THE ELECTIONS AND THE LAND.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14223, 11 December 1911, Page 6

THE ELECTIONS AND THE LAND.

According to a statement made to an interviewer at Timaru on Saturday, the Prime Minister sees no reason for being "other than hopeful as to the results "of tho second ballots throughout the " country." Sir Joseph was always an optimist; ho never had greater need for liia optimism than now. But we imagine that boueathhls air of cheerfulness is a sinking sensation that is far from comfortable. Nor do his actions square with his brave words. Had he thought the Government possessed even a sporting chance of coming through tho second ballots successfully, would Sir Joseph havo dallied from Thursday night till Saturday morning in Southland, when he might have self into the breach and made a vigorous effort to save the situation? It is moro probable that he recognises that tho game is up, and he is merely returning to put his papers in order, clear out some departmental pigeon-holes, and have a bonfire preparatory to turning his attention to his private affairs. There is only one remark in tho Timaru interview that is ■worthy of serious notice, and that is the utterly spurious claim that the present Government has put 150,000 persons on tho land. Wβ have often noticed how the apologists for th© Government land policy, in presenting statistics regarding tho rural population for. tho purpose of showing the need for more subdivision, mako a practice of quoting tho number of owners of hind. It looks so small beside the number of persons actually living on it. In tho present inslance, j Sir Joseph "Ward is trying to suggest wonderful results in tho way of land settlement which are largely mythical, consequently ie credits every settler with'his full share of dependents to , get an impressive total. But, as I usual, he neglects tt> ma(ce any dej duction for the very largo number of ' persons who have gone on the land, and i who have thrown it up because the coni ditions were unfavourable, because the I rents were too high,, or the Government' promises' to provide roads and railways foiled to materialise. It is largely because the Government has obtained euch poor results in the matter of land settlement, considering its opportunities, that it is being turned out of office at the present time to make room for- men who have the courago and ability to tackle tho problem in a statesmanlike way. Nor is it without significance that the two candidates who were most closely identified with the land system for which. Sir Joseph Ward claims credit, tho Hon. R. McNab and the Hon. T. Y. Ihincan, were rejected without any Hesitation by the electors at the 'first ballot? Nothing is more satisfactory . about the impending political changes

than the prospect of getting something that the country has been without ever s.nco Sir Joseph Ward took office, ', and that is an intelligible-land pbiicy.

The sight of a baronet and two knights, if not three* ornamenting the front Opposition benches in the New Parliament will almost be worth a pilgrimage to Wellington to witness. , Imitation, we know, is the sincerest flattery, but Mr Isitt in thus showing I his admiration for the Prime' Minister seems m danger of overdoing it. Sir j Joseph "Ward, at a recent meeting, told ons of his audience that he was an' iEolian harp struck by lightning, or in other words, a "blasted lyre." Mr Isitt, apparently, does not affect these circumlocutions, and at his meeting on. j Saturday night said to an interjector: "You are an unmitigated liar!" We do not know how the officials of the j Church who recently gave their public I testimony to Mr Isitt's qualities as a Christian minister regard this sort of thing, but wo would submit that language of this kind would not bo tolerated in Parliament, and if used at public meetings may very easily lead to a breach of tho peace. We quite agree with a statement in a manifesto issued by Mr Isitt to the effect that the prohibition issue has now been settled for three years, and the present contest should be fought out on political grounds only. But how does this view accord with the statement .made by the Rev. J, Dawson, secretary of the New Zealand Alliance, and publishecl in tho same issue of the paper.—"Wo are going to do our beet to influence the oecond ballot fights. Our feeling is that the majority in favour of the abolition of the trafiV demands' that next session of Parliament shall remove tho handicap that "is placed upon the people.. Wo are going to use all our powers to influence tho second ballot, arid seeing that tho vote for National Prohibition is so largo, that is oiur reason for immediate action," The New Zealand Alliance Executive has also passed a resolution to the effect that no candidate at the second ballot is to bo supported who favours tho three-fifths majority. Unless Mr Isitt repudiates the New Zealand Alliance, his profession that he is seeking election merely in order that he may support the "Liberalism" of the present Government is, to say the least of it, disingenuous. The Auckland correspondent of a Ministerial journal who predicted that the Reform Party would retain only two seats in the whole of the Auckland province should leave the prophet business alone, and take to something in which he might be more successful. By tho time the second ballots are over it will be found, we believe, that the Reform Party, which has already won eight out of the eighteen seats, against the Government's four (including Sir James Carroll's) will be represented by eleven members in Auckland, while at Joast two seats will be occupied by Independents, and another may fall to the Labour candidate. Sir John Findlay is another of the prophets who would be well, advised to hedge a ' little when forecasting the course of events. "He was quite sure of onje thing,'.'' he said, on the eve of the election, "and that was that whatever happened to himself on the morrow, the Government were going back, and would rule , this country for. many years to come ..... The Government is safe, the country is safe, and I am gcting to be returned to-morrow." But when to-morrow came lie was more than GOO behind the first man on the poll, and there is every likelihood that on Thursday he will again ha seepjaj on tho list. ■';.'.;■ The Government organ in Wellington thinks that the result of last Thursday's polling leaves the Opposition and the Government "running lieck and neck.",. It is, of course, necessary for Government supporters to put as good a face us possible upon a situation that .must seem gloomy in the extreme, but it is surely straining the English language to suggest that the two parties are level whoa one—tho Beform Party—has already a 25 per cent, lead over the other. Tie second ballot was aptly described by /Mr F. M. B. Fisher tho other night, as a Frankenstein's monster, which was designed for the destruction of its creator's enemies, but in the end destroyed its creator himself. "That," said Mr Fisher, "ie what the second ballot is going to do for Sir Joseph Ward." " Selwyn is not likely to bulk any moro largely in "Hansard" in the, immediate future than in recent years,for the Ashburton paper describes Mr Dickie, tho new member,, as being "even less of an orator than •Mr "Hardy." It is perhaps difficult for New Zealanders, living ih a country where a man can bo both a barrister and a solicitor, to realise the gulf that separates tho two* branches of the profession at Home." "When a Unionist wants to be ■withering about ,Mr Lloyd George, he calls him a "littlo Welsh attorney"— :an attorney being a vastly inferior being to a landowner or a barrister. , Popular fame, as well as social distincjtion, comes the barrister's way, but i both pass the solicitor by r But there was onf> solicitor in England at any rate, ■ who was as famous as most of the J leaders of tho, Bar—Sir George Lewis, whoso death was announced on Saturi day. Sir George was co much tho leadj ing solicitor of his iimo, that neither I he nor his firm had any rival in extent \of practice. For fifty years or more he ■was engaged., in causes celebres, civil land criminal, and if hie memoirs -were 'published without reeerve, they would I form tho most sensational volume ever issued. Ho acted professionally in the Baccarat case, in which the bite j King was called as a witness, he ' prepared the case for tho Irish Party at the Parnell Commission, and he was engaged in nearly 1 overy big newspaper libol action during the last fifty years. Sir George was the . repository of society's secrets, and. no man in England knew as much is he did about tho private lives of the aristocracy. The career oF such a man makes one wonder why it is that there :is no such honour as "King's Solicitor" \ for his branch of the profession. That ' a man should be honoured both socially . and professionally because he fights ! cases in Court, while- tho man who passes the cases on to him, or by his , tact and ability stops them from going Jto Court, is regarded as of. inferior } clay, ia strange.- ; ... ,