WELLINGTON TOPICS

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13888, 14 October 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE POLITICAL BAROMETER. UNSETTLED WEATHER. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Friday. Well-informed people here who have been watching the signs of the limes are, seeing' much more significance in the return of Mr S. G. Smith, the. Democratic Labour candidate, for the Taranaki §cat in succession to Mr Okcv, than they did in the return of Mr P. Frascr, the Labour Federation candidate, for the, Wellington Central scat. Mr Frascr's success, they conlend, was mainly due to the splendid organisation of his supporters and to (lie divisions and apathy among his opponents, only a lew inure than half the electors on the, roll took the trouble to record their votes, and those that stayed away from the poll, almost without exception, were either Reformers or Liberals, the very people who v*>re pledged by the "party truce" to stand by the National Government in its appeal to the constituency.

A Square Fight. In Taranaki the position was quite different. The utmost effort was put forth on both sides. Ministers of the. Crown and neighbouring members of Parliament took an active personal part in the campaign on behalf oil the Government candidate, while. Socialists, Labourites, Democrats and unofficial Liberals forgot their quarrels for the time and made common cause in the interest of the independent Labour candidal. As a result HOI more votes were polled by the two candidates than were distributed over the six candidates in the Wellington Central contest, and only ClO fewer than were polled in the constituency at the general election of 1914. when the voting reached high-water mark. It is obvious, the well-informed people maintain, that there was a good square fight between the conflicting views concerning the merits of the National Government. What it all Means.

They are not so unanimous in accepting the Taranaki verdict as a reflection of the political feeling throughnut the country. One section declares that for some years past the constituency has been more Radical than its representative in Parliament, and thai; dissatisfaction over the cost of living has been sufficient to tip the scale which Mr Okey's activity and personality kept inclining towards his own side. Another section declares that what has happened in Taranaki in going to happen all over the country at the next general election. This, it is scarcely necessary to say, is not always, or even generally, a case of the wish being father to the thought. Business men and other responsible people do not contemplate the prospect of the Labour Party being largely reinforced in Parliament with much satisfaction, hut many of them are putting it down among tiie possibilities of the future.

Official Views. All the Ministers who could speak with any authority on the subject being away from town—on a mission which by this time is pretty generally known—it is impossible to obtain from them any expression of opinion in regard to the result of the recent byelections. One effect of Mr Smith's return will be to extinguish the. nominal majority of the Reform Party, unless the return of an Independent for the Southern Maori district can he taken to compensate the party for the loss of the Taranaki seat. But this is of little consequence. There is not likely to be any serious trial of party strength in i the House during the life of the present Parliament. But there is a growing feeling that the disasters which have overtaken the National Government at three successive by-elections will incline both Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward to an appeal to the constituencies as soon as it can be made without prejudicing the country's war efforts.