DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15211, 12 April 1923, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

The mathematical expert of the Parliamentary Labour Labour Gains Party, Mr J. Meat Combs, M.P. Reoent Election. (Lyttelton), has applied his special quality to the figures of the last general election, with results which he is candid enough to publish, although they will give more satisfaction to Labour's opponents than to the members of the party which has been spreading a peacock tail on the strength of what happened last December, Labour was remarkably fortunate to get 17 seats in the present Parliament, because it only polled 2 per cent more votes than in the 1919 election, when it secured eight members. "This fortunate circumstance," says Mr McGombs, "has created a false idea of progress. There was actually no real progress. . . . Prom 1919 to 1922 the Labour vote actually went back from 23.8 per cent, to 23.4 per cent of the total vote. Any number of such victories would land the Labour Party nowhere. We must face the facts, however, unpalatable, and try to And the remedy. It is no use living in a fool's paradise. 1 ' The Member for Lyttielton measures up the weight of temporary circumstance which materially helped Labour at the last election, and concludes his survey by asking: "Why did the Labour vote go back in 1922? Is it because of our propaganda, or lack of it, or is it because our political programme does not appeal to the electors, or is it because we cannot shake off the apathy of the average working-class elector?" Hard questions, which the Labour Party can best answer, and, emanating from one of its prominent men, clearly indicating that Labour's real gain at the last election was not of the magnitude attributed to it.