Evening Post. SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1915. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 150, 26 June 1915, Page 6

Evening Post. SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1915. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH

In substance the Speech delivered by His Excellency the Governor at the opening of Parliament yesterday was excellent. It was short, it was non-con-trovensial, and it was concentrated on the one paramount issue in comparison with whicH all elEe is trivial— the prosecution of the war. In all the practical affairs of human life substance is, of course, the root of the matter, and the Government is to be congratulated upon being a hundred per cent, right in this respect. It is, however, impossible to refrain from an expression of regret that the necessary care was not taken to make the form of the deliverance ;worthy of its substance.. The occasion was a great one. The war is filling everybody's thoughts, and, as Mr. Massey himself has well said, all we are and all we have is at the Empire's call. Just a few touches of the- feeling .which inspired the Premier's own telegram to-the Guildhall meeting, or Mr. Allen 'c message to General Godley on the receipt of the first great news from the Dardanelles, would have imparted some thrill and colour to the Speech and sent its message home to the hearts of the people. We are not pleading for the indulgence of any full-blooded rhetoric in these official deliverances. The flamboyant character which they were sometimes given when the Empire was last engaged in a big war was certainly not according to our taste. If our choice were limited to the two extremes, we should unhesitatingly prefer the drab, pedestrian', Blue-book style in which the present Government dissembles its own feelings and misses its chance of touching those of the coontry. The most ardent admirer of the plain style will assuredly be unable to detect the faintest suspicion of flummery in the Speech delivered by His Excellency yesterday. " During the session

upon to paes enactments of an exceptional Matrix© to provide for circumstances which immediately arose or were anticipated consequent upon the outbreak of war." This is surely a very audden, bald, and inadequate opening for the first address of the King's representative to Parliament during a war which, as Mr. 'Aequith has said, L& shaking the foundations of the world. There is really no more inspiration in this exordium than in the reference to local Bill* with which the Speech conclude. Hie point in its general application is deserving, of the attention of Mr. Massey and his colleagues. We do not suggest that a Government which -wears its heart on its sleeve has got it in tho right place, but to ignore the function, of emotion, in either war or politics, is a mistake. But, as we have said, the substance of the Speech is all that could be desired. Party warfare is to be silenced in the interests of the real warfare upon which everything else depends. His Excellency's Advisers are "satisfied that at the present juncture, when we are all united in our determination to prosecute the war until an honourable peace is arrived at, no legislation the discussion of -which would involve party strife should be submitted to you." This is exactly as it should be, and, what is of at least equal importance, the Opposition displayed yes•ferday an equal desire to avoid occasions of quarrel. It will be a splendid triumph" for Sir Joseph Ward's leadership if he can induce his party to maintain throughout the session the high standard of public, spirit which both by precept and by example he set up yesterday. Pensions for wounded soldiers and far the families of those -who lose their lives, and taxation to meet a part of the abnormal expenditure caused by the war, are the chief items in the Government's legislative programme. As to the pensions, let the Government see that they are adequate, as we have previously argued in detail ; and as to the taxation, ■we trust that the Government will have the courage to insist that it is adequate also. The announcement made to-day that the Imperial authorities will supply the Dominions with all the money they need for the purposes of the wa» on the favourable terms previously arranged must not be made a pretext for refusing to provide for a substantial part of the special expenditure out of taxation. Thia, is our war, as the Dominions have been proud to proclaim ; and if it really is omr war the least we can do is to refrain from sending on the whole bill to posterity. The party truce will be most severely tested when the methods of the new taxation are under review. Ability to pay should clearly be the guiding principle, and that being so, land, income, and luxuries, including liquor, are the most obvious sources. If the House can settle these issues in the reasonable and harmonious spirit displayed yesterday, the country will have good cause, to be proud of it.