THEN AND NOW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 625, 30 September 1909, Page 8

THEN AND NOW.

FROM SEDDONISM TO —-? : NEW ZEALAND'S POLITICAL"• DRAMA. J Under 'the: above headings',', the """Sydne Morning Herald" of Saturday last printed th following bright article, which, though ur signed, is evidently written by some New Zee lander with a sharp political eye: : "Nominally. Mr. Setldon died on Juno H 190 G. Actually, he died sometime this yeai 190!)— exact date .unknown. His passing ma; be.compared with tho fall of the driver fron the locomotive of 'an express, rushing at ful speed on the level. Barring accidents, the trail runs, on till, the'steam fails, and the- law's o friction bring the fleet wheels to • rest. •' Th engine that Mr. Seddori was driving ha bumped; over'a few points,, but has kept th rails, and is now almost at a standstill a Nowhero in Particular. Over a year ago on< of the. Ministers said, with that boldness whicl came to Ministers when the imperious and im portal Seddon's thunder tones were no lbngei to be dreaded, 'The dead hand no longci rules.' But four fingers of the dead hanc worp then ruling; a little later there'wen three; then twoj. then one; .finally non'e.'-.Boi no living hand has yot come to take the placi of the'■ dead one. 'Tho' Seddonian' policy ha": petered out at last,' said someone, vulgarly tho other day, and'tho new policy is -—? . A WAITING GAME. ; "Mr. Seddon's successor,' Sir Joseph .Ward, held up a shadow hand, and it has never, beer more than a shadow; His excuse for not put ting some individuality into tho work of government was that fato put him at tho. head of a Parliament elected to support Mr. Seddon on Seddonian lines. In a dozen directions there was.au urgent need; for reform and economies' in the. Civil Service, in which'the 'right colour' was a glaring 'scandal.-, Political appointments, comfortable :. salaries ' for men with nothing more arduous.to do than'to make themselves a to themselves, and the ,country, and a griovou's burden, called, for the guillotine; but Sir Joseph had'not the heart to order tho execution till the . electors". put some writing on'the wall—a warrant, to: slay— at the general election of November, 1008. Two or three months before he departed for London the Premier uttered the. "sentence of retrenchment, and' he" armod his Ministers with lethal axe 3. Day by day one-asks, TS execution, done -on Cawdor ?l But many of the.political Cawdors are stall alive. ■• The retrenchment is in a muddle. ■ ' Some of the Ministers, have hacked whore they should have spared, and spared where -they > should .have hacked. The Minister for Mines, a .'practical man,' with a 'practical man's'..hearty contempt of any science which prefers riot to use rule-of-thumb methods, has reduced the scope of the very useful Geological Survey, conducted by the brilliant young Canadian, Dr. Bell, and is boasting about tho money that'ho has.saved. the studied, abe studying'them- ; ■■;■■ ,■ ••.-. .• ■ selves. :.-,, .'..::/; "New Zealanders, born here; k and: educated here, rather smile at the strangers who arrive to study them. Americans, Germans,.Britons, Russians come.with ejles'as wide open as their .notebooks to get'tho ; c6untry arid the people between, the covers of a-book 'while you wait.' The New Zealanders havo-been enterprising, and may fairly iclaim to have played a useful hand, -now and then, in the -great pastime of progress; but just now. the ranch-studied aro much studying themselves.- They, are asking themselves in one wbrd,'< 'WhitherP' The Seddonian traditions have expired lately by -pitiless effluxion of time. What will take their place? Will- a master tailor arise-to make a new mantle oht of the old-shreds, arid patches,-or; will on; entirely new garment be fashioned?:' Events are shaping for a new garment. .>.--... ;- .' -...- „;•.:..-.. • ..-. .-..; V:':v: SIR'JOSEPH'S; DILEMMA-, ■ f'Wue'a ■' Sir" Joseph 'Ward' decided" to go 'to London at'all' hazards to help, to save" the Empire, at. the: Defence. Conference,' he knew that he took, a "risk; Jußt before; he doparted the- .unemplojed: >ere beginning to-protest vigorously: against the proroguing: of Parliament, and the retrenchment scheme"'was in- a bewildering state of uncertainty. Hie friends, .too, did not forget to tell him that the Opposition, strengthened at' the general election, would not waste the time of his absence; and Labour; eager for independence ■ in' politics, would be. looking' for .opportunities to 'make good. On tho surface, the Premier was court,ing 'disoster'for his party-by leavjng a rather weak Ministry at the mercy of iTcb'uritry daily growing more critical. What wcrild ho juggle from London 'to make th'e'balance of "power safe bh.-the Liberal side?-■■The'gerieral' opinion' ■ is:, that ho"hopes to Soothe' the" country' by bringing back at least a million and a quarterof borrowed-money. .That was one of the Seddon methods—known first as the 'million" loan,' and later as the 'two million loan' policy— but it has already been .indicated that Seddopism, so far as the, rapidly-increasing ranks of thinking people aro concerned, died this yoar..- ■' ~- .. -.;.- ,■ -.'-. vy,-.-, ,■. -"The Opposition or Country party has distinctly .made headway during Sir Joseph's absence, arid Labour has definitely unfurled the banner of, revolt from the Liberal and .Labour Federation (odiously known as the Tib-Lab' in- Seddon s day, 'when', it, was,-tho flywheel in the party- machine)., .The standard-bearer .is Mr. A. W: Hogg, who dramatically resigned the portfolio of Labour just before Sir Joseph sai ed. : .-. Mr', Hogg Seriously' embarrassed his colleagues.by;the vigorous advocacy of a State paper currency (dear to the. Labour heart), and a -violent denunciation of private landlords. Labour looked to Mr. Hogg to become a-sort of political .Napoleon to get together a grand army. He certainly had a remarkable opportunity to leap to power, but he is heav+ footed,. and. is ,npt equal, to tho jump. Tho army has still its more or less non-commi«-sionedjargomng and bargaining officers, but no- competent officer commanding. Independent Labour, therefore, is not a factor in politics for'the present.. - ;:-. A MAORI AS ACTING-PEEMIER. ; "The only member of', the- Seddonian Cabinet in.Now. Zealand to-day is the Native Minister, ,n'l*l. H °n- J -1 Carroir- (a •Maori), surnamort laihoa (Maori for wait-a-bit). By procrastina tion he has.secured 10 years of office'at a high salary,.and, by.'sitting tight,?.early arid late, time and the hour have giveri him-tho'ohair at Cabinet meetings.. Ho arid-Sir. Joseph art the.only members left of'the Seddonian Administration. .'Taihoa' has been the joke, of the press. Ministerial • and ■. Opposition; for ' years, and,, now .he. is,,.Acting,pretnier. • Just when tho paper.vwere,almost, weary,of-jesting at him. he gave 'a new filip to-the fun-making ' ITt? f m °w hs * g °,- by , advocatirigi a. 'legislative '■ resf Jor New Zealand.: -The gospel waf sound, ibut came, comically from .the arch-apostle of the. rest,cure.,. It was rather a.subtle move oh Mr 'Tp*?,mp s pa n\ -° P a y so much respect, to l;.li «, Cabinet, seniority, ■ measured ' merely-.by- .the years. ; Two",''other members, i L" lh ambitions.higher than..he-cares.:to , S?, nf SI?' to t " eye - n ' ;h9 '^ ,fo Perhaps,-were eager «Mn tA'P'rt 6 £ f ,, the Acting-Premier-ship, audSir Joseph artfully passod-thom both ' py.. rte saved,his own peace of mind for the ' h^^el^ r \^" at;a ; co ? t 3 ; THE FREEHOLD ..PARTY TO DOMINATE. .. /'Soddon. announced that: he" had v his' back ?™?\ cr- °T a i the , leasehold policy handed teftj? J ° hn it was r a swing door, as one,of his opponents remarked. ' And "it, has.remained: a swing door. Sir IwOFhS Government has been gradually slipping .through; • , only .the- coat-tails aro now visible, and they will not hold out long: AaturaUy.Sir Joseph himself is'a' freeholder; it-is behoved'that, a majority oftho Ministry is freehold;, certainly., the majority of tho House of Representatives is freehold,-and, the country is freehold. How can tho leasohold be savod?, Labour in the'cities and towns'is ensohold.but the 'man .on,tho land' is practically always: freehold in sentiment, if not- in rant. .Shrewd, observers, say. that' tho. Government is looking, for-a soft spot on which to irop from.therlbwer branches "of tho leasohold jco, doivn which'it has beeii steadily.climbing luring the.past three years. '-. THE BACKBONE OP THE COUNTRt ; PRQMINENT;, ." ■. f \; •'Now Zealand lives' by the pririiary' industries, ivhen wool falls a penny, lamentations reverjerato loudly through tho - most ■ unwoolly itreots of-the cities, and yet the country has icon : dominated by .the. urban representatives or many years.,- Why? Seddon managed to iloy the country nicely against-the (owns;.but horo-'is no Seddon now., The, Country party las at last realised (somo- timo this' year) hat' Seddon has' vanished, and ".the members to out to soizo the sceptre. Kip Van Winkle [as no rheumatism.in hisjoints; ho isa giant ofreshod after tho long sleep, and'is determined to como into-his kingship." Only' that mbour Napoleon—still missing—can §top him', 'ho signs point-to an ultimato union of tho lain strength of tho, Government and Oppoition to form a' groat moderate party to stand liorildor to shoulderiagainstlndopendent'Labur.' Everything is in a state of transition, 'he Balfour mood of •'philosophic doubt' is idely noticeable. Even the sacred conciliation nd arbitration ; laws—soroly tried last yearre the 'subject of doubt by somo of their inner admirers.; The chemists in tho ' world'ssporimental "laboratory,* as Now Zealand has oon.called, are thinking that it is well to put 10 acids.arid salts.asidofor.a while.rjllthcy ave triod-to-figuro. out the probable effect-of is manipulation. I .', ~.--. ' :„, . ' -• ■