WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 4 November 1931, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS

HEART OF THE EMPIRE

THE MOTHER -LAND LEADS

(Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, October 31. The attention of the Capital City during the week has been engaged much more intensely with the general election in the Mother Country than it has been with the progress of the Dominion’s own Parliament. It is not, too mucn to -say, indeed, (hat throughout Wednesday and Thursday members of the House generally, paid much ploser attention to the messages coining through from (London than they did to the various matters on their Order Paper each day. It was obv.ious from the very first that a majority of them were well disposed towards the Imperial Government and that Mr Stanley 'Baldwin, Mr Ramsay [MacDonald and the good sense of a big majority of the British people were the bulwarks to which they might safely commit themselves and their belongings. Mr Baldwin’s message was particularly ■inspiring. “This,” he urged, “is no party victory.-’ It is an emphatic declaration in favour of national cooperation to restore the fortunes of our country.’’ And h : -s words rang true and clear to a whole nation.

a* . : • : i ; j THE PARTIES. At the time of- writing, with half a dozen results still to be reported, it looks, roughly, as if ' some 16,000,000 votes had been cast for the Government (Conservatives, National Labour, National Liberal’, and National Independents) and some 7,000,000 (Labour, Liberal and “Others”) for the Opposition. If this really is the position to be revealed then the Government instead of having close upon nine-tenths of the votes polled, should have had little more than iwothirds as would have been the case under the system of proportional representation. In the circumstances one may be thankful that the existing system of election, obviously a defective one, has worked out so well for the. needs and the stability of the Empire. It ,is not pleasant to think of what might have happened had .Mr 'Arhur Henderson anti his colleagues . reversed the positions. Hi-'ppily -such a contingency has been wholly dissipated, and with a strong sane Government at the head of affairs the mation. may breathe confidently again.

“GRAVE DANGER.” Mr H. E. Holland, now the Leader of the Opposition in the New Zealand Parliament, in the course of an interview shortly after the debacle of the Labour Party at home became obvious, told a sorry tale of the future that lay before the (British Empire. “Britain’s hour of gravest danger,” he -said,..“-strikes with the decisive victory of the Conservatives and ;the loss of their Parliamentary, and". constitutional effectiveness by-the---Organised workers;- It is true that this is a direct result of votes cast by a considerable section of the workers themselves; but' that fact does not diminish the gravity of the situaion. With round abotit 30 per cent, of the total voting strength the workers are,, left with less than 8 per cent, of the representat’on.” In a column or so of lament of this kind Mr Holland endorses the statement of the “Manchester Guardian” that the election campaign just concluded “is the shortest and most fraudulent in our time,” and that Mr ißamsay MacDonald’s tragedy is just beginning.

THE FUTURE. The leader of the New Zealand Labour Party in the House of Re p rese nta t:-es thinks it very unlikely that Mr MacDonald willt be permitted by the Conservatives to remain very long at the head of the nfiw Administration, inline probably his prediction is wed founded. Viewed from, this distance, with much information' bearing on the position still to come,; Vrt would seem that Mr Stanley Baldwin is .better entitled and better equipped than is .Mr MacDonald for ■the leadership of the new Parliament. This, -however,;, is.'a for those immediately .concerned ; ' : to determine. Meanwhile iU'will interest many ejectors in this country id learn that Mr .Baldwin is an advocate for sane electoral reform. Given the opportunity .-h.e will take steps to .gee that ieally represents the mass of' the people and not merely a section large or small that happens to profit, as the one last week did, by the vagaries of the ballot. Mr MacDonald has made suggestions in this direction, but they have been overwhelmed by Labour prejudice.