The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1913. THE LATEST ANTI-REFORM CANARD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1706, 25 March 1913, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1913. THE LATEST ANTI-REFORM CANARD.

; Within the past couplo of months the - anti-Kefarm_ newspapers have taught the public to very largely discount,, if not ignore altogether, their somewhat', hysterical criticisms of the Government. The foolish frenzy with which they misrepresented the Hon. J. Allen's sensible and proper references to. the idea of an expeditionary, force, and the even morey foolish extravagance in exploiting their Southland mare's nest,; have thoroughly, opened the public's eyes. And the other day, venturing a little too far -in! thenpolicy' of-making deliberate-misstate-ments of ' facts, they blundered so badly that one of them had to. explain that their misstatements must not be taken literally; that ' they are only joking, when they circulate untruths. Their latest scheme is the circulation of the idea that' the Massey G'overiunent has, in its nine months of office, promoted and produced a monstrous deal of ' "land aggregation." - Such is their poverty of attack that they., had to depend, for this latest outburst, upon a wild story printed by an obscure little journal, of which nobody seems previously to have heard.. In that little journal there, was a series of general statements to the effect that the Eeform Government was already causing whole countrysides to be depopulated. No particulars; were given; no attempt; has even been made to show that. such re.-aggregation as has taken place wasi not made possible by ' the Acts passed by the old "Liberal'' Government,. But, without pausing to inquire, the Opposition press set .itself to magnify'and multiply .the_ wild), vague story of .the irresponsible little paper, and 1 to lead up to definite assertions that the Government had, been, proved, guilty of, quite dreadful offences.! All this would have mattered little,'' if it had been left to the pronounced enemies of Eeform,. and the Government could easily, have afforded to let the : public judge, of the truth, of anything that might be said by the newspapers- which aro still suffering from the failure of their reckless and uncandid- dashes at -Mp.-. Allen, and at Mb. Massey. '<

But the local evening paper-, which is not n violent opponent of decent government, has allowed, itself to become the ally and tool, of the. unscrupulous critics who are assuring the- public that, as, a result of tho accession of the Reform party to power vast numbers; of' small farmers have been extinguished by "landmonopolists'."' It is' true that our publication,, in: issue, of statements in, which Mb, Masses and: Mr D. H. Guthrie,, M.P., showed the: absurdity and: dishonesty of the charges, has led our evening contemporary to. retreat a little from itsposition. It. seeks, indeed, to drag the old' charges of the little Mangaweka paper in again, but it has learned enough- caution to. say that, "whether or not" that paper "proves its special case against Mn. Massey's Land Act, the indictmcnt of the land laws in general" is "complete and convincing." There is less fairness than caution in this hedging. What lias been "indicted''' by the Spoils press has been, not "the land laws in genqral," but the actual effects of the M-assey Government's proceedings. And- so, also, when our contemporary says, apropos o£ one of its own. charges of re-aggregation in, a certain county, that "no suggestion was made that ... it was due in any way 1.0 the- Jlassbv raent," it does not udd that it made

| "° suggestion that it was not due to the Massey Government., The Even- !».'/ I'ost has, in fact, acted, and has been joyfully acclaimed as, an ally 0: tho anti-ltefornicrs in their latest preposterous attack. The Piiuin Minister will doubtless securc full particulars of the extent to which aggregation has taken place, if any aggregation has taken place at all, as a, result of the legislation of last session. Everyone knows perfectly well that last year's Land Act, which has only been in operation a few months, could not have caused any' re-aggregation. Theso are facts of whioh everyone is aware, with the exception of that small minority of ignorant people whom the anti-li<;-m-m press thinks it profitable to mislead by telling untruths and suppressing facts. When the aiiti-lte-forin press begins to indict "the land laws. in general," which are the product, in general, of tho old antiKef orm Government, it will be time /enough to discuss the general question. In the meantime the indictment, which wo have seen is utterly foolish and baseless, is pressed directly against the Reform Government.; Me. Massey can hardly hope to find- timo to do much else if hosets himself to-correct all tho glaring misstatements which the Opposition journals make every day; but he will .have 110 difficulty in placing this indictment on the same shelf as the glaring follies of his enemies. We know, of course, that this succession of slanders and misrepresentations is the Opposition's only way of diverting attention from the fact that it is a policy-less aggregation of soured, spoilsmen. But. one would isupposo that silence would be wiser, in their circumstances, than the tac-' tics which, as we have all seen, lead only to a succession of damaging falls.