WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 February 1918, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

■- ■ —» THE BY-ELECTION. (Special Correspondent.) Welling on, Eel). So. The by-election campaign is being j fought with increasing fierceness. The chief bone of contention as hid ween the | two '.Reform —National Government candidates, .Messrs Luke and Brandon, is now the liquor vole, and the healed statements and advertisements of the principals and their supporters amount really to a shout, of "wowser' on the one side and "trade nominee'' on the other side. Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward are. to address the electors tomorrow night, and it may be assumed that they will attempt to get the controversy on (o rather higher ground. Mr. Poison, the Independent Liberal candidate, 4ind his backer, Dr. Thacker, are becoming increasingly warm in their denunciation of the National Government as they proceed. They make it quite clear that they are no supporters of the present Ministry, for win-the-war purposes or any other purposes. Mr. Holland, the nominee of Labor, is outside tlie dust and noise raised by the introduction of the liquor issue. • He is showing in his speeches less reserve than he did originally on the subject of conscription, though he still keeps quite clear of other war questions. He tells his audiences that the Second Division men have one ! :ance to avoid following the unmarried lien into the trenches; they can vote Labor. He is to address a meeting of women to-morrow on the subjects, according to his announcement, of venereal disease and tlie conscription oE married men. Just how effective the appeal to personal interests and anti-Imperial sentiment will be remains to be seen. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT ON TRIAL. The position .in Wellington North, from tlie National Government's viewpoint, Ws not improved during the last few days. Mr. Luke's friends are still confident of winning the seat by a substantial majority, but to an outsider with experience of such things it is obvious that their organisation is not nearly so effective as that of the supporters of tlie Labor candidate or even of the Independent Reform candidate. They are relying too much upon the prestige and man a of the National Government, and at the moment the prestige and mana of the National Government are not exactly what they were at tlie beginning of its existence. Then Mr. Luke himself, good as his intentions are, is neither a brilliant platform speaker nor a tactful campaigner, and the hecklers attending his meetings invariably score in the eyes of the non-partisan electors off both the candidate and his supporters. THE LABOR FIGHT. The 'Labor Party, on flic other raiid. is conducting the campaign wiih extraordinary vigor, and with a nice appreciation of the factors that are weighing with the electors. On the platform i.s speakers have little to say about Mr. Luke, his merits 'or his demerits, and their silence in this respect is not without a certain measure of subtle!v. II

does not tend to magnify the importance of the Government's candidate in the eyes of the electors. But liiey are unsparing in their denunciation of the policy and administration of the National Cabinfit. Neither party represented in the Ministry is spared. Reformers and Liberals are treated alike. Hut the "main attach is reserved for the Minister 01 Defence and his department, end it is often pushed heme with a vast, amount of rather reckless assertion and illogical deduction. One of the mistakes Mr. Luke's friends are making is refraining, on the score of dignity, from answering those onslaughts. THE LIQUOR ISSUE. The electors in the constituency who attach more importance to the liquor issue than to other questions involved in the contest have managed between them to bring it into some prominence during the last day or two. From the first the friends of the trade have objected to Mv. Luke, on account of his sympathy with prohibition, alid now his opponents are branding Mr. Brandon, the Independent Reform candidate, as the nominee of the licensed victuallers. One of the results of this incidental conflict is a distinct pronouncement on the subject by The Dominion this morning. "The pilblic," the Reform organ says, ''has not overmuch patience with the interference of the liquor party, or any other vested interest, in 'matters all'ecting the conduct of the war, and the Licensed Victuallers' Association would have been well advised to keep out of a struggle in which it lias little if anything to gain, and in which it is liable to antagonise a very strong public opinion." This is taken in political circles to represent the general attitude »f the Reform party towards the Trade. THE OLD SORES The New Zealand Times, which, it may be fairly assumed, takes a somewhat different view of this particular question than the one expressed by its morning contemporary, would have the (doctors record their frank opinion of the National Government at the poll. "The clear and unmistakable issue before the electors of Wellington North," it says, "is the question whether or not the people have confidence in the National Government." How it, would decide the question itself it makes abundantly (dear. It. denounces the "military despotism" that has been set up in this country, "with its assumption of caste and its flagrant exercise of the power of patronage and privilege," recalls the "canteen scandal," the "spinal meningitis epidemic," tlie "scandals of clothing, boots and saddles," the "mattresses filled with rubbish," the "shameful discrimination" in applying conscription, the Laidlaw exemption, and a score of other "scandals," and asks the electors if they are going to condone and even approve all these by electing Mr. J. P. Luke. THE' ALTERNATIVE. - How far the newspapers represent public opinion, or assist in forming it, no one can say in these days, but if The New Zealand Times succeeds in persuading the electors of Wellington North to reject Mr. Luke and return Mr. Holland, the only alternative, the constituency will lay itself., open to the reproach of having declared against the conscription of married men and in favor of the "tapering oil" policy in connection with the war which the Labor candidate persistently, if sometimes ambiguously, lias advocated all through the campaign. Mr. Holland's return would make little difference to Parliament', so far as its own proceedings are concerned, but it would be a distinct encouragement to the forces in the country which hitherto have been kept in subjection by the sane-thinking and patriotic majority. THE MOTUIIII INQUIRY. The court of inquiry which was dircct.ed to consider the responsibility of cer-