The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1892.

Timaru Herald, Volume LV, Issue 5518, 21 September 1892, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1892.

We have read with much interest a report of the meeting of the National Association which was held at Napier last month. An address by Mr F. S. H'Lean was especially worthy of notice, for it set out fully and with great force what tho programme of tbe Association m. We agree with a very large proportion of what Mr M'Lean said, and unless we are much mistaken the Association will take root and flourish not only m Napier but all over the colony. Some such rallying point is wanted for true Liberalism m New Zealand, for tbe friends of the sham article are loud and persistent, and are doing a vast amount of mischief. Mr M'Lean told his hearers that " what tbe National Association aimed at was to induce every elector throughout tho colony to devote some of his attention to tbe welfare of others. In short their programme called upon them to ask this question, 'What is it we should do, not only m the interests of business, but m tbe interests of humanity ?' There was no reason why they should be quarrelling and disputing over queations of politics m the ordinary sense, because they had only to take a business-like view of the little country- and the few people they bad to manage, to do tbe best with that, What they wanted was a little prndence, a little knowledge of business, a little of the " milk of human kindness," and a little love for tbe country of their adoption. He submitted these were the aims of tbe National Association of New Zealand, and it was because they had feelings that there were serious attempts being made to destroy all — or at all events most— of these qualities that they saw there was danger to the State. The object of the platform of this association was to encourage these qualities, and it whs because of that object tbut be was there that night." He contended that discussions m tbe newspapers and at public meetings showed that there was a widespread feeling that the views wbicb were being pressed upon tbe electors were hostile to tbe interests of commerce, finance, and industry. He particularly noticed tbe setting of claBS against class — tbe attempt to make the wage-earner believe that tbe man who employs him is his natural enemy. Again, he asserted, these same false teachers held that the man who paid rent to the man who owned the land ought to look upon tbe landowner as a robber, and that the man who had to pay interest to tbo man who lent money ought to look upon tbe latter as little ]esa than a monster. "He emphatically stated that this tendency was prevalent, and some politicians were persistently teaching the people to look upon the pmployer, landowner, and capitalist, as first to be distrusted, then to be irijured, and then to be obliterated. The object of the politicians who taught these views were for purposes which were unworthy of them — to excite mutual distrust between the industrial classes on tbe one hand, and tbe landlords, capitalists, and employers on tbe other.'' We regard these statements an to a considerable section of tbe New Zealand sham-Liberals making it their business to Bet class against class, as absolutely true. It would be unnecessary to go far from home to find instances. Tbo thing is so palpably plain, that we cannot understand a denial of it being made m good faith by an intelligent man. The National Association of New Zealand desires to do all m its power to counteract these baneful influences ; to encourage the exercise of industry, thrift, and self-denial ; to promote agricultural, mining, commercial^ and manufacturing enterprise, by removing all unnecessary obstacles to their development ; and to promote tbe due registration' of Parliamentary electors, and the return of tbe best men available. We shall quote just one. more paragraph from Mr M'Lean's address, because it seems to us to contain teaching which is peculiarly fitting to tbe present time iv this colony. He said: — "Their fourth platform was to promote reforms economic, legislative, and constitutional ; and tbe fifth was to promote sound political economy and to oppose class legislation and all undue interference with rindividual rights and liberty. They had at the present time a tax known as tbe land tax. That tax was not a land tax. It was called a land tax through ignorance of political economy, and the Legislature bad applied it to the system they now had. Talking of imposing a land tax upon improvements was doing something very much like putting a tax upon s'bap and saying it was a tax upon cheese. The whole object which political economists from the earliest days preached was that a land tax was to encourage improvement : at least that was tbe main object. When they diminished improvements they diminishedemployment, and when employment was diminished wages were lowered, and it was said so m political economy, that the higher tbe iuterest and taxes that affect tbe land, the lower must the wages be. He contended that tbe present tax was misapplied." We have by no means done full justice to the address, but , we have called attention to some of its leading features. We are satisfied that the Association is entering on a course of usefulness, and we are glad to see that some of our contemporaries share heartily inthat opinion.