THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13673, 14 February 1908, Page 7

THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY

■' PBIME MINISTER'S AUCKLAND

SPEECH. - PRESS CRITICISMS. OTAGO DAILY TIMES. The most interesting portion of the speech 1 delivered last Friday night at Auckland by Sir Joseph Ward was undoubtedly that ': in which he expounded the aims of the Government with regard to social legislation, and endeavoured to define the position of his party, in its relation to those whom he described as revolutionary socialists. The claim that there maybe Liberals in Parliament on the side other than that upon which he himself sits is : apparently resented by the Prime Minister, It is, be contends, a perversion of the true meaning of Liberalism to apply the term to the political views that are held by ihc members of the Opposition. This is, however, a singular and amusing contention from a leader of a party which is so much indebted as the present Ministry i; to the Opposition for the policy it has espoused. And it is not robbed of its peculiarity by the explanation the Prime Minister has offered concerning the creed of the Government.. The promotion of the prosperity of the people and the protection of their material interests by and through the courageous and careful extension of State action along prudent lines ; represent an aim with which the Opposition may be in as hearty sympathy as any Ministerialist is. The political platform upon which Sir Joseph Ward has 1 taken his stand is really broad enough to afford common ground for all to occupy who are opposed to the extreme views that are being advocated by an active and rather noisy section of the community. Wo decline to believe that there are those in New Zealand "who," as Sir Joseph Ward says, distrust all State actions, who want unlimited freedom from all forms of State activity and State restriction and who want unrestrained competi- . tion.'' Such a class simply does not exist here. What is demanded by those whom the Prime Minister may probably have had in his mind is that the State should proceed cautiously about the extension of its activities', that it should test every advance in the light of experience, and that it should be prepared to recede from any position which is proved to be untenable. Every extension of State enterprise is legitimate in their opinion which gives the individual increased scope and a better chance of realising himself. Such forms of State enterprise are the. Post Office and tho State railways. And, generally speaking, it should be a sine qua non before an extension of the functions of the State is sanctioned that the service proposed to be performed is one that can be accomplished by the State more successfully than by private enterprise. Whether this test can be satisfactorily answered by the most recent proposal for the extension of the activity of the State in New Zealand—the rather pitiable scheme for the exploitation of prison labour in the hope of crushing the Chinese market gardeners —is, we think, extremely doubtful. Even it it were likely to be successful, the proposal is not one that should meet with very much favour. The Government would not dare to suggest the utilisation of prison labour in competition with any form of labour that is supplied by Europeans, and this unctuous scheme depends for such measure of popularity as it may ' achieve upon the fact that it is directed, against the members of an Asiatic raw. But. the Chinese in the community have paid their footing "in New Zealand, and are as much entitled to protection from its law's and its Government as any other class,. and it may even .claimed that (hey are not less tilled to consideration than the inmates of our prisons are.

' NEW ZEALAND TIMES. The speech of the; Prime Minister'at Auckland was as well conceived as it was timely. For some time past the opponents of the Government have endeavoured by insidious home-made deductions "to identify the present Ministry with the extremist minority which hopes to embroil the Dominion in a revolutionary socialistic campaign. An earnest effort has been made to ' impregnate the country constituencies with this false sentiment. The Government has been represented as having entered into an alliance with the city socialists with a view to inflicting grievous injury upon the primary producer. The country settlers have been asked to especially regard the endeavours of the Liberal majority in Parliament to secure land reform as a subtle indication of the sympathy of the Legislature with the extremists who want to " socialise everything." He pointed out that what the Liberal party in Now Zealand was face to face with was Old Individualism in another guise. Sir Joseph Ward said he had been told inside and outside.the House by opponents of the Government that " we were all Liberals now," but he pointed out with telling imagery that though the Conservative Ethiopian Individualist might change his skin and the Tory leopard his spots, this misuse of the term "Liberalism" was a perversion of its true meaning.