PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1886.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7193, 11 October 1886, Page 2

PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1886.

There was a time when statesmanship did not require any special ability. Foreign affairs only required skill or reputed skill in their management, and it "was thought if the balance of power abroad was only properly maintained, England might sleep in peace. As a matter of fact the balance of power was constantly perturbed, notwithstanding the nicest and most delicate diplomacy. Then John Bull went in for a little hard hitting till the balance was restored by much blood- . letting and loss of money. Home affairs did not, as a rule, trouble our statesmen of old over much. Every man was supposed to be placed in a specific situation in life by Providence, and it was his duty to make the best of it with as little grumbling as possible. When called on by his pastors and masters to uphold to the death those dual divinities the Church and State as essential to the stable condition of all earthly things, he was expected to do it. The old landmarks are now being effectually rubbed out. People will not occupy their assigned positions. The question is asked by Hodge, " Who haß made thee a ruler over us ? " ; and the squire fails to, give a satisfactory answer. The masses are getting just sufficient knowledge to make them dangerous, and consequently claim the right of equality. As a matter of fact men are not born equal. A large percentage of those who are born into the world never rise above the dead level of mediocrity. There is, however, a remnant who rise intellectually above tho masses, who become the natural leaders and instructors of those who toil hopeleeely below them. The masses are not, however, intelligent enough yet to aooept the fact that men are not born equal, and that therefore all cannot ocoupy exaotly the same plane of social or intellectual rank. In the meantime with a diffused education oi a primary eorfc a seething dissatisfaction with the existing condition of things is felt. All wish to seoure the so called good things of life, and, rb

(money is supposed to be the key that opens all things , which most people desire as necessary to their happiness, a new standard of Avorth is oreated, and the possession of money is beginning to be looked on as a' virtue of the most exalted kind. There is, therefore,' a universal- -desire to seoure money, by means which, in , former times, vjjoulcThave. been called unworthy, but which now are looked ' cm as "smart" "Fiisiness " transactions^' There is also a widespread feeling that by some means or other not yet disclosed, by a happy inspiration of some prophetic politician, a kind of universal equality will reign, so far as money or property.ia concerned. How this is to be done is yet a question for the future ; but a large number of people believe that the wealth that exists will be distributed on some equitable basis — the equity consisting in abstracting it' from the rich and giving it to the poor. Land being the •very basis of all .wealth, and the very root of human existence, is the first article of property to be dealt with. The nationalisation of the landt means the cutting of it up into smalliots for those who ,;have none. To a large number of minds, this, it would 'seem, is the rough translation of the phrase. In a few years the land question will in the United Kingdom have become i a matter for grave consideration. Ireland, ,! started it, the Highland crofters then took up the cry } and now the ancient Britons, in Wales, are deep into it. Soon England will have the whole question at her fingers' ends. New political problems are being propounded* and the' statesmen of England will have to solve them, or they will find the three million voters who have been added to the roll lately a very troublesome lot to deal with. The situation is ' becoming perplexing to many. With an agricultural and manufacturing depression existing, with millions wanting food, and led or misled by reckless men, we fear that the Government which depends for its existence on the electors'; votes, will ■ not have the courage to do the right thing at the right ! time. Statesmen nowadays have td deal with questions for which political economists have no solution ready, and difficulties accordingly arise which . cannot be grappled with by any known social laws or eoonomio' formula. All that political parties appear to be capable of doing is to blame each other for their utter incompetency to deal with the difficulties which surround them. In the colonies statesmanship consists in borrowing money and expending : it .judiciously to enable the party to keep office. In England they would be glad to find such an easy solution of the difficulty. In the colonies the complex questions which at present^ harass the British Ministry have not yet arisen to the surface. 'Our population is not dense enough, and money cures every evil, for are not our greatest evils bad roads. In England it is another matter. There gaunt poverty in his lair is ready to fly up and grasp the throat of capital till he has wrung from it what he considers his share of the spoil, and civilisation looks on helpless and impotent. What the outcome of it all will be, time alone can reveal. s