MR. TOM MACKENZIE’S CONVERSION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2127, 28 February 1908, Page 3

MR. TOM MACKENZIE’S CONVERSION.

ADDRESS iU HIS CONSTITUENTS. RECEIVES A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE, Press Association. WAIKOUAITI, Feb. 27. Mr. T. Mackenzie addressed a neeting of ’ his constituents last ,L*dit. ° He claimed lie was free to support a reconstructed Ministry as ,ar as that Ministry gave effect to ais political opinions, and he declared that he was violating no poliiioul principles by his action. There .vere many men on the Opposition side whose views were liberal, and lie would like to see a body of men who vouicl oppose tho revolutionary vSo■ialist movement. At the conclusion if his address the meeting heartily ip proved of the attitude Air. Mackenzie liad taken up, and expressed confidence'll him as representative of tlie district.

WELLINGTON OPINIONS. (Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 27. AH three AVelliugton papers comment upon Mr. Thos. Mackenzie s peech, and tho iVlinistoriul journal n a brief note, welcomes him into his lew fold. “His address,” says the I’imes, “was characterised by neither .irilliancy nor originality, but it cyeaod honest convictions, the conviction that Progressive Liberalism in the Dominion is tho wisest policy, and .hat it would be better for that splenlid band of men called the “Opposition,” .to coalesce with the present Administration, in fighting the revolutionary Socialists, than to waste temper and their' energies in vainly frying to discredit the Liberal Government and drive it from its impregnable fortress in the affections of tho ])eople. One volunteer is better than ten pressed men, and Air. Mackenzie's conversion is significant of the tendency of the times.” The “Dominion” pictures him wanleriug in deep thought on the wooded hills, behind Allan Grange, engaging in a kind of modern vision of Vlirzah, and adds that the noble .cenery of New Zealand must have unaccountably lost its inspirational powers since'the days of the great pro-Consul, and that the synchronising of the disappearance of the Waikouaiti electorate, with the opening of Mr. Mackenzie's eyes to the longhidden ’virtues of the Government, will recur again and again with sardonic" suggestiveness to everyone who reads tho convert’s speech. The journal adds that not all Air. Alackenzie’s eloquence will convince the public that the spectre of revolutionary socialism, that he 'has discovered so opportunely on tho mountains, is a sufficient defence of liis attitude. Who will believe that .it was that .done which terrified an old political campaigner into changing those curious convictions of his at such n well.alculated moment ? The “Post,” in a brief notice, sums up the situation thus: •'For sonic time he has been more or less a member of the Opposition party, but gradually his convictions have changed. or rather owing to fresh illumination. he has come to believe that the convictions of a thoughtful member of the Onnos:t:on ire no less befitting on tlie other side of the House. Pondering life and death and politics profoundly, lie understands, after much meditation, that he is Sir .1. Ward’s intellectual brother m arms, lie has not relinquished his principles, and the Government has not relinquished its principles, but on the iva v to Damascus— or Clutlia— l great Ihdit has shone upon Air. Alaekenzie, and lie has realised that the two principles are really one. or, a. least, harmonious. Mr. Mackenzie PP 111 ■’ out to tho Independent Labor Party of the future that what he discovered, other quasi members of the Opposition party may also reasonably discover. and'that if there is a coalition the Independent Labor Partv will he an important minority. in® >i-U----mont returns to the “ Post s inclusion that Labor will do much bette tostnv where it is well off, '" ■' lllal F' with the Liberals, instead of thrown)*, awav the hone for the shadow .