North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1911. HIS ASTONISHMENT.

North Otago Times, 4 December 1911, Page 2

North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1911. HIS ASTONISHMENT.

One of the Ministerial candidates for Parliamentary honors has expressed his astonishment at the do- ■ cided hostility manifested, ;by ■ the farming community to Sir Joseph Ward, The hostility is apparently a personal one, for.it.in against. Sir Joseph only that it,is mainly levelled. But that it exists abundant proof is forthcoming. Sir Joseph is aware of his discredited political status, and in reply to his enemieshurled back at them from the Btage of the Oamaru Opera House the threat that ''he would wipe the floor with them yet." But to expreßS' astonishment at the {armors' hostility is to circumscribo the "extent to which the feeling has magnified itself, No politician that New Zealand ever had has been so unpopular as Sir Joseph' Ward is at the present moment, and no astonishment need be : expressed at this, No British dependency has ever had straddled round his neck, Uko an Old Man of the Sea, such a Terah Hooley like Minister.of Finance as ,Sir fJbsaph -Ward. Country, people are reflective people; and' they can see, without) going far- into arithmetic, that in, a few short years Sir Joseph Ward will have the country tied up in a toot, , the ' extrication from which will 'be ; by the remorseless process of .whipping the cat for

fortborrqw^aM' ii J .TQdn«KS f / ■ and' perhaps; bis phantasy .of/building up «i colonial;>:arißtocracy;;tbevma\ terialtwing 'secured derab: Qratlo.^oamp'l-v.-• Since'. Blr Joseph Ward's fldvent".as:.Premier! showera' of Ijdndon goW bare) fallen ion New ZcaInml, 'aod they rjust as rapidly, find i their way back to I/>mlon: to' pay the Interest/on previous 'loans, while titular distinctions* are becoming ' as thick' as: WacKberrles,. Every democratic citizen Is; apparently aspiring tovbecome al'dock,". and the Kltig will soon-be getting tired of . his "well;beloved cousins" In New Zealand, As we said, the farmer Is 'a reflective man; ; ' bis very occupation gives him time to think, and he has thought out tie Sir.'J. Q. Ward problenvto the discomfiture of that gentleman. He can Bee that,if ,the country does not clip the wings of Sir .Joseph, Sir Joseph will not leave a feather with whioh to fly in the people, The objection to Sir Joseph' extends from the North-Cape to the Bluff, and even those whotoolishly enfouigfo—for personal > reasons are supporting his followers, anathematise his reckless plunging. The commonsense of the community has asserted itself, and the people have decided to put the handcuffs of moderation on. whoever Is the 'next Premier. They must do this as an assertion of one of the first laws of nature—self-preservation,