The WAY WE ARE RULED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1301, 2 December 1911, Page 18

The WAY WE ARE RULED.

A DAMNING RECORD. Ministers, andtheir Idea of Fair Play. SOME EXTRAORDINARY DOINGS.

I Good E.dmini3tration is the foundation. )of all good government. 'No matter how good the laws may be that Parliament | passes, their benefits will be lost if they 'toro badly administered, and tho intenjtion of i;ho people and their representaj tives frustrated. ! Whn.t is tho administrative record of 1 tho 'Ward Government? Is it managing 1 the 1 -public' business of- New -Zealand in I conformity with tho will of Parliament j and meting out even-handed treatment to iall citizens, or is it not?

j Most people are aware that Sir Robert I Stout, Chief Justice of tho Dominion, has i received ixmsidorablo sums of money from j the Ward Government during rewnt | years, in addition, to tho salary of .£2OOO 1 "granted him by Parliament. One of the | longest and harden fights in English j constitutional history was to secure the 1 independent* of tho Judges, and to giro j them such ft security of office that they j were above either tho fear or favour of I .'the Crown. j ! A BONUS FOR THE CHIEF JUSTICE. | In defiance of this principle, the Ward Government during tho year 1905-9 paid Sir Robert Stout an honorarium of .over ; . '<(13000 for acting on tho Native Land i Commission, his total drawings from tho ,publio pe.y office for that year being:— , iE ' s. d. Statutory salary as Chief Justice 2000 0 0 Honorarium as Native Land Commissioner 3076 12 3 Travelling allowance as Commissioner 933 8 0 i Travelling expenses as Commissioner 9 12 9 JJGOI9 13 0 t . In addition, the State had to psjy an | ' 'Acting-Judge .61747 Cor doing Sir Robert ; Stout's ordinary work on tho Bench, I which Sir Eobort Stout was paid ■ .£2OOO for not doing. It is not, however, the amount of tho payment that is at stake, though that is bad enough, but tho prin- >• cip'.e. While the law does not in so many words forbid the payment of Judges for acting ; on commissions, snob, payments are clear•ly contrary to tho whole intention of Parliament. Sir Frederick Pollock, editor j of the English "Law Review," says he i knows of no such payments having been I made in England. The Jfelbourne "Aus-

"He was afraid they had the worst kind of non-progressives in the Ministerial ranks at the present time:" ■ —Mr. HOGG in Parliament, September 9, 1910.

trainman," in commenting on the ease, says:—

"Sir I'obcit Stout's reputation stands high. • • . Nevertheless, it is ill (lis- | >, putable that he ouglit to have quitted , the. Bench before he i 9 eligible to reooive jVonetary rewards o£ that magnitude from the Government of the , day. .In Victoria, Snpremo Court Judges have served readily and repeatedly as Royal Commissioners, bnt without any fee being added to their regular emoluments." j The Ward Government has defeated ithc whole intention of tho law. Under jthis method of extra payments, it would :be open to a corrupt Ministry to give thousand)! of pounds away to subservient Judges, who did their behests, and to withhold such grants from Judges who would not bend their law to please their paymasters. - LrNo one can dispute this fact. No one .can donbt the vicioiisnrss of the principle involved in s.uclt payments. or . the [danger they involve to the independence (of the people's Courts of Justice. Can :ony responsible elector support'a. Government which has so little regard for the .preat principle that our- Judges should !I>o. absolutely independent of tho MinisItry of the day, and of all other influences? HOW VOTES ARE BOUGHT. 1 So much for extra payments to judges. Now for extra payment!! to tho public for votes received. If you look up the "Hawera and Normanby Star" of May 9 last you will find the Honourable I'odcr(ick M'Kcnzio reported, as saying in aniswer to n request for the construction of e railway to Opunake that "he had promised nothing except that the railway deserves to bo pnt first on tho lint of branch railways, anil also his assistance as tho district merits it, as the railway will be selfsupporting. But [he continued] you send members to llic Jiou.vo vrho slate us for borrowing and squandering, to which 1 object, as T am looked on as a man who looks after the ratepayers' interests. . . • Wo cannot borrow if you'stop us. We aro prepared to givn you si railway iu. two years if you do not stop borrowing. The late Hon. T(. J. Seddon told you if you apply tho brake you will go behind. and if you do not support us you must go without your railway- ... If you belong to the stagnation party you must go without ytur railway. People who vote for us, I am with them." Mr. M'Kenzic, some timo after making this statement, which naturally aroused considerable adverso comment, made a partial denial of its accuracy, to which tho odito;: of tho Ilawera "Star" replied that lie had every confidence in his reporter. TAXPAYERS' INTERESTS IGNORED. Take another instance. Tho Ward Government has made a practice of withholding Government advertisements from The Dominion and certain othtsr newspapers, which have sot hesitated to expose its shortcomings. During the session of 1909 Mr. K. A. Wright, member for Wellington South, moved: "That in tho opinion of this Kousa Government advertisements should bo Btipplicl to newspapers regardless of their political convictions and WITH A VIEW ONLY TOSECURINGTHE BEST RETURN TO THE TAXPAYERS FOR THE MONEY SO EXPENDED." This was snrely a fair and reasonable enough proposition. The expenditure of the public moaoy in the public Interest— not, to serve part? ends. What was its {ate? Defeat bj 3li .votes to 18, It ia

Hi]lister, girtm byhim in a recent speech at Masterton:— "What was the nature of the retrenchment? Civil Servants—somo of them with fat salaries—that had reached the allotted age, were superannuated, and added to a formidable pension list. Temporary clerkn wero unceremoniously dismissed and offered land on which, not bedng bullocks or bushmen, they wore unablo to The Road l ? Department . . . was smashed to pieces. . . . The boasted saving to be effected by retrenchment was made at the expense of the cooperative labourers and land settlers." THE PUBLIC DUPED. Thia wholcsalo retrenchment began in tho first quarter of 1909-10. What Sir .Togoph. Ward's assurances as to tho state of tho public finances are worth may bo judged by tho following statements made by him"'a few months before ho began sacking public servants left and right. In his election manifesto, issued on November 14, 1908, he said:— "I would again repeat for yonr assurance that all our public financial

difficult to credit this, but you will find all the details set out in "Hansard," vol. 117, p. 879, and here are tho names of 'the thirty-six who voted against a motion urging the expenditure of . public money only in tho public interest: Arnold Lawry Baume Macdonald Buddo - Mlvcnzio, R. Carroll Mackenzie, T. Clark Millar C'olvin Ngata C'vaigio Parata Davey Pool* Dillon Poland Duncan, T. Scddon Ell Sidey Field Smith • Fowlds Stallworthy . Glover Ward Graham Wilford Hall Witty Hogg Greenslad® Laurenson Eoss Itcmember these names when you Tecord your vote on December 7. Tho Ward following in Parliament has by this voto deliberately refused to affirm the principle that public money shall be expended with 3 view only to securing the best return to the taxpayers. A FORTUNE BURIED IN A SWAMP. Not only hag tho Continuous Ministry refused to affirm this principle, but it has on numberless occasions flown in the face of it. Take the Nai Nai putthaso. In 1903 during the Wellington land boom a Mr. Leigh bought a block of land oomo three miles distant from tho Lower Hutt railway station for -£30,003 17s. 6d,, at tho rate of «£7O an acre, and in 1905 sold it to the Government for .£21,472 10s. for subdivision for the erection of workers' dwellings. To put the position another way— The land was bought by Leigh in 1903 at £70 per acre, two yean later the Government bought it from Leigh at more than double the price he paid for it, namely, £150 per acre, although tho Government valuation w«i only £80 to £85 per acre.

" I do not believe, Judging by | recent experience of politics in | this country, that the people have p found an executive during the £ past six or seven years .that has £ voiced their Impulses."—'The late | Mr. T. E. Taylor, Hansard, vol. | 147, page 355. I

engagements have been provided for for many months ahsad, and the moneys required to carry on public works have been arranged for on the most satisfactory terms. What wo require is faith in ourselves and faith in our country, and, having this, I feel certain the future Is bright with hope."

Tlio land was sold to tho Government throug-h. the agency of Mr. T. K. Mae* ,!onald, M.L.C., a nominee o£ tho Governinent in tho Legislative Council, and tho very good friend of Ministers, Tho soil is poor and swampy, and there is iro moans of transit to the railway station, except by 'bus. After the Government surveyors had divided tho block into 37G allotments, it lny Uusro idle. It ..vm then recognised that it wonld be inmlttess to build workers' homM :! on it, oiul eventually it was handed over to the Lands for Settlement Department. To-day you may see on th® Nai Nal block a few stray cows grazing around tho swamp where the "Liberal" Government planted .£21,472 of your money. Every statement made above can bo tested by reference to Parliamentary records of tho Legislative Council relating to the Hine charges. ,

THE CASE OF "E. A. SMITH." Another: instance of the Government's tenderness for certain favoured individuals was dragged into the light early in 1910. For rnimy years a firm called "E. A. Smith" was doing Iho Government's immigration agency businocs in London and also all or a great part of thn business connectcd with the importation of stores for Government Departments. From time to time vague inquiries had been made about this mysterious "Smith," who was milking thousands in commissions on work that we pay our High Commissioner's staff to do. "Smith," in fact, was being heavily subsidised at the public expense. Curiosity about him expressed in the Legislative Council in 1908, but the Government would give no information. The curiosity became acute in January, 1910. Sir Joseph Ward was at last forced to publish •a statement on January 22, 1910, from which it appeared that "10. A, Smith" was dead, and tho business carried on under his name by a eon of Sir.Walter Kennaway in rooms in tho High Commissioner's building. The Prime Minister .said there was no mystery, and he also said: "Personally, ! I know nothing of the firm or its origin. . . . I, for one.

did not know, nor did any other member of tho Government know, that Mr. Kennaway, jun,, had been recently tho principal of the&rpi of E. A. Smith." This 6eemed strange, since the Prims Minister is always trotting off Homehe was Homo in 1006, in 1907, and in 1909. However, we could not refute him at the time. But refutation came in due course. The Prime Minister's statement came under Air. AV. P. Ueevcs's eye, and Mr. Reeves stated definitely and bluntly that in 1906 ho wrote a letter to the Government in which ho "went out of his way to explain to them what Mr. Kennaway was doing, and his connection with the office. . . . I am sure that it was on record in the Government Departments, and has. been for some time, that young Kennaway was doing tho work, and that he had become, in fact, tho firm of E. A. Smith." This seemed rather to put tho Prime Minister in a corner. How did he cscapo? Simply by denying in tho House that ho over received Mr. Reeves's letter! It was not on the filo, ho said! And yet these letters from the High Commissioner's office are always sent in duplicate— tho second copy following by tho . mail succeeding that which carried tho original. ECONOMY AT ONE END ONLY, j In connection with the Ward retrench-1 mcnt, it is interesting to rocall Sir Joseph Ward's declaration in March, 1909, that ho intended to effect economies in the Civil Service amounting to a quarter of a million annually "without in any way impairing its efficiency." At Winton on May 5, 1910, after ho had kicked into tho streets 910 officials, most of them of tho lower grades, and without influential friends, he announced that lie had earned .£93,970, and that tho good times wero returning, and no further retrenchment would be necessary. Tho only oonchtGion to draw from theso two statements is that over .8150,000 a year is' still being waited! It was retrenchment at tho bottom and extravagance unchecked at the top. As for the way the Government went about its retrenchment, let ua tote tho • testimony of Mr* BotSx tbca a OUiiss*.

THIS IS WHAT SIR JOSEPH WARD TOLD YOU LAST TIME HE WANTED YOUR VOTES. THE TRUTH WAS ONLY ALLOWED TO LEAK. OUT AFTER HE AND. HIS COLLEAGUES HAD GOT PAST ELECTION DAY, and made sure for another three years of those salaries and allowances of theirs, off which they very carefully kept their hands when applying the pruning knife. A DEPARTMENTAL EXPOSURE. The "Liberalism" of the Continuous Ministry begins at home in the Cabinet room. It sometimes extends ontside to tho favoured few. In the retrenchment of 1909 there worn many highly-paid Civil Servants who suffered not at all. One of those upon whom favours were heaped was Mr. Peter Ileyes, Commissioner of Taxes. At tho end of June, 1909, his original Land and Income Tax Department, the Valuation Department, the

"It is the most incongruous Cabinet that 1 have seen during my sateen years as a member of the House. lam not going to individually criticise the members oi the Cabinet. _ I will only say this: that if the Premier elected to go to the Old Country now, there are not more than two of his colleagues in this Chamber that he could rely on to carry on the work with credit to themselves and to the country, and they would be handicapped with the balance of the Ministers whom he could not depend upon to the same extent. ' —Mf. GRAHAM, Liberal Member for Nelson, in Parliament on June 12, 1909.

Advances to Settlers Department, and the work of collecting stamp and death duties were all merged together under his control. More complaints—it was noted at the time-rregarding tho way the retrenchment was being carried out came from tho Departments under tho control t.f Mr. Heyes thair from any other. A few months later it became painfully evident that the administration of this muchtrusted officer of Sir Joseph . Ward's was under suspicion, and after secret inquiries, Erst by two Judges and later by a Departmental Commission, he nu called jU>pa. ta.xeslpu

A STRANGE APPOINTMENT. A retrenched oflifcial for whom a comfortable position was found was Mr. J. Kman Smith, Registrar of Old Ago Pensions. Jn order to make room for him, Colonel Gudgeon, licsidcnt Commissioner j at tho Cook Islands, was retired, and Mr. Smith sent in his place. Mr. Smith had no special qualifications of any sort for the position. He had had no previous experience in drafting laws or ordinances, no experience in dealing with Natives, or handling Native Lund Court business, no knowledge of the Maori language, and 110 experience in Court procedure or in tho administration of justice. Yet fie was appointed as Judge and Magistrate and General Administrator of the Affairs of tho Cook Islands. For many years ho had beon a corresponding clerk in the Treasury, and then lie was made Registrar of Old Ago Pensions. In order that he might impress the Cook Island Natives with a uniform and a sword, tho Ward Government made liim a "captain," although it is not known that he at any time held a position in the Imperial, voluuteor, or militia forces. Captain Smith's administrative methods in tho Cook Islands havo since formed tho ground of much complaint, and have been the subject of another of those secret judicial investigations (o which New Zealand is being accustomcd under the Ward Government.

James Carroll. How did Mr. Hall get this preferential treatment? By calling on Mr. Carroll, who interceded with Mr. M'Nab. Mr. Black protested, and The Dominion look up the caso and exposed tho Government's behaviour. Mr. M'Nab, then Minister for Lands, wriggled and protested, and his vorsion of tho matter did not hang together. Mr. Black continued to protest. The "Lyltclton Times," which had pooh-poohed Mr. Black's complaint, was forced at last to say the matter demanded a public commission of inquiry. Mr. Black proceeded with his fight for fair play. At last, in February, 1909, Sir J. G. Ward visited Gisbome, and said the Government had decided to givo Mr. Black a renewal of his lease. Wo givo tho wholo discreditable story in another column. Timo after time tho Government has shown its readiness to break 'through Acts of Parliament which it is supposed to bo administering. "Wo want no Tsars in New Zealand," doclared Sir Joseph Ward shortly before tho election of 1903, and no doubt tho people will declaro tho same thing in a more emphatic and effectivo manner at the polls on December 7. UNDER-PAID TEACHERS TRICKED. When the Government, at tho end of 1908, began to feci the pinch of ils extravagance, it attempted to effect its first great saving by duping tho under-paid Slate school teachers of ,£30,000 a year by a discreditable trick. Sir Joseph Ward had been making alluring promises of increases during the year to pnblic servants generally, bnd Parliament had passed an Act providing a now scale of salaries for teachers. This was to come into force on January 1, 1909. Parliament, the teachers, and the public had taken it for granted that tho teachers who were getting less than tho now minimum salaries for their positions would bo immediately raised to that minimum. The Ward Government, however, wanted the money, and attempted (jo wriggle out of tho Act by Sub-Clause 3 of Clause 7: "A teacher Who is employed in a public school at tho commencement of this Act shall, oo long os ho remains in tho same position, receive , from the beginning of each year (coiu-

A PLUM FOR MR. DINNIE. It is also worth recalling that after Mr. W. Dinnie was dismissed from his post as Commissioner of Police in consequence of the findings of the Polico Commission in 1909, ho was in the following year appointed President of the Tokerau Land Board, at a salary of -E4OO. He had no knowledge of Maori, and no knowledge of land matters. There had jnst been heavy retrenchment in the Department, no fewer than fivo Judges of tho Nativo Land Court having been retired. Nevertheless, all tho available officials of the Department were passed over when this new vacancy occurred, and tho post was given to an unqualified man whoso work in the previous position had been condemned. As Mr. Hardy said in

Parliament: "This sort of thing seems to be a passport to a Government appointment."

A FEAST FOR THE LAND-SHARK. That is how appointments to the Native Land Boards are made. If you would know upon what method Sir James Carroll carries on the administration of the Native lands, take this testimony from his late colleague in the Ministry, Mr. Hogg. Speaking in Parliament on July 5, 1910, Mr. Hogg said:— "The Native lands are about tho only lands the people have to fall back upon. .. . This land, in my opinion, has been surreptitiously massacred. The land has changed hands without tho slightest attempt being made to give publicity to the transactions. No effort seems to have been made to invite competition or frustrate the efforts of the land-shark. There has been freetrade in Native leases and in the alienation of Native lands such as very few people' ever dreamed of er imagined for a moment would take place under a Liberal Government."

THE NATIVE LANDS SQUANDERED. As to tho work of tho Native Land Boards themselves, hero is further testimony from Mr. Hogg, given in tho 6amo' j speech in Parliament:— "Tho meetings of tho Native Land Board are simply a farce If you go to a meeting of tho Native Land Board or Council, what do you find? One or two Maoris huddled in a corner, a Native interpreter, perhaps a hawk-eyed lawyer, a Maori sitting on tho bench, and a European chairman alongside of him, giving their assent to all kinds of Native land transactions, and a few formalities aro complied with and the land passes out of tho hands of the Natives and goes into the hands of tho land shnrks and cormorants who havo been ruthlessly devouring the North Island." A GISDORNE WRIGGLE. In 1005 a Mr. G. Black took up tho lease of a small grazing run near Gisbornc. Tho lease (a 21 years' lease) had then four years to run. Early in 1008 Mr. Black was notified that ho would not receive a renewal of the lease. A neighbour, holding an almost identical lease, obtained his renewal. This uoighbour was Mr. Hall, a leading supporter of the 1 GaTr.nimjint.A3ul w .intimate fcjiad.aj Sir

mencing with the year 1909) an annual increment of X 5, in addition to tho salary received by him at tho commencement of this Act, until his salary reaches the maximum for the grade or sub-grade of salary attached to that position by this Act." The minimum salary under the Act was ,£9O. There were many poorly-paid teachers in the country districts getting only JESO or .£OO a year, liy tho trick of reading the "salary at the commencement of this Act" as the old salary instead of tho new minimum, Mr. Fowlds proposed, as set out in 'I'm: Dominion of October 20, 1908, to give these tcachers only a rise of J!5 and keep them waiting for years for tho bare minimum set out by the law. Nevertheless every new untried teacher appointed to their posts would get the new minimum of X9O immediately. Was over a more shabby trick proposed on a hardworking class of men and women than this?

' After an exposure of the Government plan in The Dominion tho teachers rose in arms, and Sir Joseph Ward, for fear of losing votes at tho general election then about to take place, hurriedly promised to give the teachers the salaries that Parliament had intended they should have. Wo have Terounted above a few, but convincing, illustrations of what government lias com J to in New Zealand under the Ward administration. Can you, in fairness to /ourselves, in fairness to your families, in fairness to the future of your country, vito for candidates who would keep such a Government in office? Remcmfrcr if you do not seize your opportunity on December 7 it will not occur again for three years. A change of Government even for a short period would break the spell and purify the public life of the Dominion.

The Prime Minister, according to telegraphed and other reports, is being slandered, reviled, insulted, abused, libelled, and lmnpooned. Nolwdy seems (o know who, in particular, is doing these things. But, lor tho purpose of the. caw, it is sufficient to know that they aro being done—in imagination, if in no other way. Whcrefor (lie constituencies slwuhl rise as oni< man and show, their resentment fot such base and wanton imaginative .conduct, by giving the belted knight another opportunity of pledging the credit of tho country with the British monoy-lcuders! It is tho same old story. When everything olso fails, appeal to the (sympathies of tho pooplo on account of fforr.a imaginjtd jnWK I—' TiV lir&rana Ajca."

A FARCICAL BODY.

LAW-BREAKERS AS LAW-MAKERS, J HOW THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL J HAS BEEN DEGRAOEO. J A — • One of the achievements of tho Govern - ment lias been k> dcgrado the Legislative Council nntil it has bccomo tho most Bcrvilo political body in tho British Empire. It was an object of contempt in Mr. Scddon's day, but far and away the most unjustifiable batch of appointments over mado was that of Sir Joseph Ward in 1907. Soddon, after the cloctions of 1896, foisted four rejected Liberal candidates on the pnblic pay-sheet by giving tlwsm scats

"Whenever a truly democratic party arises in this country —a party pledged to definite principles, and which it is prepared to fight for —it shall have my whole-souled support, and should it becortie numerous enough to enable It to form a Government, and invites me to join It, my services will be available. In the meantime I believe I can best serve my country as a private member." Mr. FOWLDS, on resigning from the Ministry, in Parliament on September sth last.

in. the Upper House. This was a glaring enough misuse of political power, but it was propriety itself compared with the bulk of the fourteen appointment l ) made by Sir Joseph Ward in 1907. The list

Smith, G. J.—Member of firm of Bowron Bros., which was Inst year finod for defrauding _ Income Toi Department. A roject- r od Lil>cral candidato for Christ- - church. Tucker, Captain W. H. —Mcmbor of various local bodies at Gisborno. {Wi I'ore.—A rejected candidate for tho Northern Maori teat. This list spoaks for itself. Two or throe only out of ilia numbi-r have shown any capacity or fitness for tho portion to which they were appointed. The Council costs tho country some .£IO,OOO a year, and tho expenditure is chargod up under tho heading of "legislative." Its proper place would be in tho bill for charilanlo aid. Legislation in the Dark. Sir John Findlay, a rcjcctcd Liberal candidate for Wellington City, was put into the Council and made Attorney-Gen-eral iu 0110 stroke in 11)07, as there wa3 apparently no one on the Government side then in Parliament with ability to fill that position. This stripling and Parliamentary novice, in his first session, had the effrontery to tell the old members under his ■ charge that they were titling in (he Council not to consider Bills on their merits, but to pass whatever Acts the Government sent along. Here is Sir John Findlay's idea of democratic government as.set out in Hansard (Vo. 142, p. 1032, November 20, 1907): "In a oertain sense Bills had to be taken on trust—that was, the Jjcgislature should have confidence in their experts, in their Departmental beads, and in thoir law draftsman for the accuracy of what was intended to bo accomplished in a Bill. ... It was just as well to be frani, becauso t was not to be suggested that evory member of the Council should regard it as his duty to master the principles and details of every Bill—that would be impossible." If this means anything at all, it moans that members of Parliament Bhonld meekly swallow whatever doses the Ministry choose to hand out to them. _ How this ridiculous Council will wobble to every point of the compass at the bidding of the Ministry was well shown in this last session, 'lho CounciJ, while Sir John Findlay was away in England, duly considered and rejected a Bill proposing to grant a divorce to a Mr. Field, which he could not obtain by tho ordinary course of law. Tho Bill was a most improper specimen of personal legislaSometime later, however, Sir John Findlay returned, and it soon appeared that, for reasons best known to themselves, the Government wished to relieve Mr. Field from his matrimonial obligations. The Bill was brought back, and Legislative Councillors woro given pretty plainly to understand that this was one of those measures to bo "taken on trust" and duly swallowed. This was pretty cool, but the bulk of tho Councillors wero found to prefer their .£2OO a year to their dipity. They meekly ate up their words at the Ministerial bidding, and carried tho second reading of the Bill. What respect can anybody have for such an institution as tlußp What useful purpose does it fulfil? Even' its own members are appalled at the depths to which it has sunk. "It is a dreadful plaoe, that Council," said one of them to the writer during the late session. "Throe-quarters of the members

for that year taken alphabetically was M follows:— Anstey, F.—Had boen a director of the Canterbury Farmers' Co-operative Association j sat on the Lands Commission; founded a Masonic Lodge at Paroora. Barr, J.—An ablo Labour leader, who wight hare done a cood deal to form an Independent Labour party, if ho had not been put out of harm's way. Callan, J. B.—An Otago lawyer, who onco was chairman of a licensing committee. Collins, Dr. W. E.—A Wellington medico, president of the Military Pensions Board. Gilmer, lI.—A retired hotellceepcr, with no record in public life, either'before or after his appointment. Loughnan, ,R. A.—A journalist who had been useful to Ministers. Lnke, C. M—A rejected Liberal candidate for the House of Representatives, a Wellington Hospital trustee, was Mayor of Wellington in

"The Government might be a faulty Government, but It had its virtues. Its fault was that it was weak and vacillating, and composed of opportunists. The Government put out its feelers like a snail, and when it touched something solid it drew them back. When remonstrated with the Government retorted that a living dog was better than a dead lion."—Mr. L. M. ISITT. Lib'eral Member for Christchurch North, in -a speech on Nov. 13.

IS9'i ; member of Commission appointed to shelve Federation with Australia in 1901. M'Girdle, W. W.—Liberal Parliamentary candidate, rejected tcpeatodly by the electors. Had sal on road hoard, county council. etc.; wis n member of Lands Commission, 1905. Paul, .T. T. —A promising Labour leader, who becamo dangerous by heading a' movement in Dune-din for the- formation of an Independent Labour party. Samuel, O.—A retired Liberal, M.H.R., for New Plymouth. Sinclair, J. K.—A 1) lined in lawyer who had bocn chsiinnaa of Uio HJ&h School Bond.

" What 1 blame the Government for Is their weak administration. Why, water-gruel is nothing to It. There Is no backbone or genuine life or soul In It—not a particle. They dangle certain Departments in front of the people whenever a general election comes round, and say':' see what we are doing ifor you: look at. our Insurance schemes, and State coal, and our advances to workers and settlers 1' But, If you are a settler in the country, and you want £600 or £700 go to the Advances to Settlers Department you will find that your application cannot bo entertained, because owing to the number of applications for small sums the limit of the Department Is £600."—Mr. HOGG, Ex-mem-ber of the Ward Cabinet, in Parliament, July, 5, 1910.

are afraid to havo minds of their own on (uiy subject at all till they find out what the Government wants." Kicked From Pillar to Post. The contempt with which the Ministry treats the Council .was made plain over tho invitations sent out from London for members to attend King George's Coronation. The Ministry, for some unexplained reason, did not wish their nominees in the Council to go to London. Perhaps Sir Joseph Ward did not wish even tho Councillors to see at close quarters the figure ho cut in the Councils of Umpire. One can only speculate. The point is that the Cabinet, with characteristic impudence suppresse 1 .! lho invitations it had been entrusted with for tho Council. The Council had a debate about it, and tho Hon. C. H. Mills gave notioe of a motion strongly censuring tho Attor-ney-General for his flat refnsal to givo any information about the invitations. By some extraordinary means when tho motion next appeared on the order paper, to the surprise of tho mover and everyone else, all words protesting against Sir John Findlay's discourtesy had been cut Two affronts were thus plaood on the Council. Here is how it rose to the occasion. Mr. Mills protested at the mutilation of his motion. Mr. Callan and Mr. Wigram made mild protests at tho failnrc of the Government to forwar dtho invitations. Mr. George Jones declared that Mr. Mills had turned upon his friends. Mr. Samuel said there was no excuse eminent to forward tho invitations. _ _ Mr. Lougliuan produced a characteristic amendment turning the already watereddown motion of censure into a mere request for information. Mr. M'Car.ilc seconded tho amendment. Mr. Jenkinson said ho preferred tho amendment to the motion. Mr. Beehan thought tho matter a slorm in a teaenp. , , , Mr. Louisson preferred tho amonuuient. Mr. Barr supported the motion. Sir John Findlay then replied, and the amendment was carried on the voices. The information _ requested wa/j, of course, never supplied. The question of whether eomo politicians went for a trip to England or not is not, of course, of much consequenoe. Tho incident, however, is invnhiablo av. Bhowing how tho Legislative Council is kicked from pillar to lxist by tho Govern, ment, and is too servile to assort itself and insist on its rights. The Reform Party has promised to reJ form tho Legislative Council by making it; an elective body, as is the Senate in Ans-j tralia, and as are practically all modern! Upper Houses. >

What tho Reform Party Offers. ' Tho Government, which lyia made tho| Council into about the most farcicalj legislative body outside tho comic opera republics of Central America, wishes to retain its jwwer of patronage, and objects to make it elective. Two of the members of the Conneil who were nppointcd by the Government linvo been beforo the Courts on charges of fraud within a yoaT. One escaped gaol because ho was certified to bo in poor health. The other, with his business partners was fined X9OOO for dodging tastes. Such are tho men appointed by the continuous Ministry to innko tho laws for the common people. If you want to see law-breakers acting as law-makers, vote for Government candidates. If you want honest government you will not have done your duty unless you vote without fail for a candidate pledged ito TURN THE GOVERNMENT. OUT.