MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1911. THE WELLINGTON SECOND BALLOTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1308, 11 December 1911, Page 4

MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1911. THE WELLINGTON SECOND BALLOTS.

FfiOJ[ the point of view of the Ward party, the position in respect of the four undecided seats in Wei-1 lington City and Suburbs must have ] a depressing appearance. Excepting in Wellington Central, the issue in which we discuss separately, the public has expressed in the clearest possible way its' detestation of Wardism. In East, Suburbs, ami South the prospects are very checking to the friends of Reform. Until Thursday it was possible to say thai in the last two of these districts the result, whether it went to Labour or to the Reform- party, would be u blow at the Ward Administration. In thu East seat Mr. JL'Lakex had plainly announced that he would support Sin Joseph Wakd in preference to Mii. Massev, and since the first thing the members of the new House will have to do is to choose between these two leaders, Mil. M'Laben can properly be regarded as a supporter of the present Ministry. In Wellington Suburbs then , , hiisbecn a remarkable change, as we noted on Saturday,-for Mr. Y. T. .Moor.c, who in his election campaign excelled every other candidate in the field, even the most vigorous of the Beform candidates, in denouncing, and quits justly denouncing, the Ward Ministry ami the "Liberals 7, who had grown "rich and fat" in office, astonished everybody by appealing to the "Liberals' , tu aid him in beating what he called "Masseyism." It was nothing to Mi:. Moore that he had repeatedly ureod that the supreme, need of tlw country was the ejection of the Ward Government, nothing that ne had praised Mn. Massev, whom ho declared able and willing to furnish "clean administration." Perhaps this extraordinary performance—in some respects it is unique—may gain Mr. Mooue a few "Liberal" vobs, but it will cost him a great many more votes than he can gain by it, since it will alienate those whose support was based upon his opposition to Wardism and those others who will realise how irrational n thing it would be to support a candidate capable of such unheard-oi readiness to turn a complete somer-

sault. In Wellington South the issue is between a strong Yk-form advocate and a nomiuua of tho Labour party. Nobody knows better tlian Labour how fill'apart Labour's interests aro from tho interests of tho WARD jiarty: Labour men have spoken emphat'icnlly on the subject from Auckland to the Bluff. Mk. Hjkdharsk is of course entitled to use any "Liberal" support he may get, but we doubt whiitluT in the final issue the electorate can choose a candidate who, howevev estimable he may bo es a citizen, is an impulsive and eccentric politician, in to tho man who has guarded tho district's interests so well and has also abundantly demonstrated that he is a practical and effective fighter for clean administration. Although he has only sat through one Parliament, Me. Wright is to-day known throughout the Dominion as one of the most prominent members' of the House. But for him the scandal in the Tax Department would not have been exposed in Parliament; it wan his force and persistence that compelled the holding of the inquiry that resulted in th? then Commissioner of Taxes being compelled to send in his resignation. The credit of exposing Hie maladministration of the Cook Islands is also_ Mi:. Wbiout's, and when Wardism is put in its proper place the administration of the Islands will be really investigated in a very different manner to that pursued by SIK RoREIiT Stout and proved to be all that Mn. Wright declared it to be._ In vic<r nf the rise of Reform opinion, the electors of Wellington South will express themselves most effectively in Parliament by returning a man of integrity, force, and efficiency like Mr:. Wiucjht. Mr. HindMAitsii is lacking in that political weight ;ind substance which will lie wanted in the new political future. The Wellington East electors have

to choose between a Reform candidate and a Labour candidate who, Unlike many of the Labour men, intends, if elected, to support Sir Joseph Ward against Mr. Massey. Mil. BoLTOx'a supporters received for themselves a proof of the title of the Ward party to support, in the shape of the Government's callous abandoning of their own candidate. The choice for the East electors is really a choico between a continuance of Wardism or the election of a Reform candidate pledged to secure tho ending of that blight on the country's politics. Labour cannot be denied its "place in the sun." Had the Reform movement not been begun and pressed forward, Labour would today have been still hopelessly in the shade, and would be kept there by the Liberals. Now, the Reform movement was a movement with one object supreme above all others, namely, the cleansing of the administration, and the introduction of honest principles in government. That is still the supreme end. In due course Labour_ will grow in strength; some day it may even grow strong enough to have a Government of its own, but that day is distant yet. It is the establishment of a system of clean and prudent government which the country requires first of all, and which is a necessary preliminary to any real health aiid strength in Labour's hopes. By throwing its weight against the Reform candidates, Labour will merely prolong its subjection to Wardism and deprive tho country of the sunlight of honest ad ministration that it so urgently needs. For these reasons we arc unable to see how any of the Wellington electorates can afford to neglect

•ir duty of making Wellington City and Suburbs count five on the side of the Eeform party in the new Parliament.