WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT'S APPEAL.. ..,.! i&ujLLEADERS .STAND TOGETHER. (Special Correspondent). Wellington, Feb 28 There were many contributing causes' to the great meeting held in the Town Hall last night. First of all, a large section of the audience, including many electors who were impelled neither by political nor personal prejudices, resented the party leaders' assumption that the "free and independents" of Wellington North were bound by the compact made between themselves concerning by-elec-tions during the course of the war. Then there was another section, consisting mainly of good Reformers, that objected to Mr. Massey'a selection of a candidate, and yet another that questioned the right of Ministers to interfere with a purely local contest. Added to those, of course, were the partisans of Mr. Luke's opponents who hoped to help their own particular candidate by discrediting as best they could the appeals made., by Mr- Masse.v and Sir Joseph Ward on behalf of the nominee. A BELLICOSE CHAIRMAN. i •Probably the chairman in his earnest desire to obtain a "fair hearing" for the two speakers was as much to blame as anyone else for what occurred. Mr. John Hutcheson. who has contested many a hard fought election hint ielf and really ought to have been better acquainted with the temper of a Wellington crowd, started badly by announcing himself, quite unnecessarily, as a strong supporter of Mr. Luke, and implying, when this confession provoked some interruption, Mr, Holland's supporters were "a howling lot of wolves.' Later he selected for ejection from the hall a young man wearing a returned soldier's badge, who had challenged Mr. Masaey's claim to have made adequate provision for the men coming back from, the front, and from this point his hold on the meeting was entirely lost.' The Prime Minister faced the storm prepared for him with bluff good humor and on the whole did very well, but all through his speech lie suffered from the chairman's opening indiscretions. MR. MASSEY'S DETERMINATION. Mr. Massey made it quite clear from the first that he intended to have his say no matter what efforts the noisy section of the audience might put forth to prevent him being heard. His resolution never wholly broke down She opposition, indeed portions of his speech to people any distance from the stage were nothing more than dumb show, but he persevered to the bitter end and gradually won a growing volume of applause from the big crowd that occasionally caught complete sentences from his stirring vindication of the policy and administration of the National Government- When he sat down after shouting, sometimes above and sometimes helow the tumult and occasionally addressing himself onlv to the reporters, lie was rewarded for his effort by an outburst of clapping and cheering which completely overwhelmed the noises of disapproval. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S CANDOR. By the time Sir Joseph Ward lose to speak the forces of the hostile demonstration were weary and to some extent broken and the Minister of Finance received a much less noisy hearing than his colleague had obtained. This was not on account of his avoiding highly controversial s.ubjects. Beginning with a sheaf of notes in bis hand he laid it aside within the first I've minutes, and" with that marvellous carrying voice of his rising above every attempt at interruption reached the uttermost corner of the hall with an appeal to the members of his party to "play the game" and honor the compact between the leaders. He was not in agreement with Mr. Luke's politics himself, and he saw as clear as day the great political revolution for the better that would come with peace, but their present job was I to win the war and towards this end every personal and party prejudice must be subjugated. It was a forcible, effective speech, made possible by the courage and persistence with which Mr. Massey had cleared the way. WELLINGTON NORTE ■ THE DAY OF DECISION", Wellington, March. l t There is a feelirtg of relief among serious people in the city to-day over the return of the National Government's candidate at the election yesterday. Mr. Brandon's friends and Mr. Poison's friends, with few exceptions, admit it Would have been a catastrophe if an opponent of the Dominion's settled war policy had been sent to Parliament by what the Prime Minister himself has described as the most intelligent constituency in the country at this extremely critical juncture in the affairs of the Empire. No sane person redly believed the Kaiser and his war lords were waiting with jubilant expectancy for Mr. Holland to be added to their allies in the great world struggle, 'but everyone realises that the success of the Labor candidate would have given encouragement to those deluded people in our midst who imagine the war ia to be won by other means than those of vigorous fighting. THE FIGURES. But while sober citizens are congratulating themselves upon what happened yesterday they are not loßing sight of the significance of the figures. At the last general election the Hon. A. L. Herdman, the Reform candidate, polled 4550 votes; Mr. W. >H. Turnbull, the Liberal candidate, 1895; and Mr. H- E. Holland, the Labor candidate, 1688—a total of 8133 votes. At yesterday's election Mr. J. P. Luke, the National Government's candidate, polled 2986 votes; Mr. H. E. Holland, the Labor candidate, 2566; Mr. A. Brandon, the Independent Reform candidate, 816; and Mr. A. J. Poison,' the Independent Liberal candidate, 720 —a total of 7088 votes. Here, with a roll increased by over a thousand, there are more than a thousand fewer votes. This means that an extraordinarily large proportion of the electors abstained from voting, presumably, on the ground that they could not find among the four candidates one whom they considered worthy olt their support. THft BEAttT OF, THE ELECTORATE. ' I:

An impartial analysis of the figures 'igjtsu J» abt»X tin,} white #BB ?f th?

TOSS votes polled were ca;i in support of the Government's war policy, or. at any rate, in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, only 2;!S;i were east in support of the Government's general administration. The first total represents the votes accorded to Mr. Luke, Mr. Brandon, and Mr. Poison, and the second total those accorded to Mr. Luke alone. The electors who voted for Mr. Luke were the only ones that gave unqualified support-to the Government, and many of these dropped their papers into the ballot-box with some reluctance and nrany reservations. The votes east for Mr. Holland, of course, were intended to express disapproval of both the Government's policy and its administration. Taken all in all the result of the election indicates that public opinion is sound in regard to the war, but growingly critical of the management of the affairs of the country. THE LESSONS. , The lessons of the contest are plain enough for Ministers and everyone else to read- Mr. Massey made a grave initial mistake in nominating Mr. J. P. Luke as the Government's candidate for the vacancy. Mr. Luke is a very worthy gentleman and a very courteous and industrious mayor, but he is lacking in all the qualities that go to make up an impressive politician. As a faithful unquestioning supporter of the Government he will serve all the purposes that lie before a member of the House in the immediate future, but when the war is over and the party truce at an end he will find himself hopelessly adrift upon the turbulent sea of politics. The party leaders must look for candidates of quite a different typo for the election which will follow upon the conclusion of peace. The revolt against Ministerial domination in Wellington North was stemmed by the presence of the war, but Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward will do well to remember it as a symptom of the approaching political revival which, according to the Liberal leader -himself, is going to change the whole character ol Parliaments.