The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1911.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10956, 22 December 1911, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1911.

We have already spoken of the loss of

Mr Duncan and of Sir The Fallen. John Findlav. A few^

others call for sympathetic note. Foremost stands Mr Hogg, of the loud voice and the uncompromising temperament. Entering the House in 1891, ho made his presence known at once by hailing the maintop. In other words, he made his mark by his mighty voice, and the Parliamentary wits used to chaff him in some such fashion. It was voiced ever on the side of the Liberal creed, and always at deepest pitch of black denunciation of land monopolies. Year in and year out he served the State in loud fashion. There was never any doubt on what sido he was thinking. A journalist, like so many who have achieved Parliamentary honors, he had a straight, breezy style, very refreshing in days when to be uncompromising was to be thought a firebrand, provided your obstinacy was not Conservative. In that case, of course, you were a Napoleonic hero. Ultimately, after many years, the roaring voice of the uncompromising one was heard on the Government benches. There, however, it forgot to learn discipline, and eventually the man who owned it bad to return to the scats of the private members. Up to that time he was unassailable. But a few months ago, the Liberal sentiment weakening for some reason or other, his friends diminished in number, and the second ballot the other day saw him rejected. The moral is that the democracy does not always thiiik consistently. Rough he was, but the truth is incontestable that he was one of the democracy's very best servants. It will, take him some little time to get over the sense of injustice which, under such circumstances, is always the lot of the good servant, but after that ho will be eligible once more for the public service, and lie will not be forgotten. Mr Arnold was another good servant of the democracy. He had a soft voico and an uncompromising spirit, as the episode of the public enquiry showed very abundantly. The march of opinion had its effect on him after he had been in harness a few years. Whereas when he began his service he was at one with, all, as time went on the "all" began to draw asunder, and it became increasingly difficult to keep touch with the rapidly widening sections. The result was a certain amount of indecision, which the practical hard-headed folk of the political world term "wobbling." That being the unpardonable crime in politics, Mr Arnold finds himself in the cold. His fate is a sign of the division which has set in, and is destined to prove the main separating power of tho parties of the future. In fact, that must be set down as one of the causes of the present very unexpected disruption. In this respect the fate of Mr Arnold,' faithful servant of the democracy as he is, is typical. Mr Fowlds owes his fate to the position he made for himself by his resignation. To secede from a threatened Government on the eve of an election is a course which can only be justified by the gravest reasons. To follow up that resignation with statements that look like cryptic condemnation of former colleagues, and to continue with references to a new evangel, which is carefully kept out of sight through' the ensuing elections, points to the absence of any reasons graver than a desire for the reversion of the leadership of the party in case of accident to the chief. We are far from suggesting that Mr Fowlds is to be so judged. But the fact that ho was so judged by enough among his constituents to ensure his rejection at the polls seems incontrovertible. Had Mr Fowlds remained in the Cabinet he would have been elected for Grey Lynn. He ought to have remained, and that ■for many reasons. .Messrs Jennings and Field were both good Liberals, but they were of the freehold touch, which is one of the things which will not be found in the Liberalism of to-morrow. That was mentioned by more than one candidate at the elections as sure to be the main feature of the'political future. The attachment to the freehold as a right is a survival of the' ancient Conservatism which has been dying throughout the career of the Liberal'party during the last 21 years. To-day it is far more difficult to find a place for it among the Liberals.than it was ever before. Soon there will not be a. freeholder within sight of the Liberal party. It is true that -Mr Jennings has been replaced by a freehold Conservative, while Mr. Field has had to give way to a Socialist leaseholder. But the offence of both was indecision produced by the freehold cult. They "wobbled" on occasion, and the electors wiped them out. Mr M'Laren's defeat at the hands of a Conservative of the shallowest water was a piece of bad fortune, to be traced solely to the Ministerial error of judgment in placing' the Government brand on a third candidate. Mr Bolton was a person of- no political account; Mr

M'Laren was. He Lad, moreover, won golden opinions during the three years of the last Parliament for straight-for-ward conduct and clearness of vision, as well as true Liberalism, which, without being pledged to any party, always may be relied on to support Liberalism when there is any danger to the Liberal cause. As a candidate of declared independence, he was good enough to have been left alone by the Government, whose resources and prestige could have gone to him with a clear conscience. The raising of the unsuitable Mr Bolton to the position of Ministerial candidate proved useless to him and fatal to the Independent Labor man. An improving man, honest, thorough, and able, we hope Mr M'Laren will be again available.

The state of parties is now fairly clear,

for the Maori elections The Course of are over and the results Duty. .' • sufficiently to the front to make certain of the political equilibrium. There are two Maoris certain Ministerialists, and one an Independent—Dr Pomare —who, being a member of the Young Maori party —the most prominent and useful after Mr Ngata—may be relied on to vote for the Government rather than the Opposition, which is roaring for the lands of the Maori at any price. Thus there are 37 apiece to the Government and Opposition, leaving the issue in the hands of the two Independents, three Labor, and one Socialist. One member must be taken out of the count by reason of the Speakership. Assuming Sir A. Guinness to bo elected, the Government must have four of the six specially classed to have a majority. In any event neither side on the present paper showing can claim a majority. The Opposition are writing and talking much nonsense about the emancipation of the country and the enormously decisive victory of the party of 36 per cent, of the voters, and such fustian. But the paper showing is decisively favorable to neither side at present. It is the duty of the Government, which cannot be subjected to the sneer of holding office for office sake —to place the matter in the hands of the Legislature. Parliament ought to be called together some time in January or February to decide whether the reality of the paper show is equal to its import. The possibly governing feature of the position is the fact that dissolution occupies a prominent position in the possibilities of the immediate future.