WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE GENERAL ELECTION.

SPECULATIONS

(Our Special Correspondent)

WELLINGTON, Sept. 25 The Labour candidate and all the Independent candidates contesting the Wellington Central seat are vehemently demanding to restoration of the constitutional rights of the people,- by which they mean the. right of the electors to choose a new Parliament at the earliest possible moment. The Government- candidate has not yet taken the platform, but as lie is pledged to support the National Cabinet till the conclusion of the war it may be assumed he will concur with whatever determination on this subject -Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward may bring back from the heart of the Empire. The Ministers on the spot are not disposed to express any opinion as to what the determination of the party leaders will do Thev point to the fact that the life of Parliament has been extended to December of next year and they have received no hint from the absent Ministers that it may he desirable to disturb this arrangement. THE HISTORIC TENDENCY. Neither ihc Labour candidate nor any of the Independent candidates, while confidently predicting that an appeal to the electors would result m the present Ministry being ejected from office, has yet suggested any alternative to the Reform Liberal combination. This is the weak spot in the arguments for a speedy dissolution. Probably a majority of' the electors are more or less dissatisfied with the present Government. It seems to he the inevitable fate of a War Ministry, whether it. does well or ill. to lose favour in the constituencies. History abounds uith instances of this tendency. But there is no opposition to tile Government m the House and no organised opposition in the counrty. The disgruntled section of the community is without a leader and apparently without any prospect of finding one. In these circumstances a general electon before the conclusion of the war would be bound to confirm the National Government in office with its term extended to three years. ELECTORAL REFORMS. The spectacle of six candidates contesting the Wellington Central seat, one, it may be said, oil one side and live on the other, has directed renewed attention to the need for electoral reform. The subject is being discussed wihout any party bias. Sir Joseph Ward being as freely blamed for having chosen the second ballot rather than preferential voting as Mr. Massey is for having abolished Sir Joseph’s clunisv pedient without providing some logical substitute .and out of 'flitch talk some gootl should come. Preferential voting, of course, is applicable, in Hie commonly accepted sense, only to single electorates, and the' discussion, looking ahead, lias led one Lo the larger finest ion of proportional representation. Preferential voting would solve the difficulty that has arisen in Welling ton Central .and save the electors irom the certainty of being represented by a “minority” member; but it would not at a general election remove the anomalies that are inherent, to single electorates themselves. COST OF LIVING. Wellington people at last seem to have awakened to the fact that the price of commodities in common use arc higher in their city than in anv other considerable centre in the Dominion and tiro making a noise accordingly. This is one of the results that might have been expected from the bye-elect-ion, the cost of living being one of the handiest and most effective sticks with which tin* Government can he belaboured. Prices in the capital city, which lias good reason for being proud of its shipping facilities and its business enterprise, are substantially higher than they are in many of the small inland towns drawing tlfeir supplies front this

centre and out of sight of those being charged in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. The Board of Trade has been enquiring into the matter for some time, but so far without producing any tangible results, and now the unhappy customers are being urged to take act-