[From Otago Daily Times.] TWO COUNTRY MEMBERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2205, 4 June 1896, Page 3

[From Otago Daily Times.] TWO COUNTRY MEMBERS.

Parliament is to meet in about a {fortnight, and it may be presumed tha long lisfc oi grc-sessional

speeches is almost concluded. We have dealt with the utterances of most of the Otago representatives, but a few i words remain to be said concerning the j members for Clutha and Waikouaiti — j Messrs Thomas Mackenzie and Geben. Both are politicians of .independent views, and we regard their opinions as, upon the whole, sound and sensible. Mr Mackenzie's powers of expression are very much above the average, and in the speech which he recently delivered at Balclutha he examined the political situation in a telling and effective fashion. We specially congratulate him upon his refusal to place his conscience in the keeping of prohibitionist faddists. As a matter of fact, he has been by no means back- | ward in furthering reasonable temperance reform, and the reflections cast upon his conduct by the Clutha Prohibition League were quite uncalled for. In connection with this matter Mr Mackenzie seems to have convicted the league and its secretary of discourtesy as well as unreasonableness. It remains to be seen whether the electors of Olutha will allow their member to suffer for his independence * and rightraindedness in regard to this question ; but unless the majority are utterly enslaved to faddism, — which we should be sorry to suppose, —Mr Mackenzie will bo honoured for frankly stating that "no on^ would prevent him from giving it as his emphatic opinion that prohibition in itself .is not equal to the total of all the other important subjects which have to be considered in Parliament, and he regretted to say that to prohibition at the last election was due the driving of some of New Zealand's ablest men from Parliament — men whose services' they could not afford to lose. And their places had been filled by men who were not worthy to unloose their shoe strings." It is one of the most ominous features of New Zealand politics at the present time that large numbers of men and women should be banded together for the purposes of subordinating all the interests of the country to a single nostrum, passionately entertained and incessantly advocated. In the Balclutha speech Mr Mackenzie dealt adequately with local topics, with the tariff question, Mr Waed's trip and finance, labour legislation, and a number of other matters. We are not altogether in accord with his opinions on the banking affair : "he blamed the Opposition for not standing out on this matter ; " and we think that he scarcely does justice to the enormous difficulties and responsibilities of- that trying situation. Mr Mackenzie holds that the country has had enough or more than enough labour legislation for the time being, and he strongly condemns the restriction of apprentices by the Shipping and Seamen's Act. "Instead of providing openings 'to boys who would be useful to the .country, our ships were manned by coloured labour," and he suggested that, so far from shipping companies being prevented from employing boys, they should be compelled tp turn out so many seamen every year. A pure administration and a sound finance are, as , the member for the Clutha says, the ' chief • needs of the country at the present time, and the electors of that constituency will hare no excuse for ignorance regarding the improper administration of the Seddon Government and the utterly unsound methods of finance which Mr Ward has impoised upon Parliament and the country. Tor the Balclutha speech was only oas of many delivered in. di#c-

rent parts of tho district, and we are glad to observe that Mr Mackenzie appears to have been generally well received. Wo propose to quote one more passage from this particular address — a passage which does credit alike to the speaker's intelligence and courage : " They would ask What of the future ? Well, he would say elect members of honesty, integrity, and ability, and free from tads. They had had the Protection fad in 1887, the Labour fad in 1890, and the prohibition question in 1893. The people should send to Parliament able and capable men, not men on behalf of any one idea — men who could be relied on in every emergency. It was easy to fulfil a few election pledges, but worthless men might commit the country to millions afterwards through their incapacity or cupidity. • Men had been sent to Parliament who had voted away their rights and privileges for less than Esau sold his birthright — privileges and rights that had been obtained at the life's blood of some of their noblest of men

• ♦ • • For himself, he might lose his seat next election, but he would stick to ■what he believed honest and for the best interests of the colony." We can only hope that the electors, when their opportunity comes, will display an equal measure of sagacity and independence. Mr Mackenzie is a member with whom any constituency might well be satisfied, and his parliamentary record, since his first election in 1887, has been of a thoroughly satisfactory kind, doing him no small amount of credit.

• Mr James Gteebn has also been industriously engaged in taking his constituents into his confidence as regards the political questions of the day, and his speech at Waikouaiti (reported in our issue of Tuesday) was in many respects an excellent performance. He is sound (according to our view) on the subject of party government, and no one can have been surprised to hear that the experiences of last session made him more dissatisfied than ever with the existing system. He gave his constituents some interesting examples of the insincerity of members of the Government in connection with the work of legislation, and his critical examination of Mr Wabd's much extolled financial feats was calculated to enlighten any Ministerialists who may have been among the audience, — if, indeed, Ministerialists aro open to enlightenment. There were two specially effective passages in Mr Green's speech. One was that in which he showed how little credit the Government could legitimately claim in respect to the Midland railway affair. In 1894 the Government tried to induce Parliament to sanction further concessions to the Midland Railway Company,, and eventually the Arbitration Court " said exactly what the majority in 1894 said — that it was the company who were at fault." No doubt, the colony is to be congratulated on the result of the arbitration, but not the Government, in so far as congratulation implies praise. The other telling passage was that in which Mr Geeen examined the assertion that the initiation of liberal land laws has been specially the work of the present Government. "If they went into this matter they would find that the Government were not the originators of these systems at all. I'or instance, Mr Donald Reid, sen., was the author of the agricultural lease system and the deferred payment system. The Hon. Mr Kolleston gave them the perpetual lease system ■with, gowoe

to purchase within a limited time, and he also inaugurated village settlements." But these are facts which Ministers and their faithful supporters choose to ignore. If we do not discuss the other matters treated by Mr Geeeit, it is because we have dealt with them on so many previous occasions, — not that he acted unwisely in bringing them before the attention of his constituents. Without being showy or pretentious, Mr Gi^een is a useful and capable member of Parliament, and the electors of Waikouaiti may be expected to recognise this fact at the general election. .