THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1894.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9488, 18 April 1894, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1894.

The political situation in New South Wales—the political situation, so called, for that matter in all the colonies— presents at the present time some curious and significant aspects. Is it not strange, for instance, . to find a colonial Premier of thGuistamp and character of Sir George R. Dibbs declaring that the dark cloud of Socialism and Anarchy wasthreatehing the stability of our institutions V . Is it not almost passing the < bounds • of belief that in these colonies which Nature has so lavishly endowed with her choicest gifts, where vast territories lie awaiting the labours of the husbandman to turn them into gardens of Paradise, and where the fullest political freedom is enjoyed by all, under a Democratic form of Government, broad-based upon a people's will, there should be found the obnoxious seeds of Anarchy and Socialism fructifying in congenial soil, and threatening the stability of our institutions? In the old world, with its more restricted political freedom, with its class distinctions, hatreds, and prejudices, the growth of centuries dating back to the feudal ages, its hereditary aristocracies, its gold and silver kings, its fierce struggles for existence, its teeming cities, where abject poverty and profuse wealth do most strangely meet and intermingle, where sixty millionaires sit down to dine together at an average cost per head of £20, and 60,000 penniless human beings, each with an immortal soul and a keen appetite, are homeless and dinnerless— in a land where such things exist, and where there are so many wrongs and griefs, bitter and insupportable, we are not suprised that there should be Socialists and Anarchists. But in the colonies they should be impossible. Here all should be peace, progress, and contentment. We have left the foetid atmosphere of the overcrowded Old

World ; we are breathing the aweet fresh air of a new land. There is ample elbow-room for everybody, and before everyone there lie boundless opportunities and possibilities, which, if they be but grasped in the true spirit, with courage, with energy, and with hope, who knows whither, or to what haven of self-satisfaction and happiness they may not lead.

How comes it, then, that the Premier of New South Wales is filled with alarm at the Socialistic and Anarchic dangers that, he says, threaten the stability of our institutions'? Do such dangers exist ? If they do, what lias caused them, and how can society protect itself against them ? We do not suppose . that Sir G. R. Dibbs was speaking at random when he referred to the dark cloud of Socialism and Anarchy winch he says lie descries on the Australian horizon. That, however, he exaggerates its size is more than probable. In Sydney and Melbourne—the . two great metropolitan cities which dominate their respective colonies there is no doubt a numerous class of malcontents, whose ranks have been swollen by the depression which succeeded the collapse of the reign of King Boom, a class which is to be found in all large cities, idle, reckless, dissatisfied people, who are always thirsting for change for the mere sake of change, and who believe that the best way to improve the world and themselves is to undo all that the world has done. Their number, however, in these colonies is insignificant. We have not yet produced a breed of Anarchists of the Vaillant, Ravachol, or Bourdin type. But there is no denying the fact that colonial Governments have by political corruption of the most flagrant character, by pandering to the cupidity and self-interest of a large section of the people, deadened the public conscience and lowered the standard of public morality. Herein lie the dangers that threaten the stability of our institutions more than in the dark cloud of Socialism and Anarchy. Democracy is not uncommonly the triumph of mediocrity. It brings to the surface the least able and least qualified members of the community, and too often thrusts out of politics culture and respectability. The scenes that have been witnessed in the New South Wales Parliament have shocked every right-thinking man and woman in the colony. But so long as the people continue to send representatives to Parliament who are utterly unfitted by education, training, or selfcontrol for such a position, so long will such scenes continue to be enacted. So long, too, will there be bad government, for the Government is what Parliament makes it, and a country in whose Parliament is not to be found its best merit is certain to have its affairs grossly mismanaged. Sir G. R. Dibbs seems to have a true conception of the remedy for the dangers which he discerns when he insists upon the necessity for all parties combining to get good Government. That is the only way to salvation. An honest, capable Government can do no wrong. But before you can have such a Government, you must have an honest, capable Parliament. And to have that the most honest and capable men in the community must be encouraged to enter politics and public life, instead of being elbowed to one side and thrust out of the way, as at present. England owes her great position to the fact that that favoured nation has been presided over since 1688 by thoughtful, cultivated, and statesmanlike minds. What would have been her position to-day had the men entrusted with power been of the stamp we are too familiar with in colonial Parliaments ?

The aim of political parties, both here and in Australia, ought therefore to be to raise the tone and character of their public men, and to draw into the sphere of politics the ablest minds among them ; men who, to use the words of Burke, derive authority from the opinion that they speak the language of truth and sincerity, that they are not ready to take up or lay down a great political system for the convenience of the hour ; that they are in .Parliament to support their opinion of the public good, and do not form their opinion in order to get into Parliament or to continue in it.