STRAIGHT TALK FOR ELECTORS.

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 56, 29 November 1919, Page 11

STRAIGHT TALK FOR ELECTORS.

LIBERALISM AND THE ELECTORS; (Published by Arrangement.) Beforo y«i decide how your vote is to bo cast at the coming election, think well . of'what Liberalism has done for Now Zealand in the past and what it is pledged to do .in tho future. Dining a long tenure of office, stretching Over tho Premiership of John Ballance, R. J. Seddon, and Sir Joseph Ward.-Libendism put to its credit a splendid record of public service. Looking back to tho early "nineties," onfl can recall a long list o£ enactment* which lifted New Zealand in a few years to tho front rank of eivi'.ised nations and mado i<- tho envy of the world in social advancement, social enlighten-" v ment, and social well-being. Manhood suffrage and female franchise, land for settlement, cheap money for settlers aud workers, State industries established,' public wo:ks pushed on, sweating abolished, industrial puace maintained, taxation' and finance readjusted in tho' interests' of tho people, the credit of tho Stato in- - Yoked to save .tho country from financial ruin—it wai indeed a wonderful -pro" ' gramme. But of all these great achievements none moro clearly revealed. the inner meaning and purpose' of. liberalism than the old-ago pension , scheme. For. by establishing- this system, tho leaders of tho Literal Party .a. quarter of a century ago declared to'.the .country, once and for all that in spite r-of .prejudice or tradition or political opposition tho' chief object of their nolicy is, and always must be, the common welfanH "tho greatest good of tiro greatest possible number." Only against fierce and vindictive resistance were these measures carried; and, looking back through the mist of years, among tho Conserva« tives.of those tinus wo Tecogniso-clearly, enough tho menwho lead the; "Reform'? Party to-day—Mr. Masscy ami Sir. Vfil* liam' Eraser and Sir James ••Allem;- '.In vain' the Masscyites of a generation back protested that old-age pensions in particular wonld discourage thrift and promoto extravagance, and undermino our moral strength and coiivert .us all- into a helpless, servile . race ; of~. grovelling „ paupers. • Seddon. and Ward and \-their Liberal colleagues "cared for none of •these things," and' they had their way.- .* And so a new order of things was estab- ,

lislied, a new era for tho neoplo of*this - country began. From that time onward no one here has ventured to .deny, our right to this provision mado -by . >'tho State for our .declining years—not given as dole or charity, but claimed'and \ knowledged as a just and' honourable privilege. The interference of ' the State" which the Conservatives have al-

ways denounced- was established. as a' principle by all our "Socialist" legisla--tion twenty-five years ago. But - even moro important to this cojintry- and its people was the assertion of-the Humanist principle—the duty of the' State-to guard and protect every membar of the community and to secure his interests,''una,sked and unrequited. Such, has been and is tho policy of Liberalism. Think well of these things before polling day.-