SECOND BALLOT BILL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 438, 24 September 1908, Page 2

SECOND BALLOT BILL.

There is a good deal of speculation as to what will be the fate of the Second Ballot Bill, says the Parliamentary correspondent of a contemporary. It is generally admitted that in this matter the Government have blundered, and a hope is openly expressed by several of their supporters that the bill will yet be dropped. Of course, the Premier has a good excuse at hand should he wish to drop the bill. He himself put in the 500 majority clause, and the Council knocked it out. There is therefore room for “disagreement,” and that is' often an effective method of jettisoning political goods marked “ dangerous.” It must not, however, be forgotten that, though the Prime Minister put in the clause in question, his Minister in the Upper House agreed to strike it out. One must therefore cast about for the reason of this sudden and somewhat strange change of front. Two possible reasons for the change occur to one. The first is that the Government wish to abandon the bill and prompted the amendments in the Council with that object in view. The second reason that suggests itself is that on going over the list of candidates the Government found that the 500 majority clause would act prejudicially to their interests at the coming election and that they still wish to pass the bill, but minus this clause. Politicians within the party who ought to know, believe that the bill will be proceeded with and passed. In that case, the second hypothesis is the one that must, for want of any other valid explanation, be adopted. In addition there is, of course, the trouble about the “ gag ” clause. A further trouble has arisen in connection with seamen’s votes. With the intervention of only a week between the two elections, many seamen will be disfranchised at the second ballot. The more one thinks about the bill the more unjustifiable it seems to be, and the “ gag ” proposal is the worst feature of it all. Prominent Liberals admit that it would be sufficient to wreck a Ministry in any case where parties where nearly evenly balanced. They also point out that the Council’s attitude in regard to it is another strong argument in favour of an elected Upper House. However, in a few days now we may be in a better position to judge what the fate of the bill will be.