FALSE TO THEIR PLEDGES?

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1363, 14 February 1912, Page 4

FALSE TO THEIR PLEDGES?

The friends of the Ward Government have now put forward the claim that on a no-confidence motion tho parties will bo equally divided in strength and the Government will win on the casting vote of Mr. Speaker. Our evening contemporary, which fathers this view of the situation, credits Mr. Veitch with being the only member outside those associated with the Reform party who is honourable enough to keep his pledge to his constituents to throw the Ward Government out of office. The two other Labour members also pledged to vote against the Government, Messrs. Robertson and Payne, according to this estimate, arc men who value their pledges so lightly that they see no shame in breaking faith with their constituents and assisting to retain in office the men they were elected to eject. We do not for a moment believe that tho members in question will do anything of the kind suggested, but it is a testimony to the depths to which politics have sunk in this country under the present Government that a reputable journal should not merely conceive it possible, but express its belief as though it were a commonplace happening, that members, a few short weeks after their election, could be guilty of such base treachery to those who elected them. It is an open secret that very desperate efforts have been made during the past month to induce the Labour members to throwin their lot with the Government which, nb the hustings in December last, Labour did its" utmost to cl" stroy. From such a Government this endeavour to induce the Labour members to dishonour their pledges was only to be expected. It has shown for years past that it is prepared to promise anything that will serve its purpose for the moment, and it has played fast and loose with its promises as_ it will continue t< do if it is again given the chance. Labour has been fooled by it—Labour leaders have been bought by it to the detriment of Labour's cause— and now the same old methods are being employed, the same old baits are being used to ensnare and make it the tool of Wardism once more. It is a forlorn hope. The Labour members know perfectly well that the country to-day more than evr desires that a new Government should take office and so_ for the first time in 20 years permit an independent investlcation to be made of the country's affairs. Today more Ihan ever the feeling exists that (here is good reason whv this investigation should lake place. Tindesperate efforts of (lie Government to cling to office after defeat at the polls have accentuated the feeling in this resnr.ct. Not only have Labour i

candidates demanded this overhaul I of (lie country's affairs, hut Mr. Atmokk, ilin member for Nelson, lias plainly recognised it and on some issues at least is pledged to throw (be Government out of office should opportunity arise. It is just as well that the position should be put : plainly: tho Government knows; everyone knows; that the only hope for the Wadd Administration now is to win by _ trickery and the flouting of public opinion. The Government's only chance is to offer inducements big enough to persuade a .sufficient number of men to behave dishonourably, by breaking their pledges, and betraying the faith placed in them by their constituents. It is a fitting climax to the career of the Wakd Administration that in its dying hours it should seek to drag down with it these Labour members who arc at the beginning of their Parliamentary lives and who are expected to act as a guide and inspiration to the Labour movement. What a sorry spectacle these men would present in the eyes of the country—what a degradation for the supporters of Labour if these, their representatives in Parliament, were to inaugurate the new political Labour era with this proof of their utter disregard for what is right and honourable. Who could ever trust them afterwards? Nothing could injure the Labour cause more deeply than such an alliance as suggested in such circumstances as exist. For ourselves we have all along held that those members pledged to vote against the Government will fulfil their pledges and that the Wakd Government will pass out of existence. The Government, we know, intends to make a desperate bid to defeat the Reform party and stave off the inevitable investigation and cleaning-up, and the effort will take the shape of votecatching proposals specially designed to placate Labour. With the shadow of a dissolution hanging over the Parliament Ministers will find it a difficult task to persuade members to break faith with their constituents however attractive their promises and professions may be made to appear.