THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12865, 25 May 1905, Page 8

THE GENERAL ELECTION.

To the Editor,.

Sir,— Your correspondent "A Town Eiector,y writing on the approaching election, thinks it is time to consider the position, if we are satisfied with our present member we will return him again as our representative. It is not a question of Smith, Jones, or ltobinson ; if the three are Seddonitesthe intelligent farmers of the Taranaki constituency, or any other farming- constituency, will vote' dead against any candidate tainted with Seddonism. I fancy I hear the member for Taranaki when he sees this exclaim, " Oh, the wretch, how ungrateful some people are'; did not the Premier *v iro'duca the; cheap money scheme 1 *to give the) farmers cheap money.;' Vie have this trotted out every election time 4 but this Bcheme emanated 1 not from ibhe fertile brain of the Premier. He is continually flaunting before us how he has delivered the struggling settler from the grip of the colonial money-lender, but he conveniently forgets to inform the same class of setlers that through his instrumentality and those of his servile followers, they have been given over to ihe tender mercies of the mob or mob rule. As the Seddon Government has declared that the farming interest shall be tenants only of the soil, the occupier, either through Maori Councils, or that tenure which is subject to the whim or caprice of the c^y demagogue, who is leader of the mob, and through him their wishes are made known to the Premier, who, we are persuaded, would through his servile crowd in the House have no hesitation in putting on another turn of the screw on their poor tenantry, notwithstanding the present statutory documents to the contrary. The" Parliament of the day, and at the time it was considered right by them to draw a little more blood, would have no compunction in annulling the agreements previously entered into. Eealising that Parliament is supreme for the time being and sufficient tor the day is the evil thereof, many will be inclined to at present disagree with sentiments' of (this kind, but) the longer we live and mix in the world and take cognisance of ihe trend of human thought the more \rascality is observable in human nature. ; As the four members for Taranaki, Clifton, Egmont, and \Patea are all Seddonites, men he can depend on in any emergency, however unjust the cause, these gentlemen, the majority of them, after having given written pledges to the Farmers' Union that they would support the demand for the freehold made by the Leader of the Opposition on behali of the tenants, chose to break that pledge and support the Premier in the appointment of his scheme of a Commission to investigate matters, m«n, the majority of them, whose sympathies are fbr ensjljavingi (the jAUera of the soil, men trom the towns, in some cases leading members of Trades Unionism, to wit, Watson of Dunedin. Well, the intelligent of the farmers in the constituencies named must be proud of \he action of those members who belong to the gather' cms, t their chief concern is to gather the £300 yearly, which is filched from the industrious portion of the population. These people belong to the Seddon crowd by the army of co-operatives, gathered from the four corners of the 'colony, men, a large majority of them the less said tho better. Anothoi large section for which/ the industrious primary producers have to provide for is the huge army of officials caused by the extravagance and maladministration of the present Government, bring to mind an old proverb, "Put foeggars on horseback — things don't gee well." There is one*Tseparitmen't proverbial ior its extortion, the Valuation Department. And how well that extortion is maintained ! First comes extortioner No. 1, aimed with authority from the boss extortioner. There is ostensibly constituted a Court of Appeal by a Court of A»sessors, but as the Courts are at piesearS constituted the chances of redress are small indeed, which experience has taught us is only too true. From what I can learn the Department will have a lively time here, but they can stand all thai. The donkeys will have to carry the burden jmposed by tyranny, tyranny of our own forging, and it serves us right for being such fools. About November the same donkeys will be blowing their horn for Seddon and Co. for all they are able. Poor fools, when will they learn wisdom '. — I am, &c, A KICKING DONKEY.