The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1914. THE OUTLOOK.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 293, 9 December 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1914. THE OUTLOOK.

It is not very likely that there will j bo any great change in the position of political parties as a. result of the 1914 elections which take place tomorrow. On both sides here and there seats will be lost and won, but! the indications are that the balance is very even and the country is not looking for a radical change or a, clean sweep either in favor of the Government or against it. Generally speaking the election campaign lias passed off quietly, and we are glad to note that earlier predictions of l a. bitter contest have not been borne out b.N actual happenings. Everywhere too strenuous supporters of a particular candidate will'make themselves objectionable, and occasionally a section of the community which can hardly bo token seriously sets out to make what it conceives to be “fun.” The smoking out of the Premier’s meeting at Ponsonby may possibly be an example. If so it was in exceedingly bad taste. But New Zealanders are too good-humored and too fond of fair play all round to permit much real rowdyism. In the Stratford Electorate, so far as we can learn, the battle of the hustings has been fought fairly and honorably and in great goodwill. We trust this spirit will be maintained right to the finish of the contest, and that no feeling may rankle in the breasts of friends and neighbors who, though opposed in the more matter of choice of a. political Party, are yet hound to stand together in the interests of their town and district. Experience has proved that whoever guides the Ship of State, his powers for good or evil are very limited, and with the close scrutiny of the “outs” always with them, the “ins” are more careful of the course they sail than they arc generally given credit for. Nine-, tenths of the tales of political corruption, perfidy and wrong-doing, are just an effort of somebody’s imagination. Charges of political misdoings, in New Zealand at any rate, on investigation usually prove ground, less or at most built on such slender

foundations that tho light of enquiry causes thorn to shrink into very trivial faults. People are rather too apt to accept gleefully discreditable stories, and unfortunately some there are only too ready to invent them. It is time we gave more attention to our political manners.