept in the dark in relation to the Government’s proposal to create a national mortgage corporation, should have been reported in the issue

of tills journal carrying Press Association messages from Wellington announcing general approval of the proposal by the Dominion Executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. The supreme administrative body associated with the farmers’ organisation unanimously endorsed resolutions declaring that the executive, as the mouthpiece of the farmers of the Dominion, approved of the creation of a mortgage corporation subject to the provision: (1) That the bonds be sold at a rate of interest that would secure a reduction in farmers’ interest and (2) that control be co-operative or, in the alternative, by the State, preferably the former. Members of the Temuka branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union are complaining that the Minister of Finance has taken trouble to get the opinions of the commercial community, but has apparently neglected to ascertain the opinion of the farmers. Surely the Minister realises the needs of the farmers and the only possible plan for their assistance. It is passing strange, however, that the measures being brought, under the most searching examination in New Zealand should be understood in London, while the spokesmen in Temuka complain that they have been ignored. The other day the cable messages from London quoted The Times as making editorial references to the farmers of the Dominion and their debts:

“The problem with which the New Zealand Government is endeavouring to grapple is not peculiar to that Dominion. Legislation, of much the same kind as that now being prepared in New Zealand, was introduced in the Canadian Parliament last week, while the Australian Government has promised to use national credit to help the farmers."

It ought to be apparent to organisations representing the farming community, that they should move with the utmost caution before revealing their spoken attitude on measures proposed by the Government and designed to afford much needed assistance to sorely-tried rural interests. Doubtless there are features of the Government’s mortgage corporation proposals which will be amended and modified before the Bill finds its way to the Statute-book. Hence if the spokesmen of the farmers have any constructive ideas to put forward, they ought not to hesitate to make themselves heard. But anything in the shape of illinformed or groundless criticism should be avoided. At Temuka the other afternoon the discussion was initiated by one member who complained that the matter had come before ihe farmers too late! “It seems to me,” he added, by way of emphasising his criticism and seeking to justify voicing a mild protest, “that the provincial executive has failed in its duty by not taking action long ago and not advising branches of all details.” This view was endorsed by another speaker who although reluctant to criticise the Minister and the Government, gave utterance to this statement: “We are very much in the dark,” while another member added: “We cannot criticise, because we do not know what is in the measure.” All that remains to be said, in offering the suggestion that district branches of farmers’ organisations ought not to run the risk of sharp rejoinders, is that early in December, the Minister of Finance issued a comprehensive statement in pamphlet form, expounding the details of the proposed mortgage corporation, and the full statement, occupying several columns, was published in readable sections in this journal something like two months ago. Since that date, the Government’s proposed legislation has been freely discussed in the press. Therefore, if the members of the Temuka branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union are still in the dark, they have only themselves to blame!