MESSAGE TO ELECTORS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 126, 14 February 1918, Page 6

MESSAGE TO ELECTORS

FROM PRIME MINISTER. . The following message to the electors has been issued by the Prime Minister :— "On the !28th of this month the electors of Wellington North will be asked to choose a representative for the remainder of the Parliamentary term, and I trust they will choose wisely and well, remembering the grave issues which are at stake and the serious times we are passing through. I do not' propose here to refer m detail to the qualifications of the several candidates, except just to remiud the electors that the candidate recommended by the National Government is Mr. J. P. Luke, the present Mayor of Wellington, a position which in. itself is a proof of the confidence felt in him by his fellow-citizens, and whose enthusiasm for the British cause,, along with his thorough knowledge of Wellington requirements and municipal matters generally will make him an extremely valuable acquisition to Parliament. Tho "main question to be considered, however, is how best to carry on New Zealand's share of the war. The Dominion has done well so far, though we hear from certain quarters discordant notes now and again, and we know there are sections of the community even in this Dominion which. would, if they had their .way, assist the enemy by making it impossible for loyal citizens to do their duty in tho very serious circumstances with which we have to deal. We have the same influences at work in New Zealand, though of course in a .much smaller way, which led tip to the present deplorable state of things in Russia; the same influences which induced the electors iti Australia to turn down the recent conscription proposals; the same influences which encouraged disaffection in Ireland and sedition in India, and which even in Wellington North have given indication of their presence at this election—influences which, if they were sufficiently powerful, would wreck, the Empire. It is our duty to guard against them, and to put them down at every possible opportunity. "The National Government is not infallible; it may have made mistakes; it may have laid itself open to adverse criticism in connection with comparatively minor matters, but no one can doubt its sincerity and its success in carrying on New Zealand's share of the war. We are not yet at the end of our difficulties, and I am justified therefore in asking the electors to consider well whom they will support, and not to play Germany's game by vote-splitting, but to make sure of the return of a candidate who will be loyal to those- principles which British citizens hold sacred and dearer even than life itself. Such a candidate is Mr. Joliu Luke. ."(Sgd.) W. ¥. MASSEV."'