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Tiie narrow majority by which tin Radical candidate for the city con stituencv of Wellington has beei returned will be made the most o by the Ministry and their sup porters, and urged as evidence tha their policy is generally approvec throughout the colony. That the] will not be justified in their asser tions is more than proved by thi narrow majority which gives then victory. This was only obtainec by the most strenuous exertions o: Ministers backed by the prestige o )ffice. Undue importance was givei ;o the election: in the first place ( wing to the active participation oi Ministers in the struggle; and, ir ;he second, to the mistaken actior )f a section of the press in statinj ,hat the result of the election woulc joint with tolerable accuracy to the ;tate of public opinion. Being ar irban constituency, this could not >f course, be the case. On the con rary, had the election taken place iome months back, it would have )een utterly futile for any man bul in advanced Radical to contest th< leat. The result shows that a large lumber of the working-classes have ihanged sides, otherwise the majority vould have been much greater, \Ve do not mean to say that thej lave ceased to be Radical, but thai ,hey have ceased to have faith ir he Ministry, owing, in a degree, t( he tendency they have evidencec ,o drift from advanced Radicalisn ;o pure Socialism. Some have also, 10 doubt, been influenced to a greal sxtent by the glaring shiftiness oi he Premier on the land question Che single-taxers thought the daj vas at hand when vigorous efforts vould be made to give effect t< heir ideal tax. The Premier has inder the pressure of responsibility; ;o modified his opinions in this re ipect that hope has given way tc lespair. Again, the Premier's re lunciation of his views as to thf lationalisation of the land will, nc loubt, have caused many who art mffering from the " Georgiai lisease" either to have abstained rom voting or to have cast theii rote for an opponent of the man vhotn they cannot but think has n-oken faith with them. So fai rom the result giving cause foi ;reat jubilation to the one side oi lepression of spirits to the other ve consider that the small majority inquestionably proves that the Ministerial party have cause to re ;ret the result in every sense bul hat they carried the seat. The los: >f the seat would have £ xushing blow to their hopes. Th< /ictory is little less so. The lattei jroves that they have lost grounc n one of their strongholds. If e •ity seat can only be carried bp luch a small majority, what hope i: ,hore for them in the country dis iricts 1 This defeat of the Op position candidate, to the toe languine of the party, will be ; fitter disappointment. Had tlu lefeat been a crushing one it niigh l iave had a demoralising effect [f in the hot bed of the supporters o: ;he present Government it tool ,hem all they knew to secure i victory and backed by the un icrupulous efforts of the most pro ninent members of the Ministry— hey could only secure a bare ma ority, this should give the Op position heart of grace. With such perfect organization as the Oppoiition have shown themselves capa)le of in this contest, how many nore seats, if equally well fought, vould fall to ther share. _ The vholo secret of success lies in the me word—organise !

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18920119.2.9

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3044, 19 January 1892, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
594

Untitled Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3044, 19 January 1892, Page 2

Untitled Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3044, 19 January 1892, Page 2

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