North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1910. ILLIBERAL LIBERALISM.

North Otago Times, 9 December 1910, Page 2

North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1910. ILLIBERAL LIBERALISM.

The late Mp Ejeddon smilingly gave utterance to the assertion tha| -}t was the duty o( every tfue Liberal politician to;, trust tha'; people.- ' VTrust the [people !every time. 1 : Mj? Mdon was wont to say; b"ut Mr Sfrfjon took, very good care he never did trust . the people. Mr .Soddon 'a,®imed the' "position- of a dictator jn W Fifties of New Zea-

land, and the people trusted him; and this fact no doubt led him to assume that there was.no. necessity for Mr Seddon to.trust the people. No true Liberal' politician ever did trust the people, and for that matter no true Conservative either, Each desires to make himself . the repository of all power, And to con-, centrate that power in such a mMI ". nei' that lie can use it to his own advantage, the advantage of the country being, but n ,' subsidiary consideration. This is substantially true of all classes of politicians. The politician will "trust the people"' with a full and perfect crust that will ramify throughout his corporeality, to his very finger tips and the end of each hair of his head, when lie is not in power, but immediately he assumes office it is a recognised thing that the people must place sufficient confidence in him to enable him to rule them as he pleases, and not as they please. The Liberal Government at Home and the Liberal Government in New Zealand have Cac¥ expressed 'a decided nostffitj to the introduction of the referendum. • Both have used the same arguments in.condemnation of its partial or general use. Yet) the referendum marks the direct expression of the people's will, and is it not the privilege of the people to rule through the medium o' those they place in the position of executive officers ? Mr Asq|uith, in Britain, will have none of Mr Balfour's referendum, and Sir Joseph Ward in New Zealand expresses the same decided hostility to the people determining great national questions. Thess are supposedly representatives of the great Liberal cause, that trusts the people! .If the people cannot decide the questions that may he submittal to them by referendum who can ? . Why should there be a referendum on the drink question if the people are incompetent to deal with great qtoestions of national importance? And why should the same people be deprived'of the opportunity of deciding the -qjiestion of whether that worn out pfece of marionettism, the Legislative Council of the Dominion of New Zealand, should live or die? Because the politicians—who urge a reposeful trust in the people—are not prepared to trust the people. The referendum at) Homte and-the referendum in New. Zealand are innovations that iibi'/respective Governments will have nothing to do with, although public opinion has expressed itself strongly in favor. No procedure could be more Liberal in its intentions than the referendum, for is it not the privilege.of the people to direct their'representatives, and how could they better decide this will .than by means of «,. referendum? The referendum is the only means by which the people's will can he ascertained on many questions, because elections-are decided in many instances on personal and not public considerations. In New .'iealand n strong demand has been expressed for the referendum, especially to dei clde the fate of the Upper House, but the Ministry will not ac-njuiesce, knowing full well that the Upper House would completely disappear as a haven of refuge for the friends of the party in power. The Government have spoilt the usefulness of the Upper House (h'y the peculiar oddities they have found room for there. Mr Aspith is equally determined that no referendum shall come between the people) and his absolute Power to do as he pleases, snd Sir Joseph Ward sticks as firmly, to the same illiberal views. The-q/'.iestion is.would those who might taVetheir places grant the right unless under the stress of a political contest? .