The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1919. THE ELECTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 December 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1919. THE ELECTIONS.

The general election on Wednesday is fraught with more importance than any previously held in New Zealand, for, with the rest of the Empire, we have just emerged from the greatest crisis in our history, and we are now face to face with the grave problems that the war has bequeathed. The solving of these problems is the task before the country, and it is no light one. The work calls for the greatest , foresight and ability, the soundest judgment, and the truest patriotism on the part of our legislators of the immediate future. A false step, and the progress of the Dominion may be seriously put back. Hence the responsibility cast upon electors to return on Wednesday only those men best qualified to render the necessary help in this vital transitional period. The political leaders have issued their manifestoes and made their appeals. They should be examined dispassionately, and in the light, not so much of the parties' own advancement, as of their practical utility in the promotion of the country's welfare. The times are too serious to bother about the mere success at the polls of Masseyism or Wardism. Since the termination of the Coalition, the Government, in the short time at its disposal, has made a commendable effort to deal with the more pressing problems, but only the

fringe of things has so far been touched, and many vital questions still remain to be dealt with. These are largely financial and economic. A good many people are to-day living in a fool's paradise. They see about them apparent prosper- j ity, full employment, and high I wages, with land and property ' soaring in price. They fondly be-, lieve we have entered upun a new | era of prosperity. This condition, I We are afraid, is but a hectic flush.« It is the result not so much of an accretion of real wealth, but of the expenditure of vast sums of capital. "We i have had to pledge our capital as well as our incomes. Interest has ' to be paid on that capital, which also has to be repaid. Our true wealth is now, as ever before, what we produce and save. We will have spent a hundred millions on j the war. Economically it is so ' much wasted money, and it will have to be made good. We will find, as other countries have found in the past, that a nation, as well as an individual, can make good only by work and saving. That is a truth that cannot be too strongly emphasised, and should be grasped firmly by our future legislators. Great and attractive schemes of reconstruction have been put forward, but, first of all, we must see that they are economically sound. We are bound to say that some of the nationalisation schemes proposed by the Liberal leader do not appeal to us as well thought out or sound, and will not achieve their purpose. It is idle to ignore the operations of the economic laws; ' history proves that the punishment for violating them is inexorable. The Dominion, as we have pointed out on several occasions, is suffering from a disordered currency, largely because of our politicians' ignorance of the operation of these laws. The problem! of contracting the currency is a difficult one that must receive the urgent attention of 1 our legislators, for the present inflation affects everyone. On this question the Prime Minister has made some timely observations. Besides having to meet interest and sinking fund on our war loans, we will for many years be burdened by the war pensions, which means that we will have to find altogether some additional seven millions 'yearly, more than half the total of our pre-war receipts. This should make every man with a feeling of responsibility and loyalty to this splendid I country of ours ponder deeply. We | can carry the load only by increased production, and that means increased development of our resources, and by attracting people of the right stamp from Great Britain to help in the work. Our political leaders are alive to this necessity; they differ only in their manner of giving effect to it. Mr. Massey shows a disinclination to apply the taxation screw in con-• nection with large estates, and so ' make more land of the right kind available; Sir Joseph Ward has no such compunction. The Government's administration has been far from satisfactory in many important respects, chiefly because of Mr. Massey's misguided loyalty to certain of his colleagues, who are entirely out of touch with the progressive spirit of the times. Our hope is that the electors will return the strongest men offering their services, and, if, as seems

probable, the parties are fairly evenly balanced after the poll, there should be a re-grouping, in which the Independents will take a leading part, and so act as an accelerator in the case of the present administration, or a break upon Sir Joseph Ward in respect of some of his ill-digested schemes.

For that reason it is essential that electors should exercise the greatest care and discrimination in the selection of candidates, making personal fitness and ability to fill the highest posts in the gift of the j people more the criteria than alI legiance to party. As for the Labor Party, it is in the hands of the extremists, who failed to help | their country in its direst need, I but, instead, put every obstacle in i the way of carrying on its war work, and is entitled to no support. When Labor disowns its unpatriotic leaders, and substitutes i therefor moderate and patriotic men, then it can justly lay claim, J and no doubt will receive, that measure of support it is entitled in such circumstances to anticipate. Meantime, the people should make it clear at the election that they i will not suffer extreme Labor to 1 dictate the country's policy, or usurp the powers of Government by unconstitutional means. At Hawera on Friday night, Mr Mcllvride, speaking on behalf of Red Fedism, made a threat to the effect that, if a Reform or Liberal Government were returned, industrial troubles would only begin. What Mr. Mcllvride said, probably in an unguarded moment, is what the extremists are thinking and planning. The country should ac cept the challenge without delay, and fight out the issue to the bitter end. Direct action, by the adoption of the "go-slow" or strike policy, is anarchy, pure and simple, and can only be successfully met and defeated by firmness and determination and absolute unity on 'the part of those having a regard | for the interests of the nation.