WELLINGTON BY-ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON BY-ELECTION.

The Gvenvhclmiii" victory of Itr. Fni.-'or in the Wellington Central by-elect lon yesterday can give no cause for satisfaction to loyal New Zealaiulers. Mr. Fra. ser is no moderate Laborite. He is one of the - greatest extremists in the community; a political anarchist who would upset the whole of the social structure and build it on his own narrow and insane lines. He is against conscription; he is not particularly concerned with the winning

loyalty. . "I Jhink I am loyal," he saidj at one oi his• meetings, "but I am also! loyal to the Workers of the World"— that is, the I.W.W. organisation. Thisj is the type o£ man Labor has sent to; Parliament to represent it. Had Wei-, lington Central elected Mr. Mack, who is a moderate and constitutional Labor man, and who for years has strenuously supported all legitimate Labor movements, no fault could bo found. The seat is essentially a Labor one, wharf workers and seamen's votes predominating, and it was expected a Labor candidate would be returned, but the electors cannot be complimented upon their selection. Labor—extreme, aggressive Labor—has declared its intention of gaining control of the political machine, and it has been singularly successful in the last two by-elections, where the candidates with moderate and sound views have been decisively defeated. Both Grey and Wellington Central are, of course, essentially Labor constituencies, but the significance of the results should not be lost on the public. It looks very much like our having in New Zealand in the near future the same conditions as obtain in Australia—extreme Labor on the one side and the moderates on the other. The old party lines, it seems certain, will not continue to exist after the war. Were the Labor party directed by sane and moderate counsels no harm would result from it becoming a powerful party, but the men at the head of it in New Zealand to-day have no time at all for such; they will only have extremists like themselves, and this is a real danger that the country would do well to safeguard itself against.