The Sun FRIDAY, MARCH 6. THE REAL LEADER OF THE LIBERAL PARTY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 25, 6 March 1914, Page 6

The Sun FRIDAY, MARCH 6. THE REAL LEADER OF THE LIBERAL PARTY.

After speech at Phillipstown last night, there can be no question that Mr G. W. Bussell is the real leader of the Liberal Party. The party was crying out for a policy. Sir . Joseph Ward did his best to supply the need, and failed dismally. In order to . disguise the failure, he told the country in a 14,000word speech at Winton that he had decided not to elaborate a policy lest the Government should steal it, and put it into practice. Mr Bussell is a better politician than that.' He knows that you cannot catch votes with hot air. Being a man of resource,, he took counsel, and, with the friendly assistance of his chief newspaper supporter, which placed a page at his disposal, a "policy" has gone forth for the guidance of Liberals. The presence of so many parliamentary members .of the party at the meeting gives the utterance an official stamp, and it may be assumed that Mr Bussell had their concurrence in all he said. What Sir Joseph Ward's feelings are at being superceded in this fashion need not coAfeern us. If he is content to be the nominal head of a party which owes its initiative and driving force to Mr Bussell, that is his own affair. He must find it rather humiliating, - and he can'console himself with the thought that there "are plenty of - instances on record where party, leaders have been merely figureheads, whose function it was t<j keep the party while the ideas and organisation came from lieutenants. As. for Mr Bussell's "policy," it.is quite certain that he is in no danger of having it stolen. .Mr Bussell began as an independent. He has been a Liberal, a leaseholder, and various other things by turns. Now concedes the freehold and declares himself a State. Socialist. Tactically, it may be a. good move on the. part , of the Liberals to declare for State Socialism. It brings them sufficiently close to the Labourites to make a working alliance possible—if they can trust each other,—rand ,jt should help to get rid of the few country Liberals who are a drag on the party. As to the chances of the ' pplicy'' proving a satisfactory vote-catcher at the November elections, we do not like to damp Mr Bussell's hopes, but we feel constrained to suggest that, ( in addition to a new policy, the party wants some new politicians. ' The community is getting better educated politically, and it is beginning to realise that there is precious little in all this pother about policies. . Anyone with an ingenious mind can easily devise all manner of attractive schemes for benefiting the people at their own expense .. and for correcting their njorals iu State-man-aged institutions, but fifty times more important that the country should be run by honest and capable .administrators. When the Lib,erfi,l. Party'h ranks commence to overflow with this type of politician, the novelty of the circumstance M'ill strike the electors with such force that. they .-Will in all probability send' the Liberals back to power fo» another twenty years. In the meantime it is betterifor the Dominion that they should be occupied as they are at present. •

Every year the W.C.T.U. Congress, with the best intentions in the world, draws attention to the increase of gambling in New Zealand as demonstrated by the ever-expanding receipts of the totalisator. The union has not overlooked this year what it conceives to bo its duty, and the. president, in her add rows, expresses amaaernent that Parliament could have found time to discuss a Bill (Mr Hunter's Bill) which aims ttfc increasing the number of race days by thirty. The president (Mrs l>on) huti rlmvly not' looked into the mutter, Mr Hunter's proposals, are not so much concerned with totalisator receipts as with the idea that those who are sportsmen in the finest sense—the farmers, the breeders of hunters, and good hack sorts—should not bo denied the pleasure, once* a year at least, of foregathering at what are called in New Mouth Wales "picnic meetings." Theso earnest women who would deny to one section of the community this right and privilege may just as well recognise now that, since human nature is human nature, they have set themselves ah inpjpossible taak | when they start out to, eradicate ' gambling. Gambling may be lin-nioral,

but it is in the nature of man to speculate, and, after all, one of the main distinctions between the "guesser" and the tricky "jobber" on the Stock Exchange is that of dress —tan gloves, top hat, and the like. The Government, in seeing lit to legalise gambling, has driven the bookmaker into dark corners where he operates more insidiously than when he was allowed free voice in the betting-ring. So the old game continues. In response to protests from such societies as the W.C.T.U., the Government cut down the totalisator permits by quite a number, but the figures are mounting up. The object of the Bill of the member for Waipawa should appeal to those who, in these days of "professional" bettors and • equally "professional" horse-owners, can appreciate to the full the men who race for sheer love of the sport, and that only. These are the deserving people whom the Bill desires to assist, and, if any- more permits are granted, the out-back racing ' clubs should receive first consideration. The W.C.T.U. need

not worry over these meetings