The Press Thursday, November 9, 1922. Mild Generalities.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17607, 9 November 1922, Page 8

The Press Thursday, November 9, 1922. Mild Generalities.

If Mr Buddo has no better wares in iiis politic,il pack than those he displayed to an audience at Kaiapoi on Tuesday night, his candidature will add as little interest to the contest for the Kaiapoi seat as his version of the Liberal •jolicy will assist that party in tho do::iioii campaign. Mr Buddo is one oi th 9 old guard of the old Liberal Party, and like others of his political day and generation he has not yet become accustomed to the changed order. With all Mrs Gunimidgc's devotion to the past ho bewails the dear dead days now gone beyond recall, iind murmur? of tlio Old Age Pensions Act as though ho could thereby charm the electors into believing that time had stood still ior twenty or thirty years. As the result of spending twenty-three or twenty-four years "in the political i: atmosphere of the Kaiapoi electorate," Mr Buddo has come to the conclusion that Liberalism is the only policy for a true democracy. In that he is quite right, as a majority of the electors will agree; the mistake ho makes is in assuming, first, that the Reform policy is not truly Liberal, and secondly, that Liberalism can only be put into practice by persons calling themselves members of the Liberal Party. He has not yet begun to realise that the Liberal Party stopped short some years ago and is now destitute of ideas, initiative, and policy. . What he describes as the Liberal policy consists largely of borrowings from Mr Maßsev's policy. Its two distinctive planks are borrowed from the Labour Party. But for that, Mr Buddo can hardly be blamed; his leader could do no better, and Mr BuHdo is not the sort of candidate to strike out on any new line. Proportional Representation is, of course, his strong suit, as it is Mr Wilford's, and having dealt previously with the latter's advocacy of a "reform," as he describes it, which nobody exoept a handful of people really want, we need say no more on the matter except to remark that if it ever became a live subjeot a number of the present advocatea of P.R., would have to set to work to learn what it meant, and how it worked. ;■ At present they seem to think it is a phrase withwhich to conjure votes, and that'is all that concerns them. Mr t Buddo deplores the heavy scale of taxation; so does Mr Massey, who has already done something to lessen the burden, and will do much more- as soon as ever the circumstances of the country permit, and what remains of the Liberal Party could do no more if they were suddenly put into office to-morrow. The Government has appointed a commission; to enquire into the of the soldier settlers and aa to the necessity for revaluation of their , properties, but .that process is too slow for Mr'Buddo, who wants the revaluation done at once } and,' presumably, the investigation carried out afterwards, a line 'of action which suggests neither a desire forbusihesslike methods nor regard for the taxpayer's pocket. With reference to hydro-electricity, Mr Buddo strongly oppbsoß a flat rate, and also thei proposed Waimqkariri scheme, and having reaohed tjhat impass6 he can suggest no better way of escaping it than to "put the Government out," a lame and impotent conclusion, which is strongly characteristic of the candidate's attitude on most questions. As a dealer in mild generalities, Mr Buddo has neyer had many serious rivals, and as the Kaiapoi electors are accustomed to a stronger and more vigorous political policy, it is extremely unlikely that, at a time when conditions demand capable handling by men who know their own minds, they will drag Mr Buddo from his retirement; J