The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. London Representatives : R. B. BRETT & SON NEW BRIDGE HOUSE, 30/34 NEW BRIDGE STREET LONDON, E.C.4. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1931. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 302, 21 December 1931, Page 6

The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. London Representatives : R. B. BRETT & SON NEW BRIDGE HOUSE, 30/34 NEW BRIDGE STREET LONDON, E.C.4. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1931. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

THE OVERWHELMING defeat of Labour in the Federal elections is attributed, apologetically by Mr Scullin, to the difficulty of governing in a crisis and, jubilantly by Mr Lyons, to the sound common sense and patriotism of the people. Other prominent politicians describe it as the death knell of inflation, repudiation and political control of the banks, and Mr W. M. Hughes finds a parallel to the British decision in the preference of Australians for sound finance rather than fantastic schemes and extremist doctrines. Nobody will quarrel with any of these conclusions, but the elections have an even greater significance, for they have weighed the whole political philosophy and platform of the Labour Party in the balance and found them wanting. The fickleness of the Australian public, upon which Mr Scullin depends for “ a strong reaction before many months have passed,” does not account for the defeat of the Attorney-General, Mr Brennan, in a seat that has been safe for Labour from the first days of the Federation, nor for the turning out of Mr Moloney and other Ministers, apart altogether from the unsatisfactory Mr Theodore, who has had the humiliation of being beaten by a Lang nominee. The vacillating Mr Scullin and his followers have met the fate of Mr Henderson and his party in Britain, and the elections are another evidence of the fact that the people to-day have no confidence in weak men. This is all the more complimentary to Australia, where the Labour leaders have been promising the worker the millennium, and where Mr Theodore had submitted a subtle scheme of thinly disguised inflation that at least threatened to put off the evil day. The election is an evidence that the worker has at last realised that he will suffer most from lack of prosperity, and that financial experimentation will not be in his interests in the long run. As Mr Lyons justly observes, the people have taken the long view, and are at last looking facts in the face. A NICE DISTINCTION. ONE OF THE minor problems of this season is the sorting out of Christmas-card and Christmaspresent friends. There is this year perhaps a slight danger of an increase in the number of cards sent, and a corresponding decrease in the number of presents. Fortunately we have overcome the resentment that greeted, the appearance of Christmas cards in earlier times. “Too often,” a disappointed recipient once wrote, “ cards serve as a cheap and unwelcome substitute for the healthier benevolence that should have an outlet at this season of the year. Thus, instead of the barrels of oysters, the hampers of provisions, or the bottles of wine that should be offered, we are fobbed off with some wretched card. This is nothing less than a fraud.” Another disgruntled critic vented his grudge similarly: “ If the Christmas card were an honest tribute of admiration it would perhaps he tolerated. But it is a threadbare convention and often little beyond an impudent piece of humbug. It comes upon us in the specious guise of a letter; and when the envelope only disgorges a simpering card, with insincere good wishes, the recipient is naturally shocked and disgusted with such perfidy.” These rather materialistic views of expressions of friendly sentiment suggest the Scrooge who, we like to believe, is dead and buried long ago, for we encourage and welcome the Christmas spirit whether it is conveyed by a card or a hamper, though we naturally wish that circumstances suggested and permitted the hamper.