POLITICAL CONVERSION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3033, 1 May 1912, Page 30

POLITICAL CONVERSION.

MINISTERIAL VACILLATION. AUCKLAND, April 26. A somewhat remarkable feature of the speeches delivered in various parts of this province during the past week by the Prime Minister and the Hons. Myers and Russell is their unanimous chorus as to the necessity for the inauguration of the Reforms wliioh the Reform party fought so hard for at the last election, and which were resisted to the uttermost and denounced by the Ward Cabinet. This fact is at once a tribute to the statesmanlike policy of Mr Massey and a vote of censure on the last Cabinet. W© must have the Crown and Native lands opened up and the railways and roads pushed ahead, says Mr Myers. We must have a shake-up in the civil service, and we must get the beet surveyors and pay them adequate salaries and get the land opened, said Mr Mackenzie. What the country wants is speedy development, prudent finance and economical borrowing, said Mr Russell. What more complete adoption of some of the planks the Opposition had urged so long could be hoped for, and if the Independents and the pledge-breakers who voted against Mr Massey and that policy now vote for Mr Mackenzie and the same policy, where do they stand? Mr Myers’s happy agreement with the deputation urging the railway reforms that Mr Millar so repeatedly declared unnecessary and extravagant waste of money, Mr Mackenzie’s cheerful adoption of the Opposition’s land policy, and Mr Russell’s annexation of the Opposition’s finance arguments surely constitute a scathing reply to the fireworks of the Ward party’s exit from office. In fact,. Auckland has been treated to the richest bit of political comic opera in its history. The only logical conclusion is that the three Ministers should resign and contest their seats again as converts to the Reform party. Mr Massey is expected to deliver a big political speech here before the session, and when he starts to deal with the converted Ministry he should have some good political fun at their expense. The crowning attempt to sweeten Auckland came last night. At the reception to Mr Myers, Mr Russell said, “ We are delighted with the progress you arc making. We watched not with jealousy but with pride the magnificent strides your city has made in recent years. We recognise that in Auckland there is the Sydney of New Zealand.” This sentiment was eclipsed by the eulogy of the Hon. Thos. Mackenzie, who likened Auckland to Jerusalem of qld : “ beautiful her situation, the joy of the whole earth.”