EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10767, 16 May 1911, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Tin: iiiivd-of i ho great champions of tho political world has Ti:3 HOUSS of Ua:-iit'{i into the zone Urtfs, of the light. it ;is -'.l i- Balfour advancing nut of the regional' philosophic doubt to break a lance for the Lords' House-. Strange! .He,.t00,, begins by throwing the noble House to the wolves. - There ■s need for'a change,'he'says,; a changeso " drastic as to alter completely the. personality, but so slight as to lea<:e the privileges where they are.-. This is valuable as cutting both ways. First, it gives away the case, in which re-■ spect 3lr Philosophic Doubt ' is' on a ' par with the cocksure Lord Lanstlowne. Secondly, the retention of tlie privileges means the retention of the mastery. It is the old rhyme of i

"Let arts and law and learning die, [ But give ns still our old nobility." There is just this difference, namely: that the old nobility is tb be saved by being kicked out of its own House. What matter? The vast majority of these energetic legislators never go inside the privileged mansion. It is enough for them to rule by their bleating on ordinary occasions outside, and by their votes on the extraordinary occasions which summon, them to the exercise of that desperate hard' work of voting on the wrong side within. It is easier surely to '"tig" the new Chamber through the instrumentality of professional wire-pullers. For these tlie mechanism provided by .philosophic doubt is grand—like the accommodation for snuff possessed by the average "Hicland" proboscis. Deadlocks arc to be stopped by joint sittings—a problem not difficult, for it is easy to rig the membership of the new body, so that- the Conservative majority shall prevail always, except on the rare occasions when progress happens to be in overwhelming majority below. In that case there is the referendum, and how the referendum may be thrown aside'as quite unworthy, whenever its verdict is inconvenient the Times has shown in its comments on the Australian example to which it referred as a proof of the impossibility of the referendum ever baulking the desire of public opinion really united. This, in connection with a referendum of the whole people 011 a definite issue, is supremely audacious. But it is only on a' par with , the behaviour of the Australian Labor leaders themselves, who, having invoked the referendum, disguise their disappointment by declaring that tiiey will yet get over the untoward tendencies and influences which smothered the real vote of the referending populace. AShen extremes thus meet over its head, referendum has 110 option but to sink below the waters of the Dead Sea. Out of this work of Dead Sea Apple ashes the resolution of the , Prime Minister and his representative in the Lords (Lord aiorley) to go straight on regardless of these pin-pricks is characteristic and refreshing. The fact is now evident that the more the mud is stirred the clearer becomes the determination of the Liberal Government to prevail and eventually place the constitution on a basis of fairness of its own invention, not of the imagining conspiratoriallv of the vast, ingenious, and unscrupulous Tory faction which has ruled in spite of constitutional principle for centuries, and wants to hold uncalled-for command till "the crack of doom."

As if it) prove our statement that it is only when out of Th2 Movement cf bounds in a wild Population. political harangue

that lie is untrustworthy. Mr Allen has made a notable suggestion to a northern reporter. Speaking calmly and philosophically of the alterations due according to the report of the Representation Commissioners. who are shortly to report on the constituencies by knocking them ino undesirable smithereens, Mr Allen S4id that it is too late to do anything before the nest general elections; but that for the future tlie principle should lie fixed of doing 110 harm to individual electorates. This is eminent good sense. Let- us, he said, fix tho rule that the minority constituencies should not be disturbed after general election, because otherwise tliev • will get so wide and unworkable that only the wealthy candidate will he able to get a chance of election at all. This is, of course,

true democracy which cannot view with equanimity the chance of the destruction of democratic principles by tin; over-pressing of the ru!e-of-thumb r.'.i.iptcd twenty-odd years ago to settle a question which ought to have besn settled by strict adhesion to good principles. Still there must be attention to tiie migrations of the population. Attend, says Mr Allen, by giving the majority electoral country increased representation. By that means you secure the maintenance of democratic principles for the democracy in general, and you give the incidental particular democracies the justice of representation according to their stake in the country in people. Of! course the number of representatives must' be increased as a concomitant to this proposal. But that would be but the smallest of many incidental evils. This is what the. united strength of Parliament should be set to do-before another session is over our lieads.

It is now evident that the Opposition have brought oil a The Courss Of the great electoral Electoral Campaign, campaign which they hoped to win in the absence of .the' Prime Minister. So much is evident from the speech delivered by the ablest of the crew—Mr Herries —at Hokitika the other day. Mr Herries said that the personnel of the Ministry is very weak. What he meant was that take out Sir Joseph and there is not a man left to say "Ho to a goose." The Opposition goose advanced to the fight in reliance of this maxim, after it had effectually interfered, to prevent its leader, Mr Massey, from going away to the Coronation. It might have been better for them to have done otherwise,, for every time ill* Massey has spoken he has put the fopt of the whole Opposition into it. Still, loyalty to chiefs is so great a tiling that we cannot criticise the Opposition for being faithful to its leader. We. can, on the contrarv. only thank Providence for a lovalty "which has played, into the Liberal hands so magnificently. If they could have sent Mr Allen away, also, it would have been better for their cause, for Mr Allen, , by attacking, the judicature, has alienated all hearts. Mr Herries would have done better singlehanded, for he always confines himself to business, and ever lias something practical to say, besides avoiding tiie prevailing epidemic (on the Tory side) of Tammanvism. Mr Herries did his work oh the West Coast as well as lie could have done, or as anyone could have done it. But the superior ability of this, champion only served to bring into "relief the barrenness of his causeHe ".wants an elective' Council, which is narrower" than the present, system, whatever. else it* may£ 'be. He urges subdivision .of- the- native ; titles per acre'' per man,! : and- as*'there is just enough land to go round among, the Maoris to the tune of 60 acres a head, Mr Herries' contention disposes of the whole case of"the Opposition for the im : mediate throwing open of the Maori lands. Bang goes that, plank. Another is local : government with "assured finance." for: the local -.bpdies—it is the revival of the old dream, of politics wheii -politicians ..were, young, innocent; and inexperienced.. The Opposition policy, then,, "according, to the ablest of the Oppositionists, is a pricked hubßle of native land.and an impossibly dream; of "the past. How tfonifortable it is to turn to the. campaign r.s conducte.. on the other side. On the other -the. idea of the Opposition that there is no-one fit to say "Bo to a goose ' is being, steadily refuted. Mr Mackenj zie, in "Taranaki. has justified the cx- ' penditure of the loan money easily, according to the best principles, and.

after justifying' tlie Liberal land policy, he lias established, satisfactorily the position that the reins of power ought to be in the hands of tlie men who have devised salutary reforms, not of the inen who opposed .them until they demonstrated' their own capacity for.good. Mr alilliir hiis 'giVeii iiit ' exposition of ■ finance' arid 1 railway platters; Which, leay.es the Opposition/ programme'.liigli. and dry ainpng;the things pfertainmg't'p tfie mists of mjjsty political. antiquity- .In r cidentiilly. he. sliows^that..-tlie.desire j;6r undemocratic managementj'of railways and civil services is uneconpniicair as well its unprincipled. Onj.Kis Jade Mr T.' Mackenzie has shown that the agriculture of the country is" rii "the Best, possible hands so.long as the present men are at the lieaid of tlie Agricultural Department, and Mr Buddo has thrown light dri' taxation' of land values' which lias not- biilj- astonished liis friends, b.u't taken the wiiid of. every sail of- .The campaign, we think,, is alt rjglit. '' '7