THAT MANIFESTO

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7976, 6 December 1911, Page 6

THAT MANIFESTO

Truly there is nothing like audacity. Therefore we have Mr Massey in the field with a policy "definite, straightforward, progressive,” bolstered by promises of fine weather, good prices and leaps and bounds. In some way this manifesto policy, presented to the world by yesterday’s newspapers, seems to bo connected with the land question. Mr Massey, for instance, rebaits the hook of political bribery in relation to the Crown estate, gives a grudging acceptance to the leasehold (as a "stepping stone”) and professes an intention to populate "vast territories now idle/’ Where are these empty territories? He does not say. The public, however, knows that a vast expanse of totally unimproved land is in the hands of Mr Massey’s friends, who according to this flamboyant manifesto appear to hold their territories under some sort of maxim with a Scriptural flavour. We are told that “the Creator gave tho lands of tho earth to the eons of man to cultivate and bring to harvest.” Tho only sensible conclusion therefore is that the great landowners of Hawke’s Bay and the Wairarapa, of Marlborough and Canterbury, acquired their possessions as trustees for the "sons of man.” Why they do not cultivate and produce harvests we shall probably learn after tho election when they are called upon tho explain tho meaning of those 24,000.000 acres of land on which the only signs of cultivation aro barbed wire fences. In the meantime they form the most gigantic trust in these latitudes animated by ideals of ovine republics and bovine majorities. One of the band behind Mr Massey has been telling the electors of Wellington North that these people should be allowed to go on "accumulating wealth” in order that their "investments in industries” might provide the rest of the community with employment. Clearly the construction to be placed upon ■tfiue "harvest” for the eons of man is open to- varying interpretation among the rank and file of the Conservatives—and probably among the ‘trustees. - Details apart, however, it remains to be said that this reference to the Creator dtrdkes an .entirely new note dm tike, politics of the Opposition, It shines in the party manifesto with a serene effulgence that not all the twaddling about “leaipe omd bounds” and the succeeding paragraphs can obscure. We have heard tho Opposition (Which voted for all loons submitted to Parliament) denouncing tho additions to our public debt, but this manifesto will not step borrowing, its author will evidently vote for all possible loans of the future which are required to satisfy the hunger of tho constituemcdes. Mr Massey, wo observe, will only reduce taxation "whore possible,” but as it seems difficult to eay where reduction is possible, departure from the definite rule is wise. It leaves the way open for repeal-of the ,direct taxation in various directions, in the same way that the loan policy of tho party is loft free to contract debts for reproductive purposes, though these stand denounced in the manifesto as “reckless extravagance.” The manifesto also frowns upon "the broadcast sowing of erratic and impossible promises,’’ by promising lands where there are no lamdb, opportunities wherq opportunities are to be cut off, and a phenomenal growth of produce when we have repeatedly been told no Government can effect tho growing of a single blado ofgrate. The manifesto is tho manifesto of a party which has, during this election, filled the air with personalities and insinuations, and discovered a score of mare’s nests, and yet now whines about the "abuse" its friends have received. There is a promise to bring tho country, by the exercise of self-relionice, “gradually to tho point of being independent of the money-lender," and this comes from a leader who ds spending many hours weekly in denouncing the only statute ever passed in the country for paying off this money-lender. There is promise of "an assured finance” to tho local bodies—that ghost of an aspiration hoary in the later seventies and has grown more decrepit with the years that have passed. Still we can cordially agree With Mr Massey on some , points about Ms "policy.” It is definite—with tthe indtefiniteness of tho wildest promise. It ’is straightforward—with all the crookedness of Conservative innuendo. It is progressive—after tho manner of invertebrates, which go backwards.