CANDIDATES AT THE COMING ELECTION.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 330, 19 November 1896, Page 11

CANDIDATES AT THE COMING ELECTION.

It has been truthfully stated that the ■choice of a candidate for a seat in the New Zealand House of Representatives -does not, in many cases, depend so much upon his general political ability, the partv to which he belongs, or upon the services he has rendered, or is capable of rendering, to his country, as upon the private pledges he is prepared to give in support of some “ fad ” he is promulgating, or his association with .a band of extremists whose political soul is bound up in total Prohibition, which they, in their narrow belief and tortuous ideas, declare to be the panacea for all evils, social and political. We cannot do better than to remind the latter class —the extreme Prohibitionist — that some of the greatest advocates of true temperance (men who have stood firm in the front ranks of all temperance movements in Great Britain and elsewhere) have both in the Senate and on the platform declared emphatically against the “ one-idea-man,” and have with equal emphasis protested against the subordination of all other great political principles to the one known as State Prohibition. No great statesman has more strongly condemned the course of action indicated than Sir Wilfred Lawson, who has over and over again protested against the action of those whom he has designated “ all-or-nothing men ” ; and, in speaking recently at a crowded meeeting in a large manufacturing English town, he eloquently and fearlessly charged this class of electors as men who were defeating their own purposes, and were really retarding instead of aiding the great social movement which he (Sir Wilfred) had been striving for years to advance. In the course of his address he related the following amusing anecdote : — “ There was once a hen which was sitting in a grocer’s yard on thirteen good eggs, and the possibilities were that she would in the ordinary course of nature hatch thirteen chickens, but she was an ‘ all-or-nothing hen,’ and she determined to stock the place with chickens all of a lump ; she therefore left her nest and her thirteen eggs, and sat upou a crateful of eggs which she discovered stowed away in an adjacent shed, with the inevitable result that she hatched nothing.” It was only reasonable to suppose that a great statesman like Sir Wilfred Lawson refused to ally himself with a band of fanatics who had no more idea of the proper way to advance the cause he (Sir Wilfred) had at heart than the stupid hen had of the final, proper, and natural way to propagate her species. Another great statesman, following on the same lines, said he had been a temperance reformer all his life; but he had come to the conclusion that, the extreme prohibitionists were more intemperate in their language and actions than any drunkard could possibly be in his habits, and consequently he would rather be defeated at the poll than be tied to the chariot wheels of such a party. At the present time we have candidates for Parliamentary representation (we use the term representation advisedly, because the term which usually applies—namely, honours — would, in our opinion, be prostituted in such a case) who are bound hand and foot by promises made to the one-

idea party; and such great questions as land settlement, intercolonial reciprocity, and others of equal importance, must sink into insignificance before the consideration of the fad of Prohibition which is now exalted into the creation of a sort of political Aaron’s rod, which must be made technically or automatically to swallow all other great political questions which may be national in the character and publicly beneficial in their operations. Surely we need scarcely appeal to the good sense of the real temperate electors of New Zealand by asking them to save this fair and temperate colony from earning the contumely and contempt of the world, which it assuredly will do if it sends even a substantial minority of Sir Wilfred Lawson’s political hens to the New Zealand Parliament at the forthcoming election. Will the country not realise that the people of this vigorous young nation are the most sober people in the British dominions, and will it not be recognised by all English speaking people that to return a considerable number of the oneidea class to Parliament will be tantamount to a declaration that the respective constituents who returned them have taken out prohibition orders against themselves ? So far as the principal papers in the city of Auckland are concerned, we are proud to say that they, with ourselves, have uttered no uncertain sound, and we have no doubt but that articles published by the leading papers of the colony on the subject will cause the wavering to be serious on this highly important matter ; and it only needs reflection to show the fallacious ideas of the Prohibition faddist and the soundness of the arguments advanced by Sir Wilfred Lawson and other true temperance reformers who have so fearlessly and honestly given expression to their opinions. In its leading columns of the 14th mst., the New Zealand Herald cites a case which directly bears on the question at issue ; but at the present time we have only space for an abstract from the article, which, however, illustrates the whole subject:—

It is a great pity that the issues in the present general election should be confused. It should be fought on the main principles that have been recently raised. Are the legislation and administration of the present Government to be continued, or are they to be checked ? We look upon it as a great misfortune that the question of prohibition should be made so prominent as it is, andthatcandidat.es who are dangers to society should have a chance of success through professing to be Prohibitionists. For instance, the secretary of the Prohibition League intimates that the Prohibitionists are quite satisfied with Mr Withy as their candidate for Parnell. This means that the Prohibitionists of Parnell are to vote for Mr Withy on that ground alone, whatever may be their opinion as to his other views. Now, Mr Withy is the champion ef the Singletaxers and Land Nationalises. He has identified himself with these fads, and indeed his name is known throughout New Zealand as the leader of the party. The aim of Mr Withy and his friends is the abolition of all private property in land, and if they succeeded, the process of “nationalising ” all private property in land would at once be begun. Do the teetotallers in Parnell desire this ? They may say that Mr Withy’s ideas of plundering private property do not matter much, as he is only one man, while his vote as a Prohibitionist would be valuable.

We shall refer to this matter again before the election. Meanwhile we ask our readers to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the truths we have placed before them.