THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2257, 17 September 1914, Page 4

THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

It is perhaps natural that members of Parliament, with their tenure of office drawing to a close, should, display a good deal of concern as to the date on which the coming General Elections are to be held. Even the war could not be expected to wholly remove, their thoughts from their personal and political interests, but on the whole it may be said for them that party politics havo been kept in the background fairly well so far as members themselves are concerned. During the period of doubt and un-' certainty which followed on the outbreak of hostilities, when the attention of the Government was so fully occupied with the heavy responsibilities thrust upon it by the turn, of events in Europe, it was only proper that party warfare should cease, and little credit can bo claimed by either side on this account. To have persisted at such a time of national crisis in .the petty party bickerings which constitute so largo a part of our politics would have been to earn the contempt and condemnation of the whole country. With.the tension relaxed, however, there are signs of a return to the old state of things; not so much in Parliament as out of it. One of the Opposition Party organs has on several occasions of late sought to prejudice the position of the Government by ungenerous suggestions, and by attacks on Ministers plainly inspired with the object of gaining a party advantage. It has been suggested that because a private meeting was held in a particular electorate, where the Government candidate had unfortunately been killed in an accident, to offer the nomination to the, fleceased gentleman's son, the Government , nad electioneering, contrary to its professed intention. This was treated as a, heinous offence, regardless of the fact that quite a number of Opposition public meetings had been held—notably in the Thames, Raglan, Ohinemuri, and Mataura electorates—after Sin Joseph Ward had declared a truce. If any blame were attachable to the Government for anything of this kind, then certainly Sir Joseph Ward and his party were much more to blame," for the offending by Opposition support ers was much the greater. As a matter of fact, however, these things are so trivial as to be unworthy of serious attention, and the attempt to make party capital out of them is not at all likely to deceive the public. If the Government has erred at all it has been in a too generous readiness to meet the wishes of its opponents. No doubt in this respect it was actuated by the worthy desire to leave no possible ground for friction. In the matter of fixing the date of the general elections, for instance, tho Prime Minister has, in our opinion, shown a quite unnecessary concern for the views of the Opposition. A month ago thero might have been some reasonable ground for .doubting whether it would be a wise, thing to hold the elections at the usual time; to-day the position is entirely changed. A month, even a fortnight, ago, the whole Empire was so deeply absorbed in the course of events in France, and the outlook was so full of grave possibilities, that no one was inclined to give any serious thought to party politics. Within the past week the situation has changed completely, and though the war may drag on for, some time yet, nothing short of a serious naval 'defeat is likely to interfere with a (steady return to normal conditions in the Dominion. The Government may be handicapped to a certain extent by holding the elections this year, _ because Ministers will bo very busily _ engaged with many added, responsibilities arising out of the war, and will in consequence not have the same amount of time for campaign work they would otherwise enjoy. But they are not likely to lose much by that, for after all the people of New Zealand have had ample evidence during the past twclvo months that tho Reform Government can be trusted to rise to tho occasion and do itself and the country jusfcicc, however 1 great tho occasion may be. _ There is at the moment not the slightest reason why the elections should be postponed, and if a decision on tho point hasl

to be arrived at immediately, then it is difficult to see what other decision can bo come to than to allow ovents to taJco their normal course.