The Dominion. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1914. TEE ALLIANCE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2302, 9 November 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1914. TEE ALLIANCE

—— »—: — _■ The interesting disclosures made in the House of-Representatives'by the. Hon. F. M. B. Fisheii a few days ago regarding the alliance between the Wardists' and the LabourSocialists leave no room lor doubt as to the issues'abcad of the country at tho forthcoming Elections. It is plaiii that au agreement of some kind has been entered into by means of which the Wardists and the Labour-Socialists are to combine their forces in an endeavour to cure control of tho country's affairs. In\c|uite a number of seats Wardist candidates are not tq be run so that the Labour-Socialists may have a free field, while in others the LabourSocialists have abstained from putting'forward candidates .rather than compete against the Wardists. This no doubt is the outcome of the wirepulling which has taken place since the great strike of last year when the Federation of Labour sought to dominate the country with mobviolence" and that form of moral suasion which finds expression in brick-bats and scrap-iron. It was inevitable that the Government which declined to allow the "Red Federation" to terrorise, peaceful citizens,' dislocate the business of the Dominion, and bring hardship and perhaps ruin 'to thousands of innocent people, would incur the bitter hostility of the extreme Labour-Social-ists. The ..-Massey Government must have known when it set out to uphold the law and protect the public against the organised tyranny of the reckless men who were ' sacrificing the whole community to their mad and vicious methods, that when Election Day came found no effort wouldbe spared by the terrorists to injure'them and prevent their re-elec-tion to office. They may also have suspected from the attitude of many of the Opposition .at that critical time that the Wardists would endeavour to make use of the fact that the Government had incurred the hatred of these men. Still Ministers did their duty in the matter regardless of consequences, mob rule was put down with a firm hand; the ringleaders of the rioters and many of the rioters themselves were punished by the Courts of the land; and, the community was. saved from what at one time threatened to prove a most calamitous state of anairß. Now the Government is to be called on by the.law-breakers and rioters of last year to pay the penalty of loss of office for daring to defy the Federation of Labour. And the meanß by which the Red Federation and its allies hope to wreak their vengeance on the'Massey Government; the weapon which they propose to use 1 against Ministers, is Wardism. Those electors who can for the moment set aside their party leanings and view the situation dispassionately will find little difficulty in .arriving at a correct conclusion as to what has been happening behind the scenes during the past few weeks. They have seen a good many para* graphs in the newspapers stating the intentions of tho Labour-Social-' ists not to run candidates against Wardist candidates for seats in the City here and elsewhere; and they know that the_'Wardist Party is not running candidates for other seats where the Labour-Socialists are in the field. If there was any doubt as to the meaning of this that doubt has been removed by _ the public announcements of candidates that the Massey Government was the common enemy of. the Wardists and the Labour-Socialists; and that they were "out" to "down" tho Massey Government, And after? What the intelligent section of the electors of New Zealand who are not blinded by party bias will have to consider is that very important question: What would happen if this combination by any chance should succeed in overthrowing the Massey Government? We have had some light thrown on this prospect by the La-bour-Socialists themselves. They hate the Government because it refused to allow them to over-ride the law and bludgeon the community into submission; and because they hate the Government for these things they vilify it and arc doing thenutmost to bring about its defeat at , the coming nolle.. But they have more in mind than this, The sratU

fying of their passionß is a part of their plans only; they also have in view a bolder and bigger project. They, failed in their effort to intimidate and dominate the country when tho Massey Government stood in the way; but by joining forces with the Wardists and splitting up the seats between them they hope to accomplish bbTih their objects; they seek to get rid of the Massey Government and ' then even with half a dozen or less members of their own brand, hold tho balance of power in the new House and bend the new Government to their will. The latter is their main purpose—the'getting rid of the Massey Government is a pleasant means to that end.

So we have the alliance between the Wardists and the Labour-Social-ists. Neither party loves the other over-much. The Wardists arc anxious to get back to office at any cost and so make use of the Labour-Socialists in an endeavour to win certain seats. Tho Labour-Socialists are anxious to get rid of the Massey Government and hold the balance of power in the new Parliament, and so make use of the Wardists.- Neither party is concerned as to how the public interest may be sacrificed by such bargaining. All they are anxious al}out is to secure control of the Government of the country. It may be said that this is the desire' of all_ political parties,- and in the main that is no doubt correct. But what the electors will have to consider in tho present instance is what it means to them and to country if by any chance this Alliance should succeed in ousting the present Government from office. The Wardists have shown themselves to be at'the best a weak and far from capable set of men. For a, great many years the party of which they are the remnants controlled the country's affairs with' considerable success until the advent of SiR Joseph Ward as its leader. Since then it has gone rapidly down-hill. This_ is indisputable.. The reasons for its descent may not be universally agreed on but it has been demonstrated beyond all question that Sir Joseph Ward is a poor leader and that the party as a party lacks the courage to stand or fall by its convictions. It has' repeatedly placed office before principle. Those electors -who have .followed politics at all closely even though th6y may have supported the'"Liberal" Party know these things and regret them. If they are honest with themselves they cannot fail to see the danger which threatens the country should the Wardist Party by any chance succeed in getting back to office with the aid of the Labour-Socialist extremists. It seems most unlikoly that this should happen, but if it should, then no one can for a moment doubt that the Wardist Government would fall under the complete domination of the' Labour-Socialists. Whatever else may be' said of those reckless people,' they know what' they want,/, and they have declared often enough that they mean to get it by the shortest possible route. They failed in their initial Syndicalist effort with the strike of 1913; now they are seeking to make Wardism' tho means to the end they have in view. We have not attempted to overdraw the picture in tho slightest. Tho facts are plain enough for all to see and the electors oan judge for themselves. The times ahead are fraught with possibilities calling for sound and capable administration of the country's affairs on careful lines. Can any business man, or farmer, or or_ employer believe that it is in his interest or in the interests of the country that at this time the reins of government should bo transferred to the Wardist Party dominated by the reckless aries of the Labour-Socialist movement 1 If so let them cast their votes for Mr. Payne in Grey Lynn; Mr. P. C. Webb in Grey; Mr. H. ■Holland, in Wellington North, and what they stand for, for that'is what voting for the Alliance will mean.