The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1899. THE STRAIGHT-OUT ISSUE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 275, 20 November 1899, Page 4

The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1899. THE STRAIGHT-OUT ISSUE.

For the causa that lacks asslstoßM, For the wrong that needs, resistance, For tho future in tho distance, And the good that ye can do.

Speaking atPalmerstonNorth onFriday evening the Premier said there were only two lobbies in the House of Representatives, and it was the duty of the electors to decide for-'or against the Government. This is the straightout issue'in the present election, and Party Government maintain., its place in the political organisation of Eng-lish-speaking countries chiefly because it enables the people to decide who. shall be their rulers. Representatives may hold different opinions on a great many questions and still fight together under one party banner. A loyal adhesion to party by no means involves the sacrifice of any essential element of a member's, independence. Even Government proposals upon which the existence of a Cabinet may be' staked at certain stages are subject to so much modification in the course of their passage through Parliament that a Government supporter has ample opportunity for giving expression to His personal views. But clearly the main issue, whether the Government': or the Opposition shall continue to administer. the affairs of the country, is one which the electors of the colony have a constitutional right to determine by direct vote. It is well for the electors" of all the constituencies to bear this constantly in mind. There is often a good deal of confused thought on the subject. Candidates are supported on personal grounds, irrespective of whether they intend to use the power entrusted to them for or -against the continuance of Ministers in office. By doing this' the electors forfeit one -of their most sacred rights—one which they ought under no circumstances to surrender. They relinquish their only effective hold over the Government of the colony. Let us..look for a moment at the practical working of the political machine in relation to this matter. To be consistent, all city electors who believe that the policy of the present Government has been inimical to the progress and prosperity of the colony eliou'd at tho forthcoming- ballot vote for.Messrs Crowther and Hobbs, the Opposition candidates. But in doing this they must carefully consider the possible consequences of the return of -these gentlemen to Parliament. If the elections result in .an Opposition majority Mr Seddon and his colleagues will be turned out of office and Captain Russell and his friends assume the control of public affairs. What will the effect be, say, on the Old Age Pensions? That Act has only a currency of three years when it must be renewed or the wliole of the pensions now payable will be discontinued. Messrs Crowther and Hobbs may personally be favourable to Old Age Pensions, but what has been the attitude of the Opposition party as a body? One of distinct obstruction and hostility.

And what is true of Old Age Pensions is equally true of the Land and Income Tax as against the Property Tax, the purchase of big estates for subdivision, the Conciliation and Arbitration Act for the settlement, of trade disputes, cheap money for farmers, and other liberal measures for the improvement of the industrial and social conditions of the masses of the people. Who can say what will be the fate Of the Shops Act, and the weekly half-holiday for shop assistants if the Opposition are placed in power? The fate of these measures will not be determined by what individual members may say oi- think, but, by the will of the party majority and the Ministers ■who represent that.

For nine years a Liberal Government have administered the affairs of New Zealand. They took office when the colony was in a state of unexampled depression; to-day it is enjoying a prosperity which even Mr Rol'le'ston.admits is without precedent in his long experience ot" the colouy. That the policy of the Government has contributed very materially to this result it is surely idle to deny. They have stimulated settlement by a liberal land; policy, by breaking up-land monopoly, by giving relief to settlers through exempting their improvements from taxation, delivering them from the bondage of the money-lender, reducing railway charges, assisting fhe dairy industry, and in a. variety of other ways. They have aided the mining industry by improving the laws relating to mining tenure, opening up. roads, and subsidising the exploration of the deep levels. They have pushed forward; railway construction,at'a reasonable rate. To this "Government Auckland owes the carrying of the Rotorua railway through fo the lake; the Atkinson... Government, had decided to make its terminus the margin of the bush, ]eavjngva.big. gap.: to be--cov-ered by coach. The Thames-Te Aroha railway,.-which lay-for nearly,twenty years- rotting, has. been carried to completion, and preparations.irtade for. extending it- to Waihi; "'"' :

It would be impossible in the Com-, pass of one article to pass iinder review the whole of the legislation

initiated by tlie G'overhmeii- "during the past nine years. ' Among other tilings it includes the enactment of .the most liberal liquor law :in the- Australasian colonies, placing the traffic directly unfier control of. the people, although the Cabinet has received neither thanks nor credit from the Prohibitionists for 'thela- action in this matter. Do they suppose that they would ever have got such a licensing

law from the Conservatives? The re-'i due tion of the electoral law to the sim- j pie basis.of adult, suffrage,.male and! female, is another reform which the i people, owe to the Government. In i commercial legislation they have/ shown a readiness to grapple with a. j critical situation,.saving the colony,by their banking legislation from a ruinous crisis like that which brought widespread ruin in the Australian colonies. Foi* which of all these things, do you condemn us? the - Government may reasonably ask • the electors whose votes are to be east a few.weeks hence. Has the country grown tirefl of propress and prosperity, and the hope and faith which inspire a- steady forward movement, big surpluses in the national exchequer, and an annually expanding trade? If the people still desire these things let them vote for the Government under who-se regime the colony has prospered. To say. that Ministers have made no mistake would be to claim for them an infallibility which belongs not to man, but iv claiming that they have honestly and successfully, striven to advance the tone" interests of the colony wdiose affairs have been entrusted; to their keeping, we believe we are stating a fact that is well attested by the 200 laws which they have placed iii the statute book during the past nine years, and also by .lie condition of New Zealand at the moment.