The Press Wednesday, May 14, 1924. The Liberal Party.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18072, 14 May 1924, Page 8

The Press Wednesday, May 14, 1924. The Liberal Party.

The long-delayed campaign by tho Liberal Party was opened on Monday night with speeches by Mr Wilford and Mr R. Masters. Students of politics have been awaiting the campaign with some curiosity. The heavy and continuous decline in the amount of support given to the Party has been due partly to the lowering of its personnel, but mainly to the fact that it has no distinctive policy, and, indeed, no reason for continuing to appear before the public.' This has been so obvious to the country for several years that it was possible to believe that it would begin to be seen by Mr Wilford, and that he would endeavour to come forward with at least an imitation of a policy and a programme. It is clear, however, from his speech and that of his colleague, either that tho task of finding a distinctive policy has been beyond the capacity of the Diehards, or that they still imagine, in defiance of the plain teaching of experience, that carping and mourning are' a good enough substitute for character and clear purpose and positive ideas. Here is a full summary of Mr Wilford's speech, omitting nothing, whatever: "(1) The Befornj .Party is the docile servant of the wealthy; (2) it is time there was a change' of Government, - anyway; (3) the national expenditure is much higher than in 1919; (4) the Advances to Settlers Department was t established by tho Liberals, and the Reformers ate, mean • enough to go on applying it; . (5) "the Government invested some of the Department's .money in war loans; (6) Mr Massey'carries out'the advances policy' only because Liberals; bave advocated an. Agricultural Bank; (?) the desire ,that a, State Bank be- established; (8) produce should be sent Ho tho East; (9) the soldier :se't ; " tlc'ment schfcme was wastefully carried out; (10X Mr Massey is not as dignified as Mr Wilford could wish.. Mr Masters's Speech was for the most fcart ,an attempt to repair the injury i done to the liiberal Party -by .'Mr Wili ford's unfortunate 'speech in defence of the railwaymen on strike, but he seems to have'mentioned that theiLib- j erals have resolved that "a permanent in connexion with railway ad- " ministration" should be set up.

. There are not'a few people who!, have supported the Liberal Party in the .vague belief that it Is aomelibw .carrying on the policy of the Liberals in the 'nineties. We should liketp hear somo of these people meeting .together ;fo extract from the speeches .with which Mr Wilford has opened -his 'campaign an outline of policy. From-sur-prise, and dismay at ;that Mr Wilf ord has resolved to do without a policy altogether, most of these Liberals will pass, as tens of thousands .of them have passed in every' trieniiium since 1911, into a state of disillusion ending in a determination to vote either for the Government or ior Labour. For Mr Wilford' has nothing to offer to £hem, or indeed to anybody except to that .tiny faction whoso politics consist only of angry regret that Providence dared to' end the-old Lib-.

eral regime which they hhd come to believe'had acquired, a title , to. permanent possession as good as thc'" r British •Crown's. -.Mere carping at tins- Government, in which there is no regard for facts and no discrimination _ between solid achievement and hardly avoidable mistakes, can bring no party anywhere, and can make no appeal-to a community which has some commonsense and a sense of humour, and which is far less interested in what Mr Wilford and his friends think of Mr Massey than in what they themselves propose to do. If the Government's mistakes had .been fifty times as great and numerous as they have been, the people would still laugh at the idea of giving Mr Wilford any greater power than he at present possesses, namely, the power to help Mr Holland in the House. Mr Wilford's speech, to make I an end, amounts to nothing more nor less than a very excellent and telling illustration of the facts concerning hU Party which we have been giving to the public for long enough. And of these'facts the chief is, that the political conditions in New Zealand have no place for any aimless third Party in the conflict between moderate men of progressive outlook on the one hand and revolutionary Labour on the other.