The N.Z. Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1906. THE LAND CAMPAIGN.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6048, 5 November 1906, Page 6

The N.Z. Times

(PUBLISHED DAILY). MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1906. THE LAND CAMPAIGN.

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Tin; necessity of devoting liis time to the Exhibition in its opening stages is sufficient justification for the Premier’s postponement of an active attention to the prosecution of the recessional campaign on behalf of the Laud Bill. Sir Joseph has told one of our representatives in Christchurch that Cabinet will consider the matter in tho Southern City, and wo may, therefore, expect an early announcement of the Government’s intentions. It cannot bo too strongly insisted upon that the campaign cannot begin too soon, nor bo pushed too strenuously; for, although next year’s session' is still many months away, a long initial delay will not merely give the opponents of the bill an effective stare, but will also dull tho edge of public interest in tho most important question which has entered into the country’s politics for many years.' The best guarantee of tho ultimate success of tho bill is the certainty with which a country so fundamentally democratic as New Zealand seizes upon whatever appeals to its democracy; and wo are firmly of opinion that, if tho verdict "of the whole people could bo seciu’ed by tho plainest of plebiscites, it would bo an overwhelming “yes” in favour of the bill as originally brought down, or tho bill as amended by the Lands Committee. Both of these measures have serious blemishes, but tho principle underlying them both is too valuable to cast away on account of imperfections. The public must, in the, nature of things, rely upon Parliament to excise tho blemishes and bring tho details into accord with the principle of the bill. The occasion, however, is not ono for an idle reliance upon tho justice of a just cause. Virtue may be its own reward in personal ■histories; but too frequently even the righteous man has to be content with tho knowledge that the reward will come at some far-distant day, and by some strange path that leads to others than to him. Aphorisms and axioms have no application to-politics, and in politics virtue is never its own reward, unless it is accompanied by that kind of practical wisdom which added to the injunction to “trust in God” the counsel “keep your powder dry.” The only satisfactory ingredient in the Land Bill fiasco was the simultaneous announcement by the Premier, Mr McNab and Mr Millar, that the Government would make tho recess notable by an educative propaganda. That propaganda must begin without any delay. Tho activity of the opponents of the bill will be incessant and rigorous; and when it is reflected that tho bare sight of the , original bill threw them into a fever of energy which resulted in a swarm of hostile resolutions carried by Farmers’ Union meetings throughout the country, it will be easily apprehended that tho bill, backed by an inflexible determination, will urge them to unheard of efforts. So far as tho cities are concerned, there is no cause for anxiety, and wo hope that the Government and the land reformers will not waste much time in the towns. In the country, however, there is not the sharp interest in political affairs which every thinking man in the cities displays. Innovations in politics are “ipso facto ” undesirable to the rural mind until they are shown to be otherwise, and the extensive organisation of tho banners’ Union is a powerful force to convert rural suspicion into stubborn enmity. ■ The farmer takes his views on complex political questions from iiis brother farmers, and is prone to accept as final the opinion of the men whose active intelligences have brought them into high places in the Farmers’ Union. He is as ready as anybody to give a hearing to both sides, and as capable as any man of drawing the correct deduction from the conflicting arguments; but hitherto he has only heard ono side. Very little will be gained by a spasmodic and disorganised series of propagandist speeches. Tho Government and tho friends of the bill must take a lesson from tbeir opponents and organise before they begin work. We, therefore, hope that when Cabinet has considered the matter it will emerge with a definite fighting programme of routes and dates.