THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1911. THE ELECTIONS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10503, 15 December 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1911. THE ELECTIONS.

The battle has been' fought, and ■woni. The people of New Zealand* llifive declared that the time has- arrived for a diange in the management of their political affairs 1 . The [Reform Party, ledi by Mir W. F. Massey, has achieved a momentous, victory, and:, althmigjh it has not sie•cured an absolute majority of the Parliamentary seats, it has become the diorrtiinating party, and', as such, will doubtless assume, tine- rein s o.f office. To do this, it may require the assistance of one or two of the in dope) i dents, and of tihe Labour 'Party. Seeing that t'lie return of Messrs Robertson, Veitch and Payne is largely daw l to the influence of the Reform Party, these Labourites cannot well throw in their lot wit'i Sir Joseph Ward. Assuming, liov - ever, that the Government succeed ; in. w'iaiiUiinig the' tlwee Native seat: , it cannot, even with the 1 of Labour, command a majority iu

tlie House. The position therefore is that either Ala 1 Mcssey must' be sent for by the Govern/or, or another appeal to the country must be made, it is sifciiiiiicajiit of the trend of public feeling tlha>t only three mem'bers of the Cppo6i'tioai—Me i*r& H/ardy, Dive and \Y night—have lost tilimseats in the election, wlliile fourteen supporters of the_ Ministry—dincludone Minister and four ex-Miinis-tea-s.—(have been reiiegatod to political obscurity. Thais is sorely sufficient eviidemjce that Sir Joseph Ward ililas lost Ms poJ/ittaeal liolcL upon tlie country, aaid tibial tihe de-sire for a change iin Adanaailustration. is vea-y reai, audi vea-y tihfomugili. Tlie atti- I tude i which the Prime Minister will assume in tlie omiiis. which has arisen wall be awaited with oagcu-neiss. I£ ill)© wore to aot constitu'tdoaiaily, he would tender his nesagnattiJoai as soon «.s the Native electaoais are over. The cfewces are, however, that he will mate a stubborn effort to defy the will 1 of the peopilie, and'that hie will sit tight until Parliament assemblies. The Labour party is to i>e congratulated upon having secured four seats in the new Parliament, although the peculiar eircaunstainoes undier which tilie second ballot Was taken detracts somewhat from the merit of their performance. So far a® the Mfcisterton seat itsconeerned, Mir Sykes has achieved aspleiidid victory. Tlie loyal support he received from Mir Herbert and his 1 Mtow.je.rg no doiuibt.'assisted Mm in reaching the goal. But he has reacted, there ; and h© will, it is hoped ,do oredSlt to haaiiseLf and the Dominion in the political arena. He. is as yeit a noviice in politics, and (liia® nrudh to learn of the ways of Parliament. We have coaufidence, hiowever, that he wiLl devote himself with a single purpose to the amelioration, of tine conditilon of the people as a whole, and to the advancement of the district whose representative he has 'become. We congratulate,, Ihim. We congratulate the electors. We congWtuOJate Mr Massey.