Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1949 ELECTIONEERING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 71, 30 March 1949, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1949

ELECTIONEERING

Mr Reece Smith’s article on an English by-election prompts thoughts as regards the value of political meetings—indeed, of any of the usual means of electioneering.

His comment that political audiences in Britain, as in New Zealand, would prefer to be happily confirmed in their own views than informed of others’ is a striking truth.

It is indeed doubtful whether a politician, be he ever so persuasive, ever actually wins over from the platform any supporters of the opposing party. As a matter of fact, nowadays, he rarely has that opportunity, because the tendency is for audiences to be composed entirely of supporters of the speaker. When there are others, they are not there as a rule in any spirit of tolerant fact-seeking. Rather are they there with the preconceived idea that the man is going to talk a lot of rot. And they carry with them the hope that someone will ask him some awkward questions that will prove it. 7 . This year, with well-balanced forces opposing each other in an election that promises to be unusually hard-fought, one might expect some sharp differences of opinion to arise. '

Whichever Party is the Government after the forthcoming election, its task will not be easy. There are signs a-plenty that the prosperity we boast today is largely illusory and that, for the good of our country and ourselves we must be prepared to place ourselves under sound, strong leadership capable of steering us through the dangerous shoals ahead. Therefore it behoves each one of us to forget his preconceived ideas, to disabuse his mind of party catch-cries and all the foggy phrases of political spellbinders, and to study the alternatives with care and without prejudice before casting a vote. There is every indication that there will be a contest in our own electorate, and it. would be both unwise and unfair to venture any comment at this stage until it is known who Mr Sullivan’s opponent is to be. However, it will not be out of place to say here and now that electors with a full sense of their responsibility to their country and their countrymen will cast their vote for the man best equipped and most likely to do the most good for the greatest number of New Zealanders. That is a choice which cannot be made on a basis of Party policy alone. Which fact is a good argument in favour of hearing what each candidate has to say, regardless of how one might be prejudiced for or against the party, to which he belongs. In fact, to seek to be informed of others’ views rather than confirmed in one’s own.