The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1919. THE DANGERS OF INDIFFERENCE
The announcement)' that' December 17 is to be the day of the General Election will not bo particularly popular owing to its nearness to the holiday season. In the circumstances, however, it seems to have been unavoidable, and such inconvenience as may bo occasioned ought to be regarded as of trifling weight in comparison with the importance of the election and the issues it holds. Electors in all parts of Mm country will be extremely unwise if they fail to perceive that this is an election which deserves their undivided attention, and that there never was a time when they could less afford to neglect the e.\orciso of their vote. It has been_ demonstrated in recent byelections that the most undesirable elements in the polities of the Dominion . have everything to gain from conditions of- public apathy in which large numbers of the electors abstain from voting. The reason, of course, is that the revolutionary section is always well organised and always polls its fill! strength, in ■ eluding the_ votes of a certain number of unthinking people who do not realise what they are doing in giving their support to the party of disorder, while other parties, though thoir actual strength is greater, are by comparison 'ill-organised. • The dangers of public apathy as affording openings to the Labour-Social-ists are forcibly illustrated in the by-election figures of last year. Allowing for the fact that interest in the liquor poll makes for heavier voting at the General Election, these figures still bear impressive witness to the penalty that is visited on electoral apathy. They admit of no other interpretation than that the Labour-Socialists gained at least two of three seats simply be cause a large proportion of the electors—in one case considerably more than half—stopped away from the poll. The following • table shows in each case the number of votes cast for the successful candidate at a byolection, together with the total voting and the total then on the roll. For purposes of comparison the roll and voting totals in the same electorates 'at the last General Election are also shown : — Wellington North. •By-election—lH. 28, General Election, ■ 1918. 1011. Successful- Total Total Total Total candidate, votes on votes oncast. roll. east. roll. 2902 ' 7115 IUSS 8133 0036 J. P. Luke HJof.) returned. ' Grey. By-election—Jlav 29, 1918. 2865 5582 9219 G702 78-13 H. E. Holland (Lab.) returned. Wellington Central. Bv-election, Oct. 3, 1918. 2GGO 471.1 91S0 SOB 7 0G73 P. Eraser (Lab.) returned. Taranaki. 2832, 5504 75G1 G317 7440 S[ G. Smith (I. Lab.) returned. Palmcrston North. By-election, Dec. 19, / 1918. /2230 5392 8990 719G 8913 / J. A. Nasli (Kef.) returned. \ Wellington South. \2411 4095 8721 75G4 8535 f E. temple (La)).) returned. i It will Ijc seen that in every case the/ ratio of actual to possible voting dropped heavily at the by-election/ and that it is where the drop is most" pronounccd that Labour-Socialists ■were returned. Even in Grey, an electorate in which the extremists are in strong force, Mn. Hoi-land was returned by considerably less than a third of the electors on the roll. Mit. Eraser was returned in Wellington Central on a poll so small that the total votes of the five candidates were less than the single vote of the successful candidate (Mi:. Fletcher) at the previous election. But the most striking example of all is the Wellington South by-election in December, 1918. Considerably more than half-the electors abstained from voting, and Mn. Sejiple was elected by the votes of little more than a quarter of the electors on the roll. In his case also more votes were cast for the successful candidate at the 1014 General _ Election (Mr. Hindmarsii) than wore cast in the aggregate for all candidates at the by-election. In light of this experience, and using their common sense, electors who wish to see the country • well governed can be under no illusion as to the dangers that would arise from a poor ratio of voting at the coming election. There is a somewhat widespread tendency at this time to find ■ fault with all parties and all candidates, and to assume that the opportunity of choosing between one set of politicians and another is hardly worth bothering about. Such an attitude is only possible to those who have failed to consider soriously the critical issues
of tho day, and above all the vital fact that political apathy on tho part of any considerable section of the electors confers an excellent opportunity upon the worst and most dangerous element in the country and in politics of extending its political power. If the electors, including those who see no candidate offering of whom they can wholly approve, give car to the counsels of 'ordinary prudence, there will he no fear of light polling on December 17. What needs to be realised is that the organised efforts the Labour-Socialists constitute a living menace to the bulk of the population—a menace which the people of the Dominion can_ avert in no other way than by making full and effective use of their democratic privilege at tho ballot-box. At. present many people perhaps feel that they are able to regard the activities of the extremists from a point of detachment, and as something thai does not closely concern them in their own lives. Little thought is needed to dispel such a fallacy. At present the extremists arc devoting much of their energy to creating scenes of disorder at the meetings of their political opponents and denying them the right of free speech, which all democrats regard as sacred Only the unthinking will find iii these' demonstrations matter for amusement'' or for indifference. What needs to be realised' is that ' there tactics of disorder are typical of the whole attitude of the LabourSocialists and form jpart and parcel of a campaign in which they aim at undermining the foundations of industry and social life. Tho refusal of a hearing to political opponents is an appropriate policy on the part of those whose general aim is tho exploitation of the community by an organised minority. The people of the Dominion have already suffered heavily under the operations of the extremists. They have to thank' them for the denial of ordinary necessaries like coal, for the dislocation of industry, and for raising all possible obstacles to tho restoration of something like normal conditions of trade and industryconditions in which tho cost of living would fall. It is in the hope of being able to extend their attack on the community in a fashion that ■would entail further distress and hardship that the extremists are seeking political power. Giving due hee.d to these facts, electors ought to "find little difliculty in realising that they -have the strongest reasons for dealing in exemplary fashion with the faction which takes lawless disorder as its weapon not only at election time, but at all times. Those electors who are unable to find a candidate who in all respects meets their desires have at least an opportunity they should prize of vot-* ing for stable government and-for the maintenance of conditions consistent with ordinary" welfare. It cannot bo realised too clearly that any elcctorNvho neglects to vote, out of apathy, or because he or she is hard to please, is directly assisting the party of anarchy and inviting the extension of its destructive activites. On that point the by-elec-tion figures which have been cited are- conclusive.
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 49, 21 November 1919, Page 6
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1,248The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1919. THE DANGERS OF INDIFFERENCE Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 49, 21 November 1919, Page 6
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