THE NEEDS OF THE HOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 September 1919, Page 4

THE NEEDS OF THE HOUR.

The tasks of reconstruction will prove infinitely complex, demanding the best of every order of intelligence. There will be need in the next Parliament of men with a sound knowledge of economics to point out the dangers of the patli which theorists and extremists would tread. There will be need of inen with large vision and indomitable courage to express and apply to domestic politics the ideals born of the war, There will be rare scope for statesmanship in snatching at the social millenium on which all honest hearts are set, and introducing an instalment to the Statute Book. There will bo a place for men with a strong sense of justice to hold the scale evenly between class and class. Above and beyond all, there will be need of men of unquestioned patriotism, not afraid to engage treason, sabotage, and anarchy in whatever forms they may bo expressed. In a word, the next Parliament should be representative of all that is best and most resolute in the community. It should exhibit qualities of brain and heart such •as few Parliaments have possessed, and it therefore becomes the duty of those who have the precious gifts their countrymen require to offer themselves for election. Party labels will not matter very much. The events of the war period have sensibly weakened political affiliations, and candidates uf outstanding merit may rest assured of strong support, no matter on which side they may stand or whether they maintain independence. The constituencies will be unusually critical of mediocrity and intolerant insincerity. An exceptional opportunity is oifered to men who have earned confidence by the capacity they have shown as soldiers or in local government or other phases of public life, and if they will come forward in sufficient numbers the electors may be trusted to choose a Parliament worthy of the great task of reconstruction. No suitable candidate should be held back by . modesty. Professional politicians and, party hack!? will know no such restraint, and if better men hesitate they will have the field to themselves. The session promises to be short, and, as a consequence, the time for decision by men of worth is limited. —Auckland Herald.