The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1922. REFORM MUST GO.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16905, 2 December 1922, Page 10

The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1922. REFORM MUST GO.

The Conservatives, misnamed Reformers, are approaching the general election day with misgivings, which increase with every passing hour. They realise that the spirit -of discontent is abroad in the land, and that it has been, raised by the failure of the Government to deal properly with the problems which have confronted it. There is n general recognition of the fact that the real challenge is being made by the Liberals. Efforts are mad© by the Party Press to show that the country L threatened by a Liberal-Red combination, which, if it achieved office, would at o-nce proceed to Sovietis© the Dominion. It is difficult to imagine anything more absurd, but the canard Is being steadily and persistently elaborated and circulated. We have exposed on several occasions the real ob - ject of this deliberately misleading propaganda. Tho Conservatives, in spite of Mr Massey’s denial, were in a minority in the country at the last election, but they secured a large majority in the House. They are afraid that they will again be in a minority in the country, and that on this occasion they will he in a minority In the House. The idea of surrendering office is entirely repugnant to them. They want to stay on the Treasury Benches even if a majority of the House are in opposition. We hold that a Government which cannot command the support of a majority of members of the House should be expelled from office. Government bv a minority is the negation of democracy, but it is the kind of thing which the Conservatives hope to impose on the country should a certain situation arise. It is evident that the tide of public opinion has set in against the Government, and it will be at full flood on polling day. Mr Massey’s meeting in Christchurch vas a failure, in spite of the efforts of his journalistic apologists to make it appear that he had scored a triumph. He never gripped his audience, and he conspicuously failed to hold either its interest or sympathy during the two hours that his oration lasted. The people have found the Reformers out and they are going to put them out The Government has nothing in its election armoury to inspire either con fidence or hope among the masses of the people. It has failed to conduct the ordinary business of the Departments in a practical wav. The coste of the services have been increased, and the public is getting less service though it is paying more money. The railway? furnish the classic example of Reform incompetency, but the trail of blighting inefficiency is spread over other Departments as well. There is nothing about the Reform Government which makes its continued existence either indispensable or desirable. It has shot its bolt, but instead of hitting the target it has wounded the country. We believe that the electors will seize the opportunity on Thursday next of serving on Mr Massey and his colleagues a notice to (piit, and make room for" the restoration of the interrupted Liberal regime. The Reformers are intensely afraid of defeat, and they have resorted to the Red hogev in order to stampede the timorous spirits among the electors into their emptying fold. There is a realisation, however, that Liberalism is irrevocably oppose! to Bolshevism, Red Fed ism. Communism or skwietism and that the accession of a Liberal Government would mean the continuation and expansion of the legislation which fills the bright est. and most oages of the Statute Book of the Dominion.