The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1919. THE LIBERALS AND THE RED FEDS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXIV, Issue 17730, 2 December 1919, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1919. THE LIBERALS AND THE RED FEDS.

History apears to be once again repeating itself. In 1914 Sir Joseph Ward endeavoured to persuade the electors that he had not sought an alliance with the Social Democratic Party, but his personal .declaration did not serve to clear the Ward Party, which, on the facts revealed, were proved guilty of an attempt to secure the extreme Socialists' aid against the Reform Party. Then, as now, Sir Joseph sought to evade the issue by asserting that he had not directly courted the Reds; but it was clearly shown that he had invited the Reds to support him by his carefulness to avoid displeasing them. Indeed, it cannot be forgotten that this solicitude of Sir Joseph for the Reds' tender feelings was a subject of much comment at the time of the big strike —and after. For example, the Wellington "Post," an independent journal, a candid critic of all parties, remarked oh December 16, 1913, in a review of the session:—

"A graver blunder of Sir Joseph Ward's leadership has been his failure to rise to the height demanded by a great national emergency (the lawless strike), and while the Government was grappling bravely with the common enemy of us all, the Leader df the Opposition seemed to be thinking more of the votes commanded by the Red Federation than of the ruin with which its programme of hatred and lawlessness, of violence and destruction, threatened the country." The beginning of the Liberal-Red Fed. intrigue can be traced back to the middle of 1913, when the Wellington Wardist organ, the "New Zealand Times," had soft speech for the extreme Socialists. They were assured that there was room for them in the fold of Wardism, when the "Times" declared that "the (Red) Federation of Labour has the same ultimate political objective as the Liberal Party." That wooing by Wardists' went on through the strike and through the subsequent Lyttelton by-election, till the "Post" had reason to state on January 20, 1914: "As far as one can judge from present evidence, the Liberals ■ (Parliamentary) and Social Democrats hope to exploit each other; each party expects to m.ake a convenience of the other, and each knows the other's crafty mind." The "Worker's" file teems with evidence showing that prior to that time the Red Federals and Socialists spurned and scoffed ai any notion of an alliance with the Ward Party. The Reds worshipped at the shrine Of "Divine Solidarity" (the "Maoriland Worker's" phrase), and they regarded as impious and sacrilegious the intrusion of the Ward Party at their devotions. Did the Red molehill go to the Wardist Mahomet* or did Mahomet go to the molehill? The evidence shows that the moving was by Mahomet, whose political Koran contained the magic words, "Proportional Representation." That was the "basis of the then bargain," according to Mr. M'Combs (Social Democratic member for Lyttelton).

It is perhaps not without significance that "proportional is still the most' favoured hobby of the member for Wanganui. It is clear that the Official Labour Party to-day holds the Wardists in contempt, just as they did prior to 1914, and that their sole intention is to use them, j if they get the chance, for the furtherance of their own ends in Parliament. We ask the electors to note carefully the significance of the following quotations:;— ' i "Where we are not strong enough to fight the electorates ourselves, by the balance of power we shall at any rate be able td dictate terms to either of the other parties."— "Maoriland Worker," i March 2S. 1914. . - When asked at Westport how! the Labour Party would vote on a j no-confidence motion, Mr.. Holland said he hoped the Labour Party would come back from the elec- i tions as the constitutional Opposi-' tiou. but if it did not, and Sir Joseph Ward moved a vote of noconfid^nce, the Labour Party would join with him in ousting Mr. Massey, but it would not support Sir Joseph Ward unless he then enacted the legislation the Labour Party •was fighting for. —Mr. Holland, 1919. • "In order to put the Reform Government out of office, we have had some dealings with Sir Joseph Ward, Leader of the Liberal Party."—Mr. Hiram Hunter, National President of the Social Democratic Party (the political organisation of the Federation of Labour), November 17, 19W. ,• "When we get a Liberal Government ". (Interruption.') Mr. Brown; "Give me a chance. I was going to say Liberal* and Labour." (Cries of "Oh.") — Mr. Vigor Brown, Wardite candidate for Napier, 1919. Compare . "the Government's offer of four workers' houses for Nelson instead of the one or two hundred required, and at a weekly cost of over 2.15, with the LIB-ERAL-LABOUR PARTY'S remarkably fine financial scheme whereby a home could be secured at a i weekly payment of 10s 6d." —Mr. Atmore, Wardite candidate for! Nelson, 1919. j In view of what happened in 1914,! is it possible for the electors to trust \ the Wardites in 1919? The answer is obvious—an emphatic "No!" The Reds know well that they, cannot "dictate terms" to the Reform Party. Their only hope of such a power of dictation is by a combine With the Ward Party; No true Liberal can be pleased with the prospect of Government by a combine, in which the Red, Social Democratic. Party aspires to be able to "dictate terms." j