IS THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT DESERVING OF SUPPORT?

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 286, 2 December 1896, Page 4

IS THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT DESERVING OF SUPPORT?

O.v the day after to-morrow, the electors of New Zealand will be called on to decido whether they will continue to place their confidence in the present Government which has enjoysd it bo long, or transfer their allegiance to the opponents of the present Government. The decisiou is not one to be carelessly arrived at. It should not be made by any one until he or she has made clear to himself or hcr3olf what are the real issues to bo determined On Friday every man and woman can exert an influence in the administration of the country more direct and more absolute than he will again oxt-rciso tor probably the nexts three years. K%'ery citizen who is of ago on Friday will on thatuay have ft free and unfettered opportunity to say how the country shall be governed. For the moment ho stands in tbe baiiot box he is as great a factor in directing the destinies of this country as uny nther man in the colony. When ho cakes tho pencil to record his vote hia hand roally c.asps tho helm iv tho ship of state. The occasion U ono of the very greatest ltnoortiince, and thoeo wlio attempt to belittle it are guilty of something nob far short of a crime. Hardly \o?» to b^amoare those who attempt to obscure or conface the actual position of matters, or to substitute for the main ifsue eicie issuea that are of quifco secondary consequence. Now vvhat, after all, doea the main issue of this election, cleared of all obscurities, and reduced to its most simple form, amount to? Is it not Himply v question whether tho present Liberal party ehali continue to administer the afluirs of tiiia country or not? On Friday tbafr plain question will bo anewsred by the people of !. 1)0 colony, ar.d wo have little doubs what that "answer will be. It will be more dacidodiy in the ailirmative taso is haa over been before.

This is no empty asseveration on our part. It is the conclusion sa hp-ve arrived at niter a very carefui study of (lie feeling of tho people throughout trie colony. Nor do wo find much difficulty in understanding why the popular decision nhould be given in ilio direction we have indicated. The Opposition speakers tind presa declare cucinDolvee surprised that the present Government should hare any support at all, and tiisy call upon the electors lo forsake tha old banner, and join the unorganised remnant that answers to tho name of the Opposition. But before they can oxpsct tho call to ba listened to they should surely bo ablo to givo ua aoma roasona why wo should transfer our allegiance. Wo here intone! to set down a few of our reasons for supporting the present Government. Let the eiectors carefully road them. They furnish, we think, Boiae ample grounds for the political faith that is in us. And, on the other hand, we would invite the Opposition to do the samo on their side. They have long wearied us with baseless accusations and one-Bided criticisms levelled against the present) Government. Will they now, | whilo shore is yob time, formulate clearly ! halfadozon reasons why tho pubiicof New Zealand should hand over tho country to the management of Captain Russell nnd his friends, who even aa Oppositionists have been painfully distinguished for their weakness and inefficiency. If they have any reasons at ail now is the moment to bring them forward to tha confusion of tho Government candidates here and throughout the country. I Our difficulty at tins time is cot to find now reasons for our faith but to condense the ones we already have within our available epacc. Here, however, are a few, eoaao cf which have appeared in fchotie columns before. 1. It is undeniable that tho Government includes tho ablest men in the preaent Parliament). No one, dyou tho strongest Oppositionist, has ever attempted to oom'oat this very vehemently, and Mr Button and many others of his friends iv tho House have rery frankly admitted that it is the case. 2. The Opposition, led by a big land owner, chiefly represents tho squatting and other clasa interests. 3. The Government took office when a feeling of despondency pervaded cho country, when population was drifting away in thousands every year ; yet in spite of peiBiswntly falling prices, by their vigorous administration they restored confidence, infused a spirit of hope, and inaugurated a colonising policy of unprecedented vigour. Under their administration the credit of liio colony has been wonderfully upheld in tho Old Country, and this in spite of the attempts of their political enemies to sacrifice it for their own party ends. 4. They relioved tha national industries from the crushing butden of the property tar, and placod land taxation on unimproved values, with special eeverity on tho big estate?. This ia their prime offence with some of tho leading lights cf the National Association. 5. They restored tho colonial finances, and changed recurring deficits into substantial surpluses.

6. By a careful husbanding of their resources, they were enabled to carry on public works without: having recourse to borrowing, and of Into the money raised for that purpose is .devoted to work* absolutely necessary for the progress of the colony, and in moat instances certain to be directly remunerative. Undoubtedly there has been money borrowed, bub it has besn borrowed most, circumspectly, end tlioro has beon no ?qnnndcrin<r, as was the case with the loans of t,ho past. Wo have something to show for our money now, eotuefehing that will directly or indirectly repay fha lender without! putting additional burdens on the backs of the colonist?.

7. If the indebtedness of the colony has been increased, eveu by ft y&r.v tpoderste

amount nnder the regime of the present parky ib must not bo forgotten that a groat; deal of tbab increase has been incurred by conversions, which in reality effect; a reduction in our liabilities.

8. By liberal land laws they have given an impetus to land sotfelomenb hitherto unknown id New Zealand. Within the last year the number of holding's of tin aero and upwards taken up waa '2,504, and of those there were only 28 of an area of over 1,000 acres. In 189U there were 97 holdings of thii size taken up oub of a total of 1881. The comparison shows at a gianco how the taking up of smaller allotments of land has beau encouraged by the Government; of the day.

9. The successful cutting up of bis estates and settling them with numbers of email settlers at rentals which leave not one panuy coat to the taxpayer, has many times been referred fco in these columns. Nineteen of the estates purchased had at the.end of March last been cub up into farms acd taken up by settlers, and were returning in the way of rental 4.76 per cent., which represented a surplus after paying interest on the money raii-sd for their purchase. The Che nob Estato, for insbanco, now supports 405 families, and pays the Government; 5i per cent, on the money expended on it. In the old daya it eupporfeed 80 persons. JO. They have secured that the saren or oifrhL million acres ol native Innde shall be disposed of for the good of the. many and not of the lew.

11. They continued and opened the Rotorua railway through to Rotorua, although the previous Government had decided to fix ita terminus many miles away, and had ordered the plans for the terminal station.

12. Every industry has felb the stimulus of an enterprising policy. The imports, exclusive of gold, from ISB6 to 1890, both inclusive, wore £29,723,032, and from 1891 to 1895, both inclusive, £31,774,054, the increase being £2,051,022. The exports from 1886 to 1890, both inclusive, wero £38,666,279, and from 1891 to 1895, were £44,798,706, the increase being £6,132,447. And if we turn to the neighbourhood of Auckland especially, we see in the revival of our mining industry the working of that same spirit of confidence which the Governmenchas by its policy fostered. 13. During the last three years the Conservatives were in power more people lefb the colony than came into it, but during the regime of the present Government the arrivals exceeded the departures by 77,000. 14. The Government, while doing all it could for the workers, did not fail when called upon to save our chief financial institution and the commercial and industrial interests dependent upon it from a great disaster. 15. By the Advances to Settlers Act it haa delivered tha bona. fide settler from the mow of the usurer.

16. It has given the masses of the people for the first) time real control over the liquor traffic.

17. It WR3 the first of all Governments to give the Parliamentary franchiso to women, and during its tonuro of office various Acts have been passed opening avenues for women in which they can earn an independent living. At the same time provision has been mside for the better protection of women and children.

18. The interest? of the classes have been carefully studied by the Government, and rriHasureH have been introduced ami passed the object; of which has been to « meliorate the lot of the labourer.*, to lighten the burden of taxation from their eL-ouiders, and to secure them wider privileges.

19. By the Family Homes Protection Act, the Government) secured to tho etruggling settler who has made a home for himself and family ihe absolute possession of the same in his old age when weakness or adverse circumstances rui;jhb deprive hira of it.

We might go on enumerating the Acts of this Administration. 1b tho above rough catalogue we have intentionally made no effort to pace before our readers any exhaustire summary of what they have accomplished. We have picked on Acts here and provieion there as they suggested them pelves to our mind*. Our vrinh has uot been to present a striking picture far lees an over-coloured one, though had wo wished to do so the task would not have been difficult. Wo have merely 6tated in plain unadorned language a few plain unadorned facts, which we command to the notice of the electors, and which we would like to see parallelled by a similar statement from the other side.