ELECTORS WERE PROMISED MUCH AND GOT LITTLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18615, 17 November 1928, Page 1

ELECTORS WERE PROMISED MUCH AND GOT LITTLE.

WILL DOMINION HAVE ANOTHER ELECTION?

(Written for the “ Star ” By E. J. HOWARD, M.P.)

“We shall assume that what each man does is based not on direct and certain knowledge but on pictures made by himself or given to him. If his atlas tells him that the world is flat he will not sail near what he believes to be the edge of our planet for fear of falling off.”—Lippman. The general election of 1928 will pass away into history, but will never be forgotten. Looking backwards there are certain elections that stand out in our memories, but probably there has never been an election so full of surprises and so upsetting to those who dared to prophesy. There are men who make a special study of political situations, and who are generally fairly reliable in their picking of what will happen. Looking back over all the articles written and at least published during the past fortnight, no one seems to have come anywhere near what has actually happened; and yet the result on Wednesday was really the reaction of the “man who gets things done” propaganda.

Young Man’s Chance. Three years ago Reform had been judged and found wanting. The old skipper of the Reform craft had died in time to let the new skipper come on the bridge and take charge, and to remain in charge just long enough not to expose his lack of navigation knowledge. Then the imagination of the this young man a chance” philosophy, this young man a chance" philosophy. He had to a certain extent appeared to have made good in his administration of public works. But what had actually happened had been that Mr Coates had handed over the Public Works to a new head of a Department, and became the apologist for all the mistakes of that branch of our public service. So psychologically the country was ready to try a new man. Six vears ae-o no one though* of Mr Coates as a probable Prime Minister. A year before Mr Mn«sev died a little group c’omewbo’-e ir» the North Island, calling ♦hemselves| the New Zealand League, but rvin? no names commenced oroono’anda in favour of Mr Coates. Day after dav. n l most. leaflets were distributed sometimes bv post and somebv other means, pointing out that M** a® P* : mo Minister was to go. and Mr Coates must come. No one who bar! cat in +he House for any t ; me would have treked Mr Coates. He v-aa silent member, and there was nor Muir ma’-V him a« «ho one to lead thv nouptrv. So th*’ electors g»v* him Tlic But thf“V plco did him a disservice in giving him such an immense majority. Adxmnt.stra tion Blunders. Propaganda and administration are two branches of the same road, but not leading to the same results. Anyone can say “onward to Utopia,” and paint a rosy picture of that ideal state. But when the administrator comes on to the scene to prepare the read, he finds himself right up against propositions that do not bother the propagandist. Here was Mr Coates really ready to get things done as a propagandist, but as an administrator he failed dismally. His crew was in a state of rebellion, not openly but silently, forming caves and preventing things from being done. He picked a set of Ministers who, to say the least, were men of easy street. Slowly administration went from Ministers to heads of Departments. Ministers found themselves always in trouble somewhere, and had to accept responsibility, and the blanie, even without a squeal. Samoa, in spite of the white-washing, in spite of the fact that even the League of Nations Council found no fault, was a blunder of administration. We apear to be wielding a big stick in those islands. We are posing as the upholders of law and order, but as a fact New Zealand is paying £30.000 a year to a group of islands that could be paring New Zealand £30,000 a year. The Samotn doesn’t care; his philosophy is. “ there is to-morrow,” why worry to-day. Nelson, a rich man, is banished for five years. The spirit of Nelson walks around those islands and even if he never comes back he will wield a great amount of influence. He will be written into their poetry, lie will be in their songs,; Little, children will be taught that he is-and was a national hero fighting for his country's rights. And all the trouble in Samoa was a series of blunders of administrative work.

The Railways. There is Central Otago and its irrigation. From an engineering point of view admirable. From an administrative point of view a blunder. Our railways are the same. Who can say without feeling a doubt in his own mind that the Minister of Railways did the right thing? Mr Sterling may be an idea! man. He may be a railway wizard, but again from a psychological point of view it was the wrong thing to tell the railway service that the only man in New Zealand who could handle that service was Mr Sterling. Then the terms? The £3500 is a small matter. The facts were that Mr Sterling forced the Prime Minister to alter an Act of Parliament which he disagreed with when it was put upon the Statute book a year ago; forced the Prime Minister to practically hand over those railways to him as head of the Department. To take the control out of the hands of the Ministerial head and give them over to the General Manager was wrong. The country was promised so much and got so little that the reaction has been extraordinary. At times like, this one should be chary of trying to suggest what the outcome will be. it looks as if Sir Joseph Ward will be given another chance. Here is where one should stop. All the promises made cannot be fulfilled. It may take three years to realise this. It may be a shorter period. A shorter period means another election. The beet thing that could happen from the Dominion point of view, seems to be that the two strongest sections should get together and form the ber>t Cabinet that can be picked