PARTIES IN NEW ZEALAND POLITICS. (By a Liberal.)

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 33, 9 February 1899, Page 2

PARTIES IN NEW ZEALAND POLITICS. (By a Liberal.)

"Let us alone. What pleasure can we have To war with evil? Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing waveV" One can well imagine the Leader of the Opposition in the Lotos-land of Hawkes Bay, in which it always seems afternoon, using the words of Tennyson to give expression to his feelings on being reminded the other day of his promise (or threat) to stump the colony for the purpose of exposing and denouncing the sins and iniquities of the Government. A most interesting, if somewhat pathetic figure he presents — the lonely antagonist of Destiny — as he buckles on his armour for his fight with Apollyon — a fight as hopeless as it is noble and patriotic One's sympathies go out to hun as they did in our boyhood to Christian as he vent down into the Valley of Humiliation to meet his great adversary. "Now, in this Valley of Humiliation, poor Christian was hard put to it ; for he had gone but a little way before he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to meet him ; his name is Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in his mind whether to go back, or to stand his ground. But he considered again that he had no armour for his .'back, and therefore thought that to „ turn the back to him might give him greater advantage with ease to pierce him with darts ; therefore, he resolved to venture, and stand his ground ; for, thought he, had Ino more in mine, eye than the saving of my life, it would be the best way to stand." And so Christian went straight on, and we know that he came out at the far end of the valley victorious and rejoicing. "But it was the dreadfullest fight that ever 1 saw, for in this combat no man can imagine, unless he had seen and heard as i did, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made all the time of the fight ; he spake like a dragon." The secret of Christian's victory is revealed in his exclamation, " But blessed Michael helped me." Now-a-days, however, "blessed Michael" does not intervene, and the prospect of victory for the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition in the war against falsehood, imposture, and humbug, is unfortunately anything but bright, for the weapons on which he relics — Truth and Honesty — are as completely out of date in political warfare in New Zealand as are the sling and the cross-bow in ordinary warfare. One simply stands appalled at the power of political falsehood in this community. However it may be in other spheres of life, in politics it certainly is not the case that "Truth is great and mighty above all things*" or that " Honesty is the best policy." I am well aware that the utterance of such sentiments lays one open to a charge of Machiavellianism, but the answer to such a charge is that in making statements which may startle and shock some people, one does not profess to indicate what ought to be, but merely to point out what is. I shall no doubt be met with the stock Liberal argument that the community is prosperous, and I reply that the fact (assuming it to be such) is the strongest possible confirmation of my statements ; for the true implication is ? not that a community which is materially prosperous must also be spiritually and moi'ally healthy, but that a community may be materially prosperous in spite of its politics being unsound. Indeed, the worst and most hopeless symptom of the malady that afflicts the oody politic is precisely this all-pervading materialistic optimism — that worst scourge of a community. A community that calmly acquiesces in a system of political corruption, jobbery, and imposture, because it appears to thrive under it, is a community which has actually, if not gpnsciously and deliberately, said — "Evil, be thou my good." That is, lam convinced, a correct description of New Zealand politics at the present moment, and hence the hopelessness of the crusade upon which that knight errant — the Leader of the Opposition— has entered; his armour is Honesty and his sword is Truth, but they are both useless in a combat with Apollyon, ' and the issue is only too certain. I am well aware that to the politician this is anything but a compUment, whatever it may be to the man. As for the community, if my diagnosis of its political and moral state be correct the outlook is dark indeed, and our only consolation lies in our belief that Sanabiles Deus fecit nationes (God has made the nations healthful). Proceeding now to consider the position and prospects of the various socalled Parties in New Zealand politics, we shall find the subject a most interesting one for reflection, and even at the risk of causing offence to men for whom one has the highest regard, one may have to say some disagreeable things because they require saying. The members of the Opposition are constantly declaring and protesting that true Parliamentary government does not exist in the colony, and the statement is unquestionably correct ; but the remarkable thing about the Opposition is that they shut their eyes to the true reason for this state of matters — that there are no Parties in the true sense. Now, Parliamentary government in the sense in which the Opposition use the expression means government by Party, and if it be true that in New Zealand there are no true parties, it necessarily follows that Parliamentary government is impossible. There can be no distinctive parties without 'distinctive principles, and the truth is that neither the "Liberal" Party nor the Opposition has any distinctive principles. The only real difference between them is that one "Party" is in office whilst the other is trying to get in, Of course* neither Party admits this ; the "Liberals" declare that their distinctive , principle ia ''Liberalism," which simply means whatever the leader considers necessary for tho time being to secure a majority. The Opposition, of course, claim to have clearly defined pirincioles, foi they are dimly conscious of the fact that an "Opposition" without a definite policy and wellrecognised principles is unworthy of the name, and has no legitimate place in Parliamentary government ; but unfortunately they have not succeeded in producing in the public mind the conviction that they possess a policy, and are inspired by principles which they are prepared to hold and uphold in good and evil fortune, ■oid whether they win or lose. The final cause of an OpposhV'on is to turn out the (fovernment and take their place j and this the Opposition can nover succeed in doing until they convince the country that they really have some definite ana distiinotive policy and principles. Theiv only reply to this demand is a repetition and reiteration of the parrot ory that ''they are not going to prescribe until they are called in." This saying of S"* Robert Peel no doubt still holds good r" vi maxim of Party tactics when Partie.,* are clearly distinguished and their prio. r iples clearly defined ; but it is equally ti'iie that a Party which is a candidate for office must at least be ready with i policy in reserve, and that policy must lie something distinctive, and not merely a toning down of the policy of tho Government, and the leaders must give some, reasonable assurance by their speeches of their capacity for something more than mere negative criticism. Neither will it serve the purpose of the Opposition to make the excuse that that Arch-Opportun-ist, the Premier, would scruple to steal their policy if they were to declare it ; that would simply be to admit that there its nothing distinctive about it. If they

choose to regard politics as a game they must play their best cards, and run the risk of having them trumped. (To be concluded in our next issue.)