The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1919. NEEDS OF THE MOMENT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3345, 25 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1919. NEEDS OF THE MOMENT.

With which its incorporated “The Taihape Post‘. and Waimarino News.”

It is remarkable that while Mr Massey and his party are trying to make much capital but of the expressed detcrmination to have no dependence whatever on the Labour vote in the coming Parliament, -protesting that they would sooner relinquish the Treasury Benches than retain them for a. minute by any help of Labour extremists, Labour candidates throughout the country are most bitterly opposing Liberals, while giving very little or no attention to Reform candidates. It is also remarkable that Reform candidates and many somewhat irresponsible Reform Party newspapers should be claiming supreme Virtue for Mr Massey having stated that any Government -he might be in should not be tainted with a Labour vote in the House, while they are also plainly stating that Sir Joseph VVard has indicated that he will link his party up with Holland and company, Seeing that the fact is, both Reform and Liberal leaders have equally expressed almost identical views about their attitude towards extreme Labour whatever its strength in the new Parliament may be. This is the more singular because Labour candidates in the constituencies are favouring Reformers, virtually saying that Mr Massey would prove to be putty as compared with Liberal adamant. At the ‘hustings Labour is giving both Libertals and Reformers a rather merry -time, heckling some of both throughout the wholc meeting, preventing continuous policy speeches being made. On the other hand Labour candidates meet with no such interruptions, but are listened to attentively and even -votes of thanks and confid.ence are not meeting with the slightest opposition. What is not understandable under any View of political ethics is the bitter, even dishonest, attitude of some Reform newspapers to sane Labour candidates, who have proved their Worth ‘in previous parliaments, while giving ‘the Holland and Semple candidates, ‘if not encouragement, then a free, clear course. Yet these very D-eWS-papers are claiming cardinal virtues for Mr Masseyi’s entire repudiation and scathing rejection of anything having the odour of Bolshevism. The only explanation seems to be that those newspapers have taken on an electioneering job that is too "big, for them. Otlier more responsible Reform journals are given a very hard row to hoe; they are still .protest'lng fiilat there must be a Eiberal-Reform coalition in the House to render innocuous the extre-mist element. These newspapers‘ Still urge that a strong government should be formed out of the best material in both parties, 'but, unfortunately, Mr Massey is stating through press a’n"d by proclamation that the Liberal Chief is talking arrant rot; that his statements are pure humbug, and that he is _an irrespons--3310 Dolitician. From this it would appear that what the best Reform journals are endeavouringto build up against the dangers of extreme Labour‘ having the controlling voice and vote inrthef new Parliament, Mr Masseyfis thoughtlessly; ,_‘i'_ndisc,rcetly"' “pulling

down. There is a notable lack of accord and niclthod between what the Reform chief says and what Refol'lu journals printin this rather vital conuection. While -Mr Massey Will De!’sist in making such stateiiicntsfipabout Sir Josepr Ward, to say nothingfalbout the ‘gratuitous abuse and insult; 3113“ thing else .he“‘s:ars cannot be taken seriously. We cannot conscientiously write down Labour's interruption‘ of political speech so long as the Reform chief indulges in such unprovoked, unvouchcd vile tactics. "The W 0 015partics in the House might be expected -to set an exaniple to the‘ y°lmß9l' party, and we trust that in the interests of New Zealand there will he a revision of electioneering lllotllod‘S in some quarters, a levelling up. 510 i it still further levclllmg down. In this electoratte there is little to complain about; Liberal and Reform candidates met with some annoyance at their Mai-ton meetings, and one ca:m;l.i~date was h'c<c’kled all; Wanganui, but fronl reportg of the progress of -c'loclt'ionccl= ing in that locality there is l.iit:tl-e room for s‘u,upriise. In the Taihtape fd’is.‘tr'ict the policy speeches of all ~'calll'd'i-dates, Liberal Reform and Labour ‘have been latteaiztliwely listened to, and conditions at meo‘ti‘ll-‘gs -have prevailed that are conducive to selecting a canrdivdate to support ssuch a government as is the most vital .need in the hitherto lunprcccdented circumstances. Some Members of the late Parliament, who supportcd Mr .-Massey, have frankly stated that they will, in ‘-the rparliamcnt to ‘the ‘elected, support ‘whichever of the two «old parties is strongest. and it "is ‘not iunlikly there will be s.uflicient of 'sfl'l'.lg,'C-11155‘ to snatch ‘from the extremists the balance of power ‘they would otherwise hold. ‘These men, who are mostly standing as Independents, may also save the country from being plunged into another general elloctionarfter the close of ‘the first session, of course, this "is assuming that extreme Labour is not more ‘powerful lin“t'he new House thanin the ‘old. This aspect of the present election is of paramount 'imp’or'tande': fthe ‘most vital need of the -‘moment is ‘getting the lcountry‘ back to normal ‘conditions; lrepatriation ‘is seriously lagging, and ircconstruction ‘is virtually ‘untouched. We are assured itihat satisfactory conditions ‘can only ‘be reached by doubling the Volume of this country's production. It ‘is, -or should lbc, apparent to all "intelligent ‘people that there "never was such ;a ‘need in this colony for sending honest, thoroughly capable, trus"twor.th-y and discreet men to iParliament as there is on the present occasion. The personol of the new Pal'lianlcllt. may spell the difference between revolution and contentment; between rotrogression and unparallelled prospcrit,,.. Bad as times were when the Atkinson Conservative Government found it necessary to cut down, more than once, the salaries of all Civil servants, not excepting the Governor and :\.'HlllSt€‘l‘S as well as the poorest ‘temporary clerk ‘in the service, those times are positively uucomparable in 'wre’tched'ncss' and want with what may be some -‘few years hence if fhc present election does not produce a Parliament composed of the best politically -equipped and most trustworthy men that are ~oft‘ering their serviccs. We earnestly appeal to electors in this constituency to vote for the icandidate who ‘is ‘in e-very Way most worthy of their confidence. and if all constituencies do likewise there will be nothi-ng ‘in the future to fear. There is not a disscnticnt voice to the need for more production; whatever may be said ‘to the contrary durillg election time the shipping situation is blacker for the future than ever it has been in the past; there is a truly desperate shortage of labour, and a system of immigration cannot in common liumanity be instituted, unless we are going to house all new-comers in caves and tentisffor there. is already an inhuman shortage of places wherein Deople may decently lay thir heads; the financing of the f‘lt]].].(\r will prove the most Herculean task this colony has ever been faced wifli; the needs of a Government possessing utmost ‘constructive ability was never greater‘ than at the present juncture, men -who M 311? gifted as organisers and leaders of men; strong men are requisite for swceping away the outra-ges of profit091's such as those of the Coatres Cotton Pack, but let those men constitute a Government that after striking the blow t 0 MOllB6 outrage, can, with the same- arm remedy the wrong that caused the outrage; industrial and

social conditions in New Zealand are so diseased at the present moment that only the Master Physicians amongst us can save and bring tnem back to robust health. If we mam any pretentious to patriotism let us shun all other considerations in the-present‘ parliamentary Struggle and vote only for the man that is capable of, and can be relied upon in face of party differences, as trustworthly, and in every other respect, is a man in whom the utmost confidence can be placed under all circumstances. V There is no time for calling each other fools and humobugs, the cofmti-_y expects something .better. . L . ' V