THE BAY OF PLENTY BY-ELECTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 296, 16 December 1941, Page 4

THE BAY OF PLENTY BY-ELECTION

’JT'i E result of the Bay of Plenty by-election was not unex

peeted save in the size of the majority- The result cannot but be regarded as a definite defeat for the Government. The loss of a large number of Public Works employees’ voles which kept the late Mr. Hultquist in office at the last general election assured the Nationalist victory. Nothing that lhe Prime Minister nor Cabinet Ministers nor members of the Labour Partv di<l could stem the outgoing of the tide in this constituenev. It can be said that Public Works <mployees have as much right to vote as anyone else, hut it is also true that a judicious disposition of such itinerant voters in fairly evenly-balanced constituencies where the voting is only slightly against the Government, has a tendency to nullify the permanent population’s decision in matters political. That the Government was aware of the danger of a serious defeat being registered in the Bay of Plenty, was obvious from the endeavours made by the Prime Minister to avoid the contest. It would be equally unwise for the Labour Party to essay a contest in the Hauraki, Mid-Canter-bury and Temuka seats, for in each of these reverses would be registered by the Government.

While the rural seats which have been held by tie Labour representatives on the support of an import, d vote, may be expected to be won by the Opposition the real problem which confronts the Nationalist Party is to win urban constituencies, both in the four main centres and in the provincial tows. This phase of the Xatioal Party’s task should not be overlooked simple because it is winning back rural constituencies which should not have been lost in the first place.