WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1927, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE If AC! LAN BY-ELECTION. ALL PARTIES IN FIELD. (Special to “ Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, Sept. 2(5. \A"itli foui' other candidates in the field, each representing a different section of the Opposition, the official Reform candidate. .Mr A. R. Waring, should not experience a great deal of difficulty in holding the Raglan seat lor the Government at the approaching by-election. ft would be a sad blow to the Prime Minister and his party, however. if. alter their over-whelming victory at the general election two years ago the second by-election of the present Parliament should give them a minority representative in place of a highly popular .Minister ol the Crown. The Reformers, recognising the possibility of such an outcome, have acted wisely in selecting as their champion “ a man of good common sense and high repute.” as Mr Waring has been described, rather than “ a mere politican ” a gentleman in no great lavour with the electors at the present time. His liomelv method of addressing his audiences already has won Mr Waring many friends, and probably a considerable number ol supporters: hut he is; handicapped hv aTI the sins ol omission of the Government and by an extremely rudimentary acquaintance with pul - lien! history. On the other hand he is respected and esteemed throughout the ennstii icncv and has tiie whole lon e of the Reform organisation at his

WE I. I .TNGTf )N INTERESTED. In these circumstances it is only natural that Wellington should be watching the contest with very considerable interest. Numerically the result. whatever it may Im*. can scarcely affect the parlies at all. But the defeat of the Reform candidate, notwithstanding the dissipation of the Opposition votes, would mean a distinct setback lo the Government, impairing both its maim and its morale. The Prime Minister still would command a majority of some thirty odd votes, hut he would he reminded of the “turn of the tide,” the “writing on the wall.” the " beginning of the end,” and the other catastrophes awaiting him. Nor would the repetition of these phrases he altogether futile. In the past they have stuck by virtue of their iteration and in the end have wrecked .Ministries. That the Government realises all ibis may he judged from the fact that the Minister of Lands, the very capable chiot ol the Retorm Party s organisation, and the Prime Minister himself have rushed oil' to assure the electors of Raglan that the continued wellare ol tin* country at large and of their constituency in particular rests in their hands. lodav there are eleven members of the House, more than one eighth ol its lull strength, in the constituency, representing every shade ol political colour, and, so far as they are concerned. the business of the Dominion may “go hang” til! the contest is

TEACHING THE YOUNG IDEA. The Prime Minister delayed his dc-

nurture- for the Raglan contest o\ot Saturday night in order that he might be present at the inaugural ■ meeting of the Wellington Suburbs branch of the Junior Reform and Constitutional '.i-ague, at which Sir Henry Cowan, a member of the British House of Commons, and the Hon. R. A. Wright, the Minister of Education, also were guests. The function clearly was one in which Mr Coates was entitled to take part, the purpose of the league being to bring up young New Zealanders in the Reloriu faith; hut exception is being taken by members of the Labour Party to aspersions cast upon their political creed by both the Prime Minister and the distinguished visitor from Home. ** it is a fact, Mr Coates is reported as saying, “ that the Socialistic movement, known more commonly as, the Labour movement, to-day stands for the socialism of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and lor the use of a common language. Esperanto.” Sir Floury Cowan, encouraged, as his Labour critics say. by Mr Coates’ lead, declared that the Labour Party at Home, “as in New Zealand,” was doing its best to undermine “ loyalty to King.

Empire and Country, and to ineulonte the doctrines of universal Socialism and Communism.” Labour’s terse retori to all this is embodied in the inquiry, “ \\ ho won the war.*’

THE REAL THING. If si;,. Henry Cowan was betrayed into a distorted conception of the aspirations of such political Labour as counts in this country, he may bo forgiven for the sake of the robust speech he made at a gathering of the Wellington brunch of the English-speaking Union earlier in the day. "Me cannot live without the Empire,” one message of his earnest talk ran. “ Great Britain with its congested population, realises that and, 1 think, you do, too. The Empire is as vital and important to Great Britain as Great Britain is to the Empire. You are very loyal. There is no Dominion so loyal as New Zealand. You are offering us through your love and devotion to the .Mother Country, advantages in excess of those offered by any other portion of the Empire. A’cm are very essential to us; and when I say that I mean also that we are equally essential to you. You cannot live unless we have command of the seas. You are as dependent on the seas as we are, but you have not the power to command the seas. Y'ou depend on the British Empire. You have been very generous. You have given a battleship to the British Navy; and we recognise and appreciate your generosity, but the broad fact is that New Zealand would not ho secure for a single day were it not for the British Navy.” Needless to say, Sir Henry’s remarks fell upon appreciative oars.