The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1910. A SILENT MINISTRY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 773, 23 March 1910, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1910. A SILENT MINISTRY.

The visit of Me. Massey to Wellington, coupled with tho news that he will shortly commence tho delivery of a series of political .addresses, will probably set the public wondering at tho unusual silence of the Ministry. .In recent times the first few months of the .year have been regarded by Ministers as the electioneering season—tho period during which tho public, with one session pretty well forgotten and the' next far enough." ahead to be out of mind, is in good condition to receive a cataract of Ministerial eloquence. One could count upon finding a Ministerial oration reported from some obscure locality nearly every morning. Two years ago, if we remem-i ber- aright, the Prime Minister even contrived to deliver something like forty-four speeches in a fortnight. This, year, however, we look in vain for the steady flow of Ministerial eloquence: it was quite an event when Ma. Buddo delivered a rousing speech on fire brigades in Hawke's Bay two or throo weeks ago. Many a good "Liberal," we have no doubt, is wondering why Sir Joseph Ward is not up and doing, and fearing, perhaps, that "this sort of thing won't do." Events happening, the world wagging, time.passing, Mr. Massey about to open a campaign, and Ministers nowhere to be heard— surely something is amiss! . There has been no cessation, of course, of the circulation of Ministers throughout the country. Practically all of them have been rushing up and down, for no discoverable, purpose, so far as we can see: some of them, indeed, have been quite bewilderinglvactive in appearing and disappearing in places hundreds of miles apart.'But , they, have gone ' about with muzzles on, and havo only broken cover to discubs such neutral Questions as fire brigades, prison reform, postal business, and scenery. What ia the explanation of Sir Joseph Ward's strange silence? At Rotorua he had two opportunities , of delivering such r.ousing party ora- 1 tions as would send the blood of the "Liberals" coursing more rapidly through their, veins; but he dared nothing greater than, some mild statistical speeches upon the growth of the postal business of the thermal regions. Mr. Nqata has never been heard of; he has simply faded away into the forest dim. Even Dr. Findlay has left the platforms deserted, and this despite the fact that he en--joys _ the peculiar advantage of requiring no text for those long lectures of his, which havo always struck us'as being in a sense like the works of Diokens, which Mr. Chesterton tells us are one long homogeneous body, which can be begun' at any point and left off at any other _ point. His complete absorption in his new prison scheme does not seem to us to amount to a reason why he should not compose bushels of lectures on strikes and taxation. Nor is Mr. Millar showing the activity that might be expected of "the strong man of the Ministry." He has certainly reElied to several deputations, but no iberal can believe that he is not full of political ideas. Mr. Fowlds's talents are " also lying idle. Although he has. had. an occasional skirmish with the Education Boards, he has had nothing to say upon the magnificent past of his party or upon its still more magnificent future. The good people of Auckland must be sadly missing him. Mr. Carroll had , sufficiently husbanded his energy a little time ago to 'be able to announce that he will keep a sharp eye on the prophet Rua, and this exhausting labour has made it impossible to hope that he will break his political silence before Parliament meets. Mr. Buddo has been content with giving the public a remarkable demonstration of political zoology. To Mr. T. Mackenzie belongs the credit of the only speech that can fairly be called jolitical. We refer to his piously indignant attack at' Cheviot upon certain unnamed writers of articles upon New Zealand in certain unnamed papers. Wp are reminded, in this connection, that Mr. Mackenzie has not yet supplied the particulars which we invited, and which alone can prevent his" speech from classification as wild imaginings. It would be idle for us to pretend that the country is any the poorer for the Ministry's strange shyness— the stranger for its appearance in a Government which, at this time of year, it has in the past been almost impossible for the reporters to keep pace with. Is it possible that the Prime Minister has decided that the less the public-sees or hears of him and his colleagues the safer his position will pe? This seems to us to bo a much more tenable hypothesis than that Lord Kitchener is at the bottom of it—cither through his silence, or _ through his report, which, since it demands the expenditure of a groat deal of money in ways that will not produce a return in the shape of votes, must make Ministers rather gloomy. The Prime Minister can hardly have failed to realise that he is out of touch with public opinion, and quite unable cither to stir the country into enthusiasm or to bully it into obedience, Moreover, he haa nothing in

the shape of a policy excepting re-, sistance to any suggestion of: reform. A duller man than he is would have no difficulty in perceiving, in these circumstances, the advantages of doing nothing to arouse attention or create remark. The last session of Parliament can yield him no pleasant memories, • as it affords him no incentive to mount the platform and wait for the cheers. Therefore he leaves the public alone in the hope that the public will leave him alone. He sees no profit in speaking only to weaken his position. He apparently succeeded in persuading the leasehold caucus, which was to do such desperate things, to disperse on tip-toe into the silence from which it emerged. If ho could but persuade Mr. Massey to give up his tour, he would be very pleased. For the Government has reached the point at which the limelight of publicity is the very last thing that it desires for its political position.