WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3447, 29 March 1920, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS

SIR JAMES ALLEN’S RESIGNATION.

ELECTION OF SUCCESSOR.

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, March 26.

‘ Sir James Allen placed the resignation of his seat in the House of Representatives in the hands of the Prime Minister before ‘his departure with the Samban Party, and its gazetting may be taken as an indication that Mr Massey is sufficiently recovered from his recent operation to dispense with the assistance of his first lieutenant, and is anxious to get his new team into harness as speedily -as possible. In all prcbability the polling for the return of Sir James’ successor in the representation of Bruce will take place towards the end of next month, and though the result cannot materially affect the strength of parties in the House it will be awaited with considerable interest in political circles here. There is some talk of the Labour Party putting up ‘a candidate with a view to diverting votes from the Liberal nominee, but though tac-: tics of this kind were admittedly employed at the general election it seems unlikely they will be repeated on the present occasion. ‘ THE LIBERAL OPPOSITION. ‘There is a good deal of the canny Scot about the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald, and he is not inclined to blazon abroad his intentions in regardl to the two impending by—elections, But I the new leader of the Liberal Opposi— ‘ tion does not believe the progressive forces in the country are permanently estranged. There are, he says, quoting Mr Asquith, many roads they can travel together, and one of these, he thinks, is towards the unoflicial constitution of a strong Opposition in the , interests of the country as a whole. Having regard to some recent utter’-I un‘ces by the Ministhr for Lands he fears there is a disposition on the part of‘ a certain section of the Cabinet to! renounce some of the first principles of progressive settlement, and if this is so it is a menace to the community that will have to be watched very closely. Then the Government can be kept up to the mark in other respects only by an effective Opposition, and it is here Liberalism and Labour can find a common ground for eifort. ‘ THE LAND BOOM. Though business men in the city deprecate striking any note of alarm, many of them agree with the Auckland Star in its comments upon the sensational land sale at. Feilding this week. The high prices being paid for dairying land. they point out, hang. entirely upon the high price being realised for but'ter—fat. Neitlier meat nor wool can be produced at a profit even at these huge figures. The dan~ ger is that wiith all the world driven to economise, as seems inevitable, a. lessened demand for milk-produe~':s will bring about an over-supply and a drop in prices which will be immediately reflected‘ in the value of land. But whether this peril is an imminent one or not every disinterested authorrity joins with the “Star” in ‘thinking the elimination of the speculator in dairy land a consummation devoutly to be wished. THE LIBERAL DEFEAT. An old member who will sit on the Reform side of the new House gave it as his opinion ‘this morning that Sir Joseph Ward was quite mistaken in attributing the defeat of his party‘ at the December election to religious bigotry. “Thank God,” he said, “the country is free from that iniquity.” But apart from the relative merit.s of the policies put forward by the party leaders, there are three factors, he contended, which contributed to Mr Massey’s (zeeisive minority victory. First of all, there was the definite split between the Liberals and Labour‘. That meant about halving the strength of the ‘old Opposition in the country. Then there was a large transfer of Prohibition voters from the other two parties to the Reform Party. Rightly or} wrongly the Prohibitionists thought-l Sir Joseph Ward the friend of the‘ Liquor Trade and they know Mr Mas-, scy as the author of six o’clockt closing. This, perhaps, was the most: important facto‘i" of the three. Fin-A ally, there was the far better organisation of the Reformers assuring the concentration of their forces, The P.P.A. did not influence a couple of thousand votes outside Sir .Toseph’s own constituency.