WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 March 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

SHADOW OF THE ELECTIONS,

QUICKKXING INTERESTS,

(Special to “Guardi-.n”.)

WELLINGTON, March Iff

Interest in the approaching general election, which, in the ordinary course will take place in December next, inis been quickened during the last few weeks hv the activities of the party leaders.' The Prime .Minister himself has been nimble to take the platform, on account of his nnfortnate llness. Init from his sick room he has addressed more or less directly, several manifestos to the electors which have been very widely circulated. It is being taken for granted that .Mr Massey will not this year he able to undertake such an extensive and strenuous campaign as he did in 1 1122; hut it is honed that he will he able to address meetings in the principal centres and that his colleagues will he able to lill the gaps. Meanwhile the Reformers’ preliminary preparations are being entrusted to lion A. I). McLeod, the Minister of Lands, who probably, next to Mr Massey, is the member of the Cabinet best fitted lor the task, lie has the breezy manner and the sanguine temperament of his chief, with the very material advantage of comparative youth thrown in, and though lii.s knowledge of public nllairs is not yet very profound, he appears to have made a good impression in the constituencies lie liars visited. He returned here on Saturday from a hurried

iin through portions of the South Is-

land. incidentally attending to various matters in connection with his Department, and to-day he gives an encouraging report of the prospects of Reform on the other side of the Straits. THE LIBERAL OUTLOOK.

Save during his occasional Lilts with the .Ministerial director of jhe Reform organising arrangements, Mr T. M. Willord. the leader of the Official Opposition, has not lately been s.i much in the public eye as the Him. A. D. Mel.eod has been. But the Liberal leader is not allowing the grass to grow under his feet, it is due to him to say. however, that he has scrupulously observed the rules of the game in connection with the Prime Minister’s illness, taking no advantage of entrance into the campaign. But,

apart from all this, he does not enjoy the facilities a member of the Cabinet does for keeping in touch with every const it iiency within the Dominion. On the other hand, he possesses the advantage of being on the attacking side

with the legislative and administrative sins of his party, real and imaginary,

forgotten by nine-tenths of the electors of the present clay. .Meanwhile Mr Willord professes to he quite unconcerned by the reiterated appeals of the Reformers lor “fusion” in order that the country may he saved from the wicked machinations of Labour. He could understand, lie says, the Hon. A. 1). McLeod, and even some of his mole experienced colleagues, desiring this step as a sort of sacrificial ottering to 11 io Government in its hour of trouble; but he would not. he a party to leading the Liberals into the Reform camp even if they showed any disposition to he led that way. lit his own opinion, parly made fusion would not help the Government in the least. Every elector would lie al liberty next December to “fuse” as he pleased. I ill then his duty was to the party that returned him. labour's aspirations. Mr Wilford's views of the effect t.l fusion is supported to some extent by the fact that the Labour leaders are even more anxious than the Reform leaders are to get rid of the Liberal Party. During his recent electioneering tour through the North Island. Mr H. E. Holland made it abundantly clear to his audiences—which consisted of course, mainly of electors already converted to his way of thinking—t hat he regarded the continued existence of the" Liberal Party as the chief obstacle standing in the way of Labour s passage to the Treasury Benches. Wi!h the ‘‘effete lib: rid Party” nut of the way. he implied again and again, the future of Labour would he assured. Though he did not express it in so many words, his expectation evidently was that when the Official Liberals crossed over to Reform many members of the party would ally themselves with Labour". Probably hi; hones were not. without Inundation. I hough the Reformers* have accepted from Mr Mo - sey a p iliey ill many respects even more progressive than any Mr Sedd-m carried through, the old school ol laterals cling tenaciously to the Srddonian traditions, while the younger selionl look with no greats disfavour upon the .Labour programme. 'lbis is not to say that they regard complacently t he prospect of Mr 11. E. Holland and .Mr peter Fraser directing the public affairs of Ibe Dominion. Thus is iiqf the ease. But they would welcome a fusion between the Liberal and Labour parties that seemed likely to restore the old Liberal-Labour Alliance. PARTIES’ PROSPECTS.

Ft seems here limb the propositi lor it fusion between the Reform I’artv ami liberal Party may Ito definitely set. aside its impracticable. Whether it would provide any safeguard against the inroads of Labour is doubtful. Neither Mr Wilfurd himsell nor the whole of the Liberals in the House could hope to carry more than a hare majority of the l.iheral (“lectors with them, unless the Reformers "'ere prepared to make very generous eoticcssions to their new sillies. The spirit which is impelling the Liberal electors of I’ieeartoii in bringing out a candidate against Mr George Witty is the spirit which prevails among the mass of the electors. Ft is in the British f lood to he governed bv parties, and though the virtue of fidelity to one side or the oilier may he exiitrgernied, it is a virtue most electors hold in high repute. Mr Massey's absence from the thick of the fray during the approaching contest may prejudice the cause ul Reform to some ex lent, and though the inevitable sympathy for the wounded soldier will count for something, it will not he surprising to see the parly losing two or three seats to (.about. Whether it can recover as many, and a few more, from the i.literals remains to he seen ; but if it does not, .Mr Massey and his colleagues, even if they escape a slill greater misfortune, will have to seriosuiy consider their position. A Labour floverdnment in olliee. with Iho Liberals holding the balance of power,

its was the ease in England a year ago, is among the predictions of the club and the street corner.