THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1909. AN EXPECTED VICTORY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9603, 24 September 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1909. AN EXPECTED VICTORY.

Although it was the general opinion that the Government candidate would head the poll at the second ballot for the Rangitikei Heat, which took place yesterday, a majority of four hundred votes was not anticipated. It is true that the Government put forward most Strenuous efforts to win the seat, and to Ministerial- influence the victory must be ascribed. The Government would indeed be in a surprisingly weak position, if they had failed, with all their forces ex;** tended, to capture Rangitikei, but their tactics caunot be otherwise' than condemned by every unbiased electors. The candidates themselves .were quite of secondary importance. The contest was really between the Opposition and the Government, and the ground selected for the struggle the Rangitikei electorate. Neither the Government nor the Opposition can, accuse each other of interference, for the leaders of each party I interfered with all the ability that he posesaed, and each leader has assisted with a faithful henchman or two. It was probably of more import ance to the Government to hold the seat than to the Opposition to win it, and, moreover, it would not have been a pleasant duty for the ActingPremier and his colleagues to have met Sir Joseph Ward on his return with the intelligence that Rangitikei was lost. Now, however, they can aay, thanks to those methods, that are so effective, and which the Government know so well how to use, that Rangitikei is still of the. rieht colour, and it m irfht be if dazzling promises can make it so! Some hypercritical people maj urge that it is highly improper for Minis ters to make promises on the eve of a poll, but such a view is, of course, highly absurd, and altogether narrow-minded, not to sav ill-natured in the extreme. On ■such occasions one little matter and another is mentioned either quits accidentally or simply because the Ministerial sense of duty is such that duty must be performed in a perfectly impartial manner whatever the consequences to the Government may be. If Crown tenants on settlement lands want the freehold surely election timft is opportune for telling them that there is a chance to get it? If the residents of another locality want to convert native leases into freeholds what harm can there be in quietly intimating that the Government will assist them t'o attain, their object? If a road is wanted hare, or a bridge there, and if the Government really intend to supply the district's needs, what objection can there be to Ministers acquainting the people with the good news? That all this sort of thing may happen on the eve of an election is simply a remote contingr isk that must be accepted in the law of chance.' The Rangitikei election is over—a majority of the people have been persuaded to vote

for the Government, and the various Ministers engaged in the fight may now return to Wellington with the spoils of war. The victory will, perhaps, prove costly, but what does that matter to the Government, any more than the methods that they win by.