AS OTHERS SEE IT.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 November 1922, Page 2

AS OTHERS SEE IT.

THE WEST-LAND SEAT

(From Saturday’s Lyttelton Times.) Tlie bosses of the Reform Part} ought to call their candidate for Westland to older. In liis opening speed at Hokitika during the week Mr Steer is reported to have condemned the administration ol' the Railways 11s “week and uubusiness like”. This is too bad just when Mr Guthria had been explaining that the bad state of the railways is due to a variety of reasons which in combination defeated the strength and genius of the Minister and his Department. Well may the go (1 Reformers say in regard to Mr Steer’s remarks, “We are wounded in the house of our friends.” Of course the candidate is right. The administration of the railways has been and if shocking, and it costs the taxpayers thousands of pounds every day. All important point is that the management of the railways is one of the Government’s principal jobs—and, as Mj: StOer says, the job is being very badly performed. By the way, it is to he supposed that the Reform Party knows what it is doing in Westland. It desires, of course, to see Mr Seddon put out of Parliament because he is a Liberal and because Liberalism is very distasteful to the Reformers. They know that the only way to do this is to divide the electors into three parts, in the hope that their man will get the largest portion. They do not really expect a majority for him, and they do not care a straw about that. They also are aware that Westland is traditionally a Liberal-Labour constituency, and that while their man is not likely to win there is a possibility of his candidature securing the election of an extremist. On the one hand, they are waving the flag and talking of loyalty. On the other, they are doing what is in their power to help the candidate they think belongs to the dislpyal party to defeat the sitting member, [ whose loyalty not a single member of the Reform Party dare doubt or impeach. Another course was, however, open to the Reformers. They might have refrained from nominating a candidate and then have tried to encompass Mr Seddon’s downfall by voting “Red,” as theycall it. This is what they did in the Avon electorate in 1919, as the figures prow, and we believe ths eaine tactic was used to a considerable extent in other Christchurch seats. However, so far as Westland goes, Mr Seddon ought to be strong enough for both his opponents. He should be able to defeat the Reformers and the Reds either separated or combined. >