EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10042, 9 January 1909, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

1 the opinions .concerning the reconIi" ■ 6tructad.Ministry and its I Tory-- „ .destiny uttered by. lead; J itig Opposition newspapers may be" taken : as an ac- | curate presanfcatiQarof -the: situation, there < B not to be a rosy-time in- store for ; tjiw . Joseph Ward and his-"/colleagues. -TUeso literary flagellatorS see no good in l: (tie combination.* just-effected. ■ The Otago f 'Usaly Times thmks less: of- Messrs Hogg, ; ; jßoderiak, M'KeiUie,■ aiwl Etiddo than. it ■ ffiil. of fessrs- M*Nob, HaiirJones, and! .' M'Gowan l , -either as debaters or adminis- ' firators. Probably that is because it is JjOfimd 1 , as the mouthpiece of monopoly, to f- V'Sno virtue in anything liberal. In the : esjtimation of our oooitemporaTy—if its i s pri>fe6£ions;may -be accepted- as honest'— ..oii.O;. Liiberal is worse-than anoth'e'r audi not t«r1» trusted, whilst every unit in the ;> -jiM&gry arnty' of Tory diKontents is a and a statesman by . the same divine l :rig:!it that.-is a. King's authority to govern .;?hi3> fellows. Only the other day Mr was 'denounced! by every 'Opposi- ' tion, newspaper in the country—the I>ii ;ly . 'riines -amongst . them—because he introducing - and-" forcing, through land , legislation''—that is to .ea&ljvbecause he" proposed "to 'set apart •• irt-iyfoha" of the' State's acres as endowfor; great- public purposes and to the 'burden of taxation. He succtvffsd. in the end in "achieving- only a of what he desirod, though that is 6oartpthmg lor .which to. be grateful: Now newspaper, which is" liand- . irSgiove with the > Otago Daily Times in its'Rympathies. and aims, -and, whose advocacy 'is Tittered- through the ; £ame Tory ihoiitH," diiiScfe. public.' attentibn ; fact that as.well as Mr Thomas Mackenzie, opposed Miy M'Nab's endowment proposals. As -Mr 'Roderick M'Kenzie, in his opposition,, . .tooa: a view which , was in. harmony with' t-ffc? Otago Daily Times' advocacy, and 3tfr M'Nab's efforts both in "debate and administration" were opposed to it and were denounced by the Tames accordingly, how caa *>ur -contemporary consistently declare - thai -Mr M'K;ib was "mows capable, either as a debater or as art. aldministrator from its point of .wew, than Mr R-. M'Kenzie, unless "capable" means something else fchajj.s.bi'ht.y to do what is desirable? As M'Gowan, who is comparatively "dfcfejflyl regretted" by Tory sophists, the • praise: bestowed upon, him, like that , Javisiied-iigpn Mr Ballaittoe after his death, . isrfibsfchumbiiis. The Times,. in its anxiety ■ toqfcfbttle the newly arranged: Administration, teHs the public that what they have to.ao is- to judge of the combination with Messrs Thomas Mackenzie and Ngata left out, because. they are not full-fledged Ministers. Does the Tim-es_ imply that either of these men. 1 would' not do their work to the best of their. 'ability because, as a matter of necessity, they are not -jpaid-ss their colleagues are? Where is. tnef CCnnes' white-headed bog-?—where is the patriotic., and clever Tom. Mackenre. who has bean petted and, patted » ?/ougl<..to spoil anyone les6 mentally enHas- svesn the shadow of Cabinet -.bfe. «eu*ajnin»te4.:. i rare -virtues-have-been transmuted' into base imitations? One does not really know how to tat© these ponderous literary Tory critics? However,), one thing they make ■clear: When Parliament assembles, there is to be trouble for. .the Government, and Mr Massey, who has jbeen waiting so many dreary years for his" opportunity to enter the Promised' Land, is no longer to view it from a mountain top or with a raging torrent between, but is to enter into possession of it. Then we. shall all be happy and prosperous, and every working man will have a leg of mutton. in the pot. Then the land will-"blossom as the rose—rank verdure will spring out of rocks as the result of universal and unmitigated.

freehold, and the rich will no longer pay taxes because there will be no necessity for anybody to pay anything, and the approaching millennium will cast its cheering glow on all nature.