POLITICAL NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCV, Issue 10918, 28 March 1896, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES.

(Published by arrangement.) Noticing the tactics of the National Conservative Association, the Nelson Star says : —“ These plutocrats have no connection with the people. They were not instigated by any expression of public opinion to adopt the action which they have taken. No' section of the people requested them to hire special writers to defame Ministers. In the articles circulated they do not offer any suggestions for the good of the people. No counter-policy is advance.d lyhich would give .more satisfactoi'y results than the arduous labours of those at present at, the head of affairs The articles contain nothing but low suspicions and scurrilous personal abuse, ,and behind this cloud of defamation lurks a clique of office-seekers, anxious to, manipulate the affairs of the country for their own advantage.”

The Hon John McKenzie, in his address at Gisborne, was graphic in his description of the National Conservative Association. He said the whole object of this Association was to get back into the hands of the old Conservative Party the administration of the colony. If people were desirous of seeing the government back into the hands of the Conservative Party, they would support the National Association. Those National Association people were nothing more or less than Tories in’ disguise. They were afraid to call themselves Tories. They had a general policy which everyone could agree to in twenty-four hours, and then they varied their policy in accordance with the requirements of a district. In a district where freetrade was popular, freetrade was the policy of the National Association. In districts where there were woollen mills and other industries, the National Association was for protection, and in districts where there was much co-operative labour it declared in favoiuof co-opei’ation. It was hard to find out what they were really at. Their sole object was to get into power.

The Marlborough Express, which is by no 'means friendly to the Seddon Government, says : —“ If the Captain and his followers can bring no more honest and truthful charge against Mr Seddon and his colleagues than this silly oft-repeated and equally oft-refuted cry of driving away capital, then he and they are by no means the best men to place in office and power. There are plenty of points on which the present administration may be truthfully and properly assailed, but this cry of ‘ Pity Poor Capital ’ won’t bear examination. Better no criticism, no opposition at all, than a criticism and an opposition which are based upon palpable misrepresentation of well-known facts. Surely Captain Eussell can never read the papers, or, if he does, reads them only through his own blue-tinted glasses. Otherwise, he would have seen within the last week or two that British capital is simply pouring into the country for the further ment of our mining industry, and as to the cheapness of money, the fact that the banks have had to reduce the rate of interest proves that money is becoming a drug in the market.”

The New Zealand Times states that the Premier’s meeting at Hokitika was xnpst enthusiastic; as'was also the meeting at Staffordtown on Saturday night.. The latter place has not seen so many visitors for years, the diggers flocking in from all parts for the sake of “ Old Dick,” to whom they gave a tremendous ovation as soon as he appeared on the platform, the scene in old times of many political fights in which the honourable gentleman bore leading parts. They were there in great numbers; “beach-combers,” “gully-rakers,” “hatters,” “fossickers,” “ sluicers,” big and burly, all came to do honour to the man they first sent to Parliament, in days when he was known with cordial familiarity as “ Our Dick.” It is needless to add that the attempt to bring out a candidate to oppose the popular Premier at the general election is generally regarded in the district as a farce.

How it comes about that the National Association are so sanguine, we (Nelson Star)' cannot fathom. The Opposition is practically leaderless, and it is without a policy. A forward movement has been made by a harrow coterie of capitalists having no connection with the interests of the masses, and this premature development of the campaign is a very great mistake. Ministers have perceived the advantage of the opportunity, and with the plot confined to the exclusive few of the Opposition, they have struck out boldly with a sound democratic propaganda. They have got a start of the Opposition, before the proposals of the latter could be identified with the interests of the people, and having unmasked the intentions of the leaders, the probabilities of a large following are destroyed. The policy of the Ministry as announced at Hokitika last night, will meet with general approval.

Some light is thrown upon the access of “ Nationalist ” activity by a correspondent of the Dunedin Star , who says that the Conservatives have every right to organise and have many wrongs to avenge. “ The Ministry have passed a Factory Act that safeguards workers against the parsimony and selfish recklessness of employers. They have injured capitalists by reducing the rate of interest to 5 per cent. They have interfered with Bond Street manipulations of butter, and pastrycook butter no longer goes Home under a factory brand. They have passed a Shop Act that gives workers a half-holiday. They have broken the monopoly of land in congested districts. They have threatened to interfere with the insurance ring and protect insurers against barefaced extortion. They have made appointments outside the gilded ranks of the Opposition. All this surely stamps the Ministry as being unfit for office.”

Dr Newman, whose claim'to be a political leader nobody takes quite seriously, said, in the course of his recent address at Petone, that he would now speak of the new party—the National Party. (A Voice : The Tory Party.) Dr Newman denied that it was a Tory Party, the gentleman who designated it by that name did not understand its aims and objects. The National Party was going to fight every

seat in the colony at the general election, from the Premier’s downwards. Rumours alleging that Mr Samuel and' Mr Bryce would contest , the New Plymouth seat are denied by the Taranaki Herald. _ Captain Russell, the head of the Opposi-j tion, endorses most of the Government policy, and his attitude is (says the Nelson Star ) in strong contrast to the Oppositionists who unfairly asperse the personal integrity of Ministers. ■- The Premier’s programme, says the’ Southland News t is, in effect,, a challenge to the Opposition, who have, up till now, confined themselves to mere platitudes, of which the burden has been ever the same:' “ Give us office, and you shall see what you shall see.” Nothing more. Referring'to the report.that Mr Grim-:, ;mond intends opposing the Premier in the Kumara electorate, the Hokitika Guardian, says Mr Grimmond is “undoubtedly the strongest.man in Westland” for that undertaking, and congratulates, him on his pluck “ in throwing down the gauntlet to our present member, the Premier, who, as a tactician and a formidable opponent in. an election, has no equal in New Zealand, and who, moreover, has so identified himself with Westland that probably no one l but Mr Grimmond would have seriously undertaken the task of unseating him.”

For the credit of the colony (says the Dunedin Star) it is to be deplored that Mr Ward should haye deemed it necessary to refer at length to the treatment to which, he has been personally subjected in and out of the House in connection with his mission to London and his administration of the Treasury generally.’ In the minds of reasonable men of all parties his explana-. tions as to the , Chamber' of , Commerce - speech were entirely satisfactory, and it is most unfair that a scandal should , still bo attempted to be made-of what was said in good faith; without t any intention to 1 deceive. Much worse, however, is the- “ deliberate attempt ” which he avers ■ hasbeen “ made in some quarters recently to ruin him through liis private business,” and he may well describe “the stabs which had been given, him in the dark as dastardly and cowardly.” ;Wo entirely acquit the leading members of the Opposition from having-hand or part in such disreputable tactics, which dan only recoil on the heads of those who use them, ahd would discredit any individual or party in the eyes of the public.

This is how the Tcmuka Leader deals with certain untruthful allegations:—“ We have heard of many comments made concerning Ministers, but never, even by way of a joke, have we heard anything - said concerning their travelling in reserved. compartments. As for the Hon Mr Ward himself, he certainly is not a. great sinner in that respect. He never occupies more than what is known as the birdcages, and when his private secretaries and his luggage are stowed into them there is not room to swing a cat in them. It used to be said of Sir Robert Stout when Premier that he was too fond of taking notice of small things like this, and giving elaborate explanations of them. Mr Ward has a weakness in the same direction. ’ He is over-sensitive to captions criticism, which, no doubt, arises from a consciousness of his own innocence.' How-; ever, we can assure him that no one bet-, grudges him a reserved compartment when travelling by train, and we trust be will; never again trouble himself about what is said on that head.”

The Oamaru Mail, - referring to the Treasurer’s Wintou address, says:—“ As 1 to the charges hurled against him of seeking. • to seize the Trust Fund securities because, they had been sent Home to be of use in the event of a crisis in order to prevent' disaster to the colony, MrWardwasableto ... adduce in evidence of the soundness of Ms judgment the Melbourne Argus, the most. ' Conservative journal in the colonies, which, had urged the adoption of a like course indefence of the credit and stability of’' Victoria. Sir , Robert Stout’s charge that . ' the local bodies’ sinking fund had beenseized illegally, improperly, and without warrant, was disproved by the production of . ’ the evidence taken before the Public Accounts Committee that the funds had not ■ been touched and remained intact. ‘ # c * Mr Ward, very naturally,' had something to say with reference to his visit to London, and he was able to show that that trip had. resulted in substantial advantages the colony, aud this, too, notwithstanding shat an unpatriotic Opposition, caring notMng for the colony and hoping only for office and the power to help themselves and . their friends, endeavoured by devices and means, no matter how degrading and unscrupulous, to make Ms mis-' sion a failure. ■ As we know, however, the allegations of these coiners of falsetales and traitors to the colony produced, no worse effect than to make Mr Ward’s. task more difficult, and to give to its successful accomplishment an enhanced brilliance, .Besides the’ refutation of the charges hurled by the Opposition against the Government, Mr Ward had a gooddeal to say that was pleasant and reassur-, ing.”

' The Wanganui Herald, in the course of its comments on the Premier’s Nelson address, saysMr Seddon denied that the finances of the colony were in the ruinous condition asserted by Captain Eussell,..and informed the meeting, and through it tEeT\ colony, that , there would be another **' surplus, this tjme of at least £150,000. No doubt we shall be again told that it is only a bogus surplus, but the fact that * previous so-called bogus surpluses havebeen largely drawn on for the execution of public works proves that they were substantial ones. It is, no doubt, very galling to Captain Sussell and the Conservatives to see their dismal' prognostications so regularly fail of fulfilment and a surplus announced where they prophesied a deficit; but it is a very pleasing fact to the colonists at large, and a proof that the Government is worthy of their continued support. 4379