The Press. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1893. THE ISSUE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8651, 28 November 1893, Page 4

The Press. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1893. THE ISSUE.

Ths day has come—and the hour. The electors have it iv their power to make or mar: it is theirs to-day to say whether they will perpetuate the. three-act farce the last Parliament of ours has been, or whether they will return a House of sober moderate men pledged to political decency aud political rest. The choice is between the party of political charlatans and Socialistic mouutebanks or tbe party of houeßt endeavour aud public spirit. On the one side is the restless quackery of demagogues and office-seekers, on the other the generous aud enlightened patriotism of men whose fortunes are bound up with tho fortunes of the colony. And no man can afford to be indifferent to the issue. Do you waut again a Government pledged to spoliation and confiscation . A Government that makes of thrift a crime, of industry, folly ? That would

I rob yoa of the reward of the one and the incentive to the other 1 Do you wish again to be plunged into the maelstrom of political unrest. If you do—vote with the Seddon Government. Do you join in the deification of Paul' Pry? the series of meddlesome, irritating interferences with every sphere of life aud society. Would yon sacrifice every liberty of act or thought ? to buy when you like and sell when you like—to work when you like and play when youlike—-do you Bigh f os: the millennium of the Government luapector? If you do—swell the "Liberal" ranks—bo they the Logical or the Illogicals. JDo you waut arbitration at the sword's point, "early closing" with a brickbat, legislation with the bludgeon ? Again, vote forsocialistictyrauuy and "liberal" restriction. Do you waut your hard earned gains squandered in bribery and corruption ? Do you approve of a Parliament that retrenches the Civil Service and .increases its own honorarium; that brags of a surplus aud squanders ib on the "Twelve Aposties", that professing to shift the burdens from the " rich to the poor," crushes the former 7.ith a peual tax, aud relieves the working man—of nothing more than a miserable penny stamp in his wages receipt. Do you applaud the Pakahonio affair, the Duuedin Hospital bribe and the Fraser incident in Wellington. Again we bid you—plump for Reeves. But ii', on the other hand, you would have this country return to honest courses—if you would have surcease of lawmongeriog and increase of commercial prosperity —if you .would have confidence restored, trade revived, the farmer secure in his lands, the shopkeeper unmolested in his business, the Civil Service relieved of a reign of terror—the military of the dominion of incompetency, the employers inspired with a sense of security, the worker with a feeling of content—then you will send Mr. j Seddok and Mr. Kee.jss, and their I chimeras and Utopias, their fads and the jobs, packing into the limbo of baffled chiccnery and exploded humbug. The matter is in your hands; we have done what in us lies to warn you and instruct you, to guide you and advise you—it is for you to do the rest. *'