THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER IS, 1895.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9975, 12 November 1895, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER IS, 1895.

I Whig and Tory, Liberal and Conservative, have been the watchwords of English parties for many generations. Mr. Gilbert lias informed the world that " every child that's born alive, Is either a littleLiberalorelse a little Conservative/ 1 Indeed, it has been sought to show that these are the natural divisions of all political parties in any State. There is always, it is said, one section of the nation desirous of adopting any novelty, which welcomes any proposal for extending the suffrage, and any new schemes, especially those which propose to make political power universal. On the other hand the Conservative section of the community -ire attached to what is known and tested, and are afraid of new and revolutionary ideas. These form the political parties, which in turn have had the charge of English political flairs for many years. One of them lias been in power till by the blunders of its chiefs, who form the Ministry, a change is brought about in public opinion, and in consequence many persons, not holding strongly by party, determine to vote for the opposite men, and then the other party have a few years of Government till they in turn fall from tlio same cause. Thus a kind of see-saw is provided for.

The evils of party governing have been discussed copiously of I^, and they ui'fe certainly evident < tough. We do not intend now to ent*. into that subject. What we wish to dij s to point out that there are indices that this state of tiling? is coming an end, and that in future parties wilfee divided on different lines. Espectoy will the new ground assumed beet, dent in these colonies, and more esp. cially we may say in the colony of Ne< Zealand. The suffrage is now universal Not only all men can vote, but all women. Every voter is protected by the ballot. The criminal who has served his sentence of imprisonment, and who is really a habitual criminal, and at war with society, can record his vote as soon as ho gets out of gaol. There is nothing more to lie striven for in the way of political privileges. It is quite obvious that a new cleavage will arise in political sections, or rather such a cleavage has already arisen. That new'cleavage is not of political parties, founded upon differences in political ideas, but of classes, founded upon means. The political power is now in the. hands of the majority of the people, and they will use it for what they consider their own advantage. A line is drawn in the matter of wealth, and it is sought to place all taxation on those who are above that line, and to remove it from all below. Our land tax and our income tax have lines strictly drawn, not at the point below which it would not be profitable to collect the *ux, but simply that the burden might fall heavily upon the wealthy people in the community. The land tax is graduated so as further to carry out this idea. It was an old maxim of political thinkers that taxation and representation should go together. Now the dominant party in the State makes it a rule that those who pay the taxation of the State should have no say in the imposing of these taxes. It was formerly the law that property which a man had earned or had inherited was his, and could not betaken from him. It was always the case that the State could take a man's land, or a portion of it, for some important public purpose. But that public purpose had to be proved, and the State had in all eases to make a most ample payment for the land taken, and for indirect injury and annoyance occasioned. Now, in New Zealand.at least, no public purpose need be proved except that it is the opinion of a Minister and certain Government officials (practically of a Minister alone), that the land is wanted for the purpose of carrying out some project of settlement for which certain supporter.? of Ministers may have been clamouring. And even in the House of Representatives we have had this method of taking land by a Minister vehemently denounced, not on the ground that the State had no right to take one man's property from him for the purpose of giving it to another man, but because it was wrong for the State to pay a man anything for land so taken. It is contended that the man was a robber to begin with in possessing that land at all, and that it should be taken from him at the will of the Minister, without compensation.

There are indications of this class division in every department of the State. It is the most calamitous of divisions. It is unfortunately not new in history, and it lias always been the precursor of destruction. It appeared in other States in ancient times, and it was their ruin. It will be the greatest of all possible misfortunes for NewZealand if such a distinction is established here. The majority of votes means the majority of members in the General Assembly, and that means the Ministry. Ministers are actuated by many motives. They may have tlie desire to do justice, but that will be a weak element. The main motive with them will always be the desire to keep their place, and to carry into practice the theories held by those who have put them in power. Probably the next general election will show whether we must make up our minds that our great political division in New Zealand is to be founded solely upon class.