WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 5 October 1918, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

WELLINGTON CENTRAL. THE LABOUR VICTORY. ."' (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Oct 4, It was obvious long before the closing of the poll yesterday that the official Labour candidate would score an easy victory in the contest for tho Wellington Central seat. His organisation was admirable in every respect. His workers and his motor cars were everywhere at exactly the right time and in the pre-arranged order. His committee at the central booth could tell you as the day progressed how many Labour votes had been polled and within a few tens how many Reform," how many Liberal and how many Independent. Thirty minutes before the booths closed a member of the committee forcasted the exact order in which the candiddates ultimately stood on the poll and allotted to each of the first three his number of votes within a hundred. This is typical of the precision with which the party carried out all its arrangements, THE OTHER SIDE. Quite a different state :of affairs on the other side was discovered early in the day. Mr. Mack had numbrs of enthusiastic friends working for him, some wisely and some unwisely, and probably he polled most of the votes he could have secured in the circumstancs; but his endorsement by the "two P's," as they came to be called, the Prohibitionists and the Protestant Association, set strong forces to work against him and with this handicap it is doubtful if he would have fared much better than he did even If had: not encountered the double fire of the official Liberals and the official Labourites. As for poor Mr. Hildreth, he has good reason to complain of his treatment by both the Liberals and the Reformers. They simply put him in the field and then left him to shift for himself. !>;, THE NATIONAL CABINET.

Mr. Hildreth is in some measure to blame for his defeat in that he went; very'much out of -his way to announce from, the platform that while ' enduring the National Government' during the course of the war he was an out and out supporter of the Liberal Party. He,might have left as much as that to, be taken for granted. But his indiscretion gave loyal Liberals and loyal Reformers a wholly insufficient excuse for turning a deaf ear to the appeals of Sir James Allen and the Hon; W. D. S. MacDonald for their assistance in proclaiming to the world at large the determination of the Dominion to discharge to" the full its pledge of the last man and the last shilling in the cause of righteousness and freedom. According to the Labour .Party's precise figures not more than a couple of hundred Reform voters went to the pell and scarcely five hundred recognised Liberals. WHAT IT ALL MEANS.

Mr. Fraser upset all the predictions : of his opponents and all the expectations of his friends by emerging from ' the contest, not merely as a minority representative, but as a majority rep- ' resentative with a margin of over 600 ' votes. This is a result of which the new member and his party well may be proud, but their pride should be ra- ■ ther in the excellence of their .organisation than in the response of the con- - stituency. There were approximately '< 9176 persons on the roll and from this i number Mr. Fraser secured 2668 votes, a shade fewer than 29 per cent of the total, with the very best orj ganisation and the finert effort any party could possibly put forth. This (surely means that the election was not determined by the support awaiting the parties in the constituency, but by the earnestness, enthusiasm, and organisation of the party that won. The lesson for the other parties ought not to be hard for them to Tead. ALL ABOUT AN "INDISPENSABLE." CLERK OF COURT AT FEILDING, WELLINGTON, this day. The appointment of an "Indispensable" exempted reservist from the head office of the Justice Department to be Clerk of Court at Feilding, was referrei to by the Hon. T. 'wilford. ! He disclaimed any knowledge of the appointment, and said the matter was one for which the Public Service Commissioner was responsible. The Public Service Commissioner explains that the military status of the man in question was entirely a matter for the Justice Department and the Military Service Board. The appointment had been made by the Commissioner in the usual way, taking account of seniority and general fitness in making the appointments and promotions. It, would not be fair for the Commissioner to consider whether he was eligible for service or not.