Evening Post. THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1898. A CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY.

Evening Post, Volume LV, Issue 64, 17 March 1898, Page 4

Evening Post. THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1898. A CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY.

The meeting at Thomas's Hall last night was most enthusiastic, and reflected truly the strong opposition which the maladministration of the present Government has raised in this city. Freed as he was from the excitement and worry of an electioneering contest, Mr. Duthie was able to lay his views upon questions of the day before his supporters in a calm, judicial manner. They undoubtedly gained largely by this treatment, and those dealing with social and Labour topics were most happity expressed. There were many working people in the city who feared that Mr. Duthie's return might be construed as a reversion to a policy of stagnation aud monopolies, and it is fortunate that he has had an opportunity of explaining his attitude on these questions at a time when no suspicion of electioneering iactics could attach to his utterances. Thanks to the persistent misrepresentations of the Premier and his imitators:, large sections of. our population have been taught, in defiance of historical facts, to look upon every political Party except that " bossed " and controlled by Mr. Seddon. as inimical to their interests. Desperate efforts have been made by Ministerial agents to kindle class enmity in a colony where class distinctions scarcely existed before these professional politicians came to make capital out of them. The Opposition, and even the Left Wing, have been dubbed Tories, Conservatives, reactionaries, enemies of the people, friends of

monopolies, fat men, aud other such names, which were calculated to make the average colonist class them with the Junkers of Prussia and the corrupt monopolists of the United States. For years the present Ministry has traded upon the empty name of its bastard Liberalism to hoodwink the electors, and create a feeling of distrust in the motives of the men it prevented by fair means and foul from serving the country. At last the people are beginning to realise tlie hollowness of Seddonian claims, and to give a measure of justice to the Premier's opponents. As Mr. Duthie declared last night amidst applause, the present Opposition should be styled the Constitutional Party, and not the Conservative Party. It is only Conservative in so far as it wishes to preserve the constitutional liberties of our citizens from the ruthless tyranny of an unscrupulous Party "Boss," and the fabric of our Teutonic institutions from the insidious dilapidations of political jobbery and immorality. It does not wish for stagnation or reaction, but for orderly and well-founded progress along the lines best suited to our race and our traditions. There is a progress which, like the hectic flush of fever, may simulate health for a short time, but soon gives place to the ashen hue of disease. Such is the morbid progress built upon financial deficiencies and political corruption. It is against this artificial and destructive progress that the Constitutional Parly wages war, but not against the genuine wholesome advance which we in common with all progressive nations must make if we are to hold our own in "the world's broad field of battle/ The Seddon Government has deliberately advertised itself as theexponent of the political views of one class alone— namely, the so-called working class, and as such it quickly realised that it could not have a long life in a community where class divisions have to be created rather than merely utilised. It therefore allied itself on the one hand with the most extreme form of Capitalism, and on the other with the most assertive elements of Labour. The natural outcome of such an unholy alliance was misrepresentation, improper employment of Ministerial patronage, waste of public money, and the general deterioration of our public life. lt was not until the Anglo-Continental Syndicate, the Colonial Consignment and Distribution Company, the series of banking operations, and the little bills for Hobart trips and Jubilee jaunts were explained in all their naked ugliness that the men who were proud to call themselves "Liberals" learnt to be ashamed of their leaders and their Party. They saw that our Constitution and our progress would both become rotten to the core unless a stand were made for independence and purity of administration. Thus we have the birth of a Party which has as its immediate objects the maintenance of the Constitution and the gradual raising of all sections of the population to higher levels of comfort, intelligence, and political power.