WELLINGTON BY ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON BY ELECTION.

ANOTHER LABOR TRIUMPH. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Dec. 20. Thanks to the energy and organisation of the Labor Party, to the apathy of the other parties and to the operation of the "party truce," Mr Robert Semple easily defeated his two opponents in the by-election for Wellington tn Thursday. As at the previous by-elections for Wellington North and Central the Labor Party spared no effort to secure success, and the votes polled by the new member probably represent the full measure of its strength in the constituency At the general election four years ago the late Mr Hindmarsh, who was supported by both the Labor and Liberal parties, polled 4279 votes, Mr J. P. Luke, the champion of the Reform Party, 3064, and Mr R. B. Williams, an independent, 221 a total of 7642 votes. Yesterday Mr Semple polled 2412 votes and the two Independent candidates between them 1678, a total of 4090 votes. The figures tell the whole story of yesterday's contest.

PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE. This being the case neither of the Independent candidates opposing Mr Semple had the slightest chance from the first. The three local papers appealed to the electors to save the constituency from the reproach of returning a '-disloyalist" to represent them in Parliament, but the great majority of the Reform and Liberal voters refused' to be moved, into action. Mr Semple's presence in Parliament, they said, was not going to affect the war policy of the country one way or the other, the other candidates had no claim upon their support and anyhow the Government had given them no lead. The Evening Post scolded the Government for its inaction, the New Zealand Times called the blood-stained fields of Europe to witness against the policy of the Labor Party, and the Dominion regretted the election should go by default. But the Labor Party alone was stirred to enthusiasm.

RIGHT OP SUCCESSION. The way of the Labor Partv was made all the easier yesterday by the fact that neither the Liberal Party nor the Reform Party felt called upon to take any part in the contest. Mr Hindmarsh belonged to neither of these parties, though, of course, his sympathies were generally with the Liberals, and neither of the party leaders felt they had any right of nomination in the constituency. Sir Joseph Ward before he left for London gave it as his opinion that though the Labor members ot the House had not subscribed to the party truce the spirit of the agreement conferred upon them the same right of succession in the case of a by-eiection as it reserved for the Liberals and Re< formers. In view of the many politicians this was straining chivalry a little too far, but no one seems to iiave had energy enough to seriously challenge the Liberal leader's decision.

PROM PRISON TO PARLIAMENT Mr Semple himself never had any doubt about the result of the contest and of course he regards the successes of the Labor Party in Wellington as a good omen for the vindication of the principles of Irue democracy at the next general election. But, off'the platform at any rate, he is not hugging to himself any delusion about the future. He does not expect the Labor millennium to arrive to-morrow or the day after, but the fact that Mr Holland, Mr Fraser and himself, companions in prjson, and now fellow members in Parliament fills him with high hopes. He believes that industrial bitterness and strife will disappear before an educated public conscience and that the workers will attract to their side the big battalions necessary to secure the ultimate triumph of the practical humanitarianism of which they are dreaming.