FORCE OF HABIT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15862, 27 February 1912, Page 6

FORCE OF HABIT.

Orn Opposition friends love to nurse a grievnuco even while they are contemplating the delights of office, and they axe blaming Sir Joseph Ward in l

advanco for the difficulties that they expect a “Reform” Ministry to encounter. The latest complaint is that the Prime Minister has made matters “ as difficult as possible for his successors ” by neglecting to raise loans that have been authorised, hut aro not yet required. Apparently it is seriously suggested' that the Liberal Government should havo prepared a golden path for a new Cabinet by making tho financial arrangements of the next twelvo months or so. Incidentally, of course, this plan would have involved the payment of interest on loan money that the dominion does not yet need to use. This strange complaint is supported: by a reference to the “unseemly activity ” of the Government in “ committing the country to further expenditure,” and the illustration quoted is the turning of the first sod of tho Napier-Gisborne railway. This line has been demanded for a generation, it has been on the authorisation list for many years and its claims have been urged in season and out of season by prominent members of tho Opposition. If this work is “ embarrassing ” from the Reform Party’s standpoint •tfhat can be said about Mr Massey’s promise to continue tho Otago Central railway?