The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1925. THE ISSUE AT THE POLLS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19446, 4 November 1925, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1925. THE ISSUE AT THE POLLS

On the day of the general election it is desirable that final word should be said to those who have to decide what the constitution of the New Zealand Parliament is to he for the next three years. For some weeks past the candidates for election have been pressing their claims upon the electors and the newspapers have been discussing the issues from their various points of view. Up and down the country the electors have had opportunity to inform themselves, and to-day they must show at the ballot box what use they have made of their opportunity. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon every elector that the first and most important duty of the day is to vote. No longer is the vote the privilege of the few: it is the right of every man and woman, and a right which has been dearly won and deserves to be cherished. The democratic franchise of New Zealand gives to each citizen exactly the same voice in the government of his country as every other citizen has. Each vote has one and the same value, and each individual vote in itself may decide the fate not only of an electorate but also of a Government. Every voter who is not physically incapacitated should go to the poll, and in these days of heavy electoral rolls it is a wise injunction that bids the voter poll early. If there are voters whose minds are not yet made up—certain interests have certainly done their utmost to mislead the electors and confuse the issues—we would advise them to judge the parties on broad principles. Very many people, of course, will find it easy to eliminate the National Party from their consideration. The weakness of that party is abundantly evident in its organisation, its tactics, its platform and its leadership. It is obvious that most of the Nationalist candidates do not really believe in their party, for they say that by some process of fusion they want to build a new party. If their own party were any good they would not seek a new one.

The National Party is such a formless, impracticable thing that it cannot be an active force in the new Parliament. If a .few of its candidates slip in they will have to attach themselves to a party, unless they really prefer to remain in the wilderness. It must be either the Reform Party or the Labour Party, and there are a number of Nationalist candidates who have declared that they will not support Mr. Coates. Will they endeavour to put Labour into power? If so, a vote for a Nationalist will be a vote for Labour. Labour, no doubt, would be glad to have them.

Is government by the Labour Party the ideal of the average New Zealander? The Labour Party defines its objective as the socialisation of the means of production, distribution and ex-

change. It wants to put an end to the private ownership of land, and ultimately of every other possession; to have nothing but State service, with every citizen practically the slave of the State; to level the whole nation down to one dead level of servility and dependency. Labour’s respect for law and order and its loyalty to British traditions are in question. It is more interested in internationalism than it is in the national welfare and progress of this fine country.

We turn from Labour’s aspirations to the platform of the Reform Party. The party is led by a strong and vigorous administrator, who has proved himself in public life as he has on the battlefields where the Empire fought for freedom. He puts forward a simple, well-ordered programme, containing practical proposals for the development of the Dominion. His promises are to be businesslike in his conduct of the country’s business, to be careful in expenditure, to be prudent in administration, and those promises are based upon the solid foundation of performances. Mr. Coates has shown that he can keep his word. The Prime Minister does not attempt to offer ready-made solutions of all the problems that the Government has to face, but he does promise to apply to the wider field of Dominion affairs those principles which he has maintained with such success in his departmental work. His followers, while offering him their hearty support, will not be prevented from expressing themselves individually and pursuing what they believe to be right ideals. The Labour caucus rules every member of the Labour Party; the Reform Party gives its members freedom of thought and action. The choice lies between Reform, and Labour, for it would be futile to suppose that by any possible combination of circumstances the Nationalists could be returned as an effective party. We believe that the electors will do the best thing for the Dominion if they return the Reform Party’s candidates in such numbers as to ensure the establishment of a strong majority Government. In the Wanganui, Rangitikei, Patea and Oroua electorates the Reform Party is represented by capable and trustworthy candidates. If they are elected they will help to make the majority that Mr. Coates, chosen to be the leader of the people by popular acelaim, should have at his back. Every vote given to a Reform candidate in these electorates will be a vote for good government. Every vote recorded against the Reform candidates will hinder the progress of evolutionary development and strengthen the menace of revolutionary Socialism.