WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 May 1922, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

. THE LABOUR CAMPAIGN. | AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. SPECIAL TO GUARDIAN. j WELLINGTON. .May 10. The fervid denunciation of the Reform Government which Mr if. E. Holland, the chairman of the Parliani'-ll-tary Labour Party, pronounced in the Wellington Town Hall on Wednesday night «as addressed to an audience consisting mainly of sympathisers with the speaker’s views and consequently it received a very emphatic endorseu cut. Mr Holland did not" mince matters. At the very outset he found an opportunity, ill acknowledging the music provided by the \\ aterside Workers’ Band for the occasion, to declare the present Government the very wost (iorbrnment any Australasian country ever had seen, and to express a hope it would be the early privilege of the Waterside Band to play Mr Massey and his colleagues out of office. This sort of talk may not impress the average elctor, hpt it makes an irresistible appeal to the disgruntled workers and so leads Mr Holland into saying too much about the crimes of his political opponents and too little about the road by which he and his friends would reach the administrative millennium. ELECTORAL REFORM. The least indefinite statement made by Mr Holland in regard to the intentions of his party had to do with electoral reform. His failure to he quite clear c-Ven here seemed to he due to the fact that he had made only n sup-.r-f:ci->] s'udv of the subject, lie described the’second ballot a« a poor al-te-native to proportional represeilta,ticn, l-ecnus', as he said, it would en'able minorities by combining to defeat majorities. But obviously no minority at tbc second ballot could deteat a niajoritv till it converted itself into a ma- : rit'*. It doe snot follow by any means that a return to the second ballot would lie a desirable step, hut there is another alternative to proportional representation in preferential voting, tot svstem embodied in the late Mr McNab’s Absolute Majority Bill of wlucu Mr Holland apparently lias, heard nothing Rv preforentia! voting the elector would complete his part of the busi-nc-s at the one ballot an 1 there would l e no further opportunities tor the parses to conspire against one another.

DIVIDED'.'FORCES. Ism without questionin'; Mi' HolI;nil's sincerity In advocating proportional representation as the only truly demoernlie method of expressing Popillai opinion, oiie iiiay douht il he and his friends always have hren coiisiS'efit in their efforts towards the achievement of this goal. They and their to Powers at the last general election eonstitu+e'-l a minority of thi : opponents pf the <tOvernineiit—n very suhstantial minority it is true—and yet they showed no disposition at all to co-operate with the other progressive forces in securing some approach to proportional representation through an inadequate system of voting. They at least must share with the Liberals the. responsibility of having put nearly a score ot their opponents into Parliament Un-midi minunl- bickerin£ votesplitting. Mr M.asM-y well may say that parties unable to manage then own affairs better than this are giving poor earnest of their ability to manage the affairs of the country. Whether or not the two parties are approaching this year’s election with any bettei understanding mere spectators do not know, hut without i* the same result is ' ' C " 'l'in'. LADOUR DKfITINY. Mi' Holland’* tribute to the two great l.iLeritl I niters, whose work, he claimed lhe Labour Party was seeking to eanv Oil was warmly applauded by lus audience, which accepted the right oi mi,cessioii as a matter oi course. Da Dance and Seddoiij he said, had laid broad and strong the foundations oil which a iruly democratic State could have bet'll Du.lt up. Hut the lesser Liberals had not dared to move forward and through their weakness and their fear the Masse v party had supped into office and n ,'w the Labour Party remaiiied as the oid.- possible saviour of the country. AViiat John Dallan.ee and Richard Seddon would liave thought of all this even their intimate friends can only conjecture, but -Mr Massey certainly would 1,0 well pleased to have the impending election decided on the assumptions Mr Holland puts forth. Meanwhile Mr Holland would discus- aspirations mi her than policies, and it is easy to understand his preference, hut ill these severely practical days the useful polltician will come down from the skies and deal with the facts as they exis‘ on this mundane sphere.