The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1908. THE OPPOSITION POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 137, 4 March 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1908. THE OPPOSITION POLICY.

■ v-..When-'.tie Premier, delivered, his "policy" speecli at Auckland tlie other day, two of liis leading journalistic supporters fell foul of each other, and their quarrel' supplied the most trenchant criticism possible of Sir Joseph Ward's vague and pretentious rhetoric.. One complained that there was no policy in it: the other retorted that a policy was 1 not wanted., Mr. Massey's speech at Hamilton, of which ■we-print a full report to-day, is safe, from any such criticism' as that.' Where the Premier was .negative,- Mr. -Massey _ was positive; where the Premier was merely, vague' 'and - meaningless, the Leader of the Opposition was blunt and to' the / point'. The great body of moderate opinion, with which we consider ourselves to be : in alliance, will derive'as much satisfaction from Mr.- Massey's speech as will' the supporters of the Opposition. !Mr. Massey has greatly improved, in the matand the manner of his political addresses. : He)has learned to' make very good use, of the excellent case which he has against the Administration and the legislation of the Government, and: he stated that case at Hamilton with force and point. He could hardly have bettered the sentences in which he introduced his speech. He came before his audience, he said, " with empty hands. He could not promise them a road, or a bridge; or post-office. He could not even have the Mayor called to the Legislative Council, or the gentleman moving the vote of thanks made a Justice of the Peace." With the Premier engaged in a prolonged campaign of " sweetening up" distripts that have refused to come to heel at the Government's bidding, there was need, for some such sharp satire as the sentences iwe have quoted.. Much of what Mr. Massey said upon the land question has been said before, but it cannot, be too often insisted that last . year's land legislation is a first long stride towards the, complete' nationalisation. of the land. The grotesque inadequacy to requirements of the land set aside for endowments —an inadequacy.that can,only become more sharply marked with time—cannot be regarded otherwise than as proof that the name of "endowment" was pretext, and a poor one, for an act of policy entirely unrelated to sound finance. Mr. Massey did well to point out that, the Land for Settlements Act, in the absence of provision for the freehold, is nationalising the lands of the Dominion at the rate of ,£500,000 worth per annum. The gradual conversion of the soil into a State domain wiU not only mean the extinction of the small'{freeholder, and the consequent lowering of the agricultural efficiency of the country, but, when

accompanied by the full development of the Government's Socialistic policy, mill result in the whole population becoming Crown tenants or employees of the State. Most people 1 are intelligent enough to apprehend the corruption and the final disaster that must attend such a result, but most people do not reflect—and Mr. Massey was wise in reminding them—that the Government's Socialistic policy would " do an immense amount of harm before the people putting it forward realised that they were making a very serious mistake." When lie came to deal with the Premier's speech, Mr. Massey was unable to find in it anything of a constructive character except the proposal to establish market gardens in connection with the gaols. He hit off the Premier's discourse on the Government's relation to Socialism very aptly. It was-as if a Hamilton resident, asked where he lived, were to reply) that he lived somewhere between Auckland and Wellington. The true distinction between Liberalism and Socialism,,as the, Leader of the Opposition pointed out, is , the: distinction between State aid to individual energy and State destruction of private enterprise and individual initiative. We believe'that before the next elections enough will have been said to convince, the public upon this point.

We have not space to go into the details of Mr. Massey's address. 'But we should'call attention to his'criticisms of the ' unsound financial methods of the Government, and its immediate predecessors—the piling up of the public debt at an unprecedented rate, the wasting, of loans on unproductive expenditure, the use of 1 borrowed money to bear that should be bbrne by revenue, the'allocation of local grants for political, ends. While -the present system con-: 1 tinues, Mr. Massey will not lack material for vigorous criticism. When he dealt with Native lands, he took up an attitude that is gradually forcing itself >upon the minds of all who give this question attention, as .the only possible one ( for statesmanship. If only to escape from tho meshes of the existing nniddlement, the Government will' one day'give up its theory that the Native landowner should'be treated as a child or an imbecile. Before he came to deal'with the talk- of codlition, Mr. Massey had made it plain that his party has a very 'definite policy indeed, and this greatly strengthened his clear repudiation of the idea' that a coalition is possible under existing conditions. His outline of the issues severing -him from the Government is in reality a sharp rebuke to those who have so ill-manneredly suggested that Mr. ,Massey /can drop his principles in order to coalesce, with a party of expediency and compromise.. He knows what lie wants;, and he does not hesitate to say clearly what he will fight for, and what he will oppose. In this he is the exact opposite of the Premier, who hesitates, to commit himself to anything, and whose warmest supporters ' are, divided into two camps—those who are honest enough to complainthat their leader .lias'.not laid down a policy, and those whose intelligence is so much weaker. than their faith that they scorn policies as mere shibboleths. Those, who read Massey's speech cannot fail to admire his outspokenness, even where, they may disagree with his political'views; 'while all who recognise the value of a strong Opposition will -derive satisfaction from his vigorous criticism and his; undaunted . attitude'in face of the, odds arrayedagainst him. ; A few, such speeches .from Opposition leaders should have. a very wholesome effect in awakening the constituencies to the need for. keeping a more , alert eye on the drift of. politics in the Dominion —and . that' this need exists grows more apparent with each succeeding session's legislation.