THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1910. AN INTERLOPER'S CAMPAIGN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10066, 11 June 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1910. AN INTERLOPER'S CAMPAIGN.

The election campaign which is at present proceeding in connection with the Auckland East seat certainly has its humorous aspects. Each candidate is a sort of party in himself, and every one of them wishes it to be particularly understood that he is not a supporter ofjeither of the two paities in the House; A- general survey of the /situation ieads one, more or less, toihe conclusion that it is an interJ/pers' campaign, the said interlopers numerous, and having thrust themselves to the fore to the discomfort and confusicn of the dacently organised political parties of the country. There is no Government candidate; there is no Opposition candidate; the Labour party is divided over its candidate, acd as to the Prohibitionist candidate, well, h 9 is altogether out on his own. The only result that ia certain is that some c ndidate representing a nebulous quantity, which he calls his "policy," will be returned. We do not know whether the state of affairs in connection with the Auckland Eest seat indicates that polities have reached a very low level, or whether there is room for satisfaction in the fact that not one of the candidates is prepared to give a whole-hearted support to either of the present political parties. One fact is certainly clear—that perfect organisation is not a feature of the party work of either j I he Government, or the Opposition party, when neither party pulff forward a candidate for an. important

seat such as that in question. j t *#»*** i n ] It must surely be a unique event in h th 3 political history of £he Dominion a for five candidates to endeavour to . c woo the electors of the same conatitu-1 v enci', and not one of them to be a I £ j party man. But apart from this as- X i pect of the campaign, some of the 1 i utterances of the fighting five are de- | cidec'ly interesting. Mr A. Myers, 1 j who describes himself as an s Independent Liberal, told the electors the other night that he ] commended the measures passed by 1 the Liberal party in the past, but", - j whilst giving a general support to : this policy, he wished it understood j clearly that he was not in the strict sense a party man. He beWeved the i time was opportune for putting patriotism before party, but he wanted them to understand equally clear that 5 he was a Liberal. It is certainly difficult to understand exactly what Mr Myers nieans, and, possibly, the whole meaning of his remarks is j not very clear to himself. Appar- - I ently, however, he believe?, despite ; the patriotism of Sir Joseph Ward — j Giver of Dreadnoughts—that the j time has arrived when patriotism 5 j should be put before party. The expression Is, undoubtedlhackneyed 7 :in the extreme, at the same tima ' that Mr Myers should mates use of it is "rather rough," to use a colloquialism, on the Premier, and especially when Mr Myers commend 3 ; a (apparently holus bolus) the mea- £ sures passed by the Liberal party in - the past. If the electors can make anything out of Mr Myers' policy they will be exceptionally clever pohticans, Then there is Mr Richardson. He r) will fiqjht with vigour from the first round to the last, and it is saf6 to i predict that he will not be retired, or emerge victorious from the contest, without severely damaging several of his opponents. Nobody wants him, in a measure of sp?aking, but this does | not matter to Mr Richardson. He is - ! a Prohtbitionist, who ia not afraid, I and snobs du not trouble him ia the I least. No election campaign can bs | dull when Mr Richardson takes a ! hand, a3 anyone who has heard him j speak can readily imagine. The posi--7 i tiou of the two 'Labour candidates 1 | appears to be ratherm'xed. Mr Davis, y | Labourite, who was not the orig- : inaily selected candidate, broke down ! when attempting a sp ech on Thurs- ! day night, and confessed to his i bearers that he did not feel at home, as hj? was not cut out for a politician. P>fr L'avis has promised to ! deliver his "pilicy" speech on Mould : day night; it should be a treat! Mr j McKmght, who was the accredited i candidate of Labour, appears to be getting on better. The cause of his . e _ split with the Labour party was exxt j plained by Mr McLaren, M.P., who, :er |on being asked for a statement regarding the Labour split, stated that tha committee, that was supporting IP Mr Davis had instructed him to ree- port that the ground on which Mr Mc- _ Knight's candidature had been withdrawn was that he had opposed and continued to oppose the claims for ua i statutory preference of unionists, | which was a plank of the platform of - j the Labour party. The committee felt I that it would be placing workers in a 3,3 | false position to have as their candi- ! date one whose expressed convictions ! were in opposition to this important | claim of Labour. Mr McKnight, how- = ever, denies that he is opposed to | preference to unionists, and he come, ! plains strongly of the irrepressible Mr T. E. Taylor interfering in the election. * * * * » Finally there is Mr Hill, the unofficial candidate of tha Opposition. We do not know what is meant by the term "unofficial," i.i this connection. One is naturally anxious to - knowjvhat the term implies, and possibly it may be safe to infer that Mr Hill is not a supporter of the Oppo- ~~ Eition, although he has been private- '• secretary to Mr Massev. What Mr Hill really is must certainly be a considerable "poser" for the electors k of Auckland East, for the only thing !S that seems clear jabout his candidature is that'he favours certain land d | legislation, which, if passed, would r " i have the effect of rendering a man's a I land »ot liable for his debts, There 18 f appears, therefore, to be a desire lf j on Mr Hill's part to enact land laws '* I somewhat similar to those obtaining ~ j about the time of William the Cons ! queror. Such propositions can scarce- * ly be regarded as progressive on the part of the unofficial ca?)didate. Alfcc- " gether the Auckland East campaign " provides food for speculation and - amusement. i