WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 February 1918, Page 3

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT ON TRIAL. (Our Special Correspondent) WELLINGTON February 25. The position in Wellington North i from the National Government’s point of view has not improved during the last few days. Air Luke’s friends are L .still confident of winning the seat by a substantial majority, but to an •outsider with experience of such things it is obvious their organisation is not nearly to effective as. that of the supporters of the Labour candidate <ur oven the Independent Reform, candidate. They are relying too much upon the prestige and name of ike National Government and at the moment the prestige and name of the National Government are not exactly wlmt they were at the beginning of its existence. Then Mr Luke himself,' good as his intentions are, is neither a brilliant platform speaker nor a tactful campaigner and the hecklers attending his meetings .invariably score in the eyes of the non-partisan electors off both candidate and his supporters. THE LABOUR. FIGHT.

The Labour Party, oh the other hand is conducting ’ the campaign with extraordinary vigour and with a nice appreciation of the factors that are weighing with the electors. Oil the platform, fits speakers have little to say about- Mr Luke, his merits or his demerits, and their silence in this respect is not without a. certain amountof subtlety. It does not tend to magnify the importance of the Government’s candidate in the eves of the electors. But they are unsparing in their denunciation of tho policy and administration of the National Cabinet.

Neither parly" represented in the Ministry is spared. Reformers and Liberals are treated alike. But the main attack is /reserved for the Minister of Defence and his Department, and it, is o/ten pushed home with a vast amount of rather reckless assertion and illogical deduction. One of the mistakes Air Luke’s friends are making is retVa.inirig, on the score of dignity, from answering these onslaughts. THE LIQUOR. ISSUE.

The electors in the- constituency who attach more importance to the liquor issue than to other questions involved in the contest, have managed between them to bring it into some prominence during the '. last day or two. From the first the friends of the Trade have objected to Mr Luke on account of his sympathy with prohibition, and now its onponents are branding Air Brandonlndependent Reform candidate, as the nominee of the licensed victuallers.

One of' the results of the incidental conflict is a -distinct pronouncements on the subject by the “Dominion” this morning. “The public,” the Reform organ says, “lias not over-much patience with the interference of the Liquor Party or any other vested interest t in matters affecting the conduct of the war, and the- Licensed Victuallers’ Association would have Keen well-advis-ed to keep out of a struggle in which it has little if anything to gain and in which it is liable to antagonise a very strong public. opinion.” This is taken in political circles to represent the general attitude of the Reform Party towards the Trade. THE OLD 'SORES.

The “New Zealand Times” which, it may he fairly assumed, takes a somewhat different view of- this particular question than the one expressed by its morning contemporary, would have the electors record their frank opinion of the National Government * at .the poll. “The clear and nnmistakeable issue before the electors of Wellington North,’’ it says, “ is? the question whether or not the people have confidence in the National Government. How it would decide the question itself it makes abundantly clear. Tt denounces the ‘military despotism’ that has been set up in this country, “with its assumption of caste and its flagrant exercise, of the power of patron age and privilege,” recalls the “canteen scandal,” the “spinal meningitis epidemic ” the “scandals of clothing, bools and ’saddles,” the “mattresses filled with rubbish,” the “shameful discrimination” in applying conscription, the ILaidlnw exemption, and a score of other “scandals” and asks the electors of they are going to condone and even approve all those by electing Air ,T. P. Luke.

THE ALTERNATIVE

T-Tow far the newspapers represent public opinion, or assist in forming it, no one can say in these days, but if the “New Zealand Times” succeeds in persuading the electors of Wellington North to reject Air. Luke and return Air. Holland, the only alternative, the constituency will lay itself open to the reproach of having declared against the conscription of married men and in favour of the ,“tapering off” policy in connection with the war which the Labour candidate persistently, if sometimes ambiguously, has advocated n]l through the campaign.. Air. Holland’s return would make little difference to Parliament so far as its own proceedings are concerned, but it would be a distinct, encouragement to forces in the country which hitherto have been kept in subjection by the sane thinking and patriotic majority.