The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1907. A PREMIER ON SUFFERANCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13395, 19 September 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1907. A PREMIER ON SUFFERANCE.

Sir Joseph W;iril was quito candid in Iho statement he made in the Housj y-sterd'ay morning with lvferenco to .his position as he<id of the Government. Ho -stopped into the leadership of the House as the ■result of an accident of fate, and if there is a difference of opinion between himself and the members, of llw party who were elected to support) thu lute Mr Seddon, the right of appeal liw to the people. Theoretically, of course, an immediate dissolution would not necessarily follow a defeat of the present Government even on such a vital question of policy as its tariff proposalr:. The granting of a dissolution, as tha Premier reminded the Hons?, is tha prerogative of the King's representative, and no doubt his Excellency would exhaust all tha possibilities of Parliament before deciding to send members back to their constituents. Tha last Federal Parliament, afforded an example of the Governor's -leluctance to grant a dissolution even iii' tlus face of an apparent impossibility of s-seuring a stable adminjstrat-ioi]. Th? Premiership was held in turn by Mr Beakin, Mr Watson, Mr Reid, and again by Mr Deakin, all in -tli-3 short space of Hires years, the -evenly divided state of parties making it impossible for any of the three leaders to command a safo working majority. When Mr Watson found himself unable 'to carry on, he asked for a dissolution which was refused by the Governor-General. 1 The event proved that Lord Northcote was right in declining to aesume that Mr Watson's failure to secure sufficient support for his policy was an indication of the necessity for an appeal to the country. imagine that Sir Jasspli Ward would have met with the same 'experience if he had found it necessary to tender his resignation in order, as he said, to " maintain the traditions of liiis high offics." Hie resignation of the Ministry would not necessarily mean the dismissal ,of the for ae Mr Massey reminds d the Premier, it is one thing to ask for a dissolution, and another to get it b;fore all the possibilities of the House are exhausted. Howev-eT, none of these academic considerations are of much value in face of th? practical effect of Sir Joseph's declaration of his firm resolve not to be trodden upon by any membeua of his I partv who may have felt that the dt-ath of their late leader absolved them from the obligations of loyalty to tho now. We have not the slightest doubt that the loss'of their political protector involves the mer-a suggestion of a dissolution with untold terrors'- in the minds of quite a number of members of the present House, and to that extent some of them were, as Mr Massey said, ceercetl in the passage of the Tariff Bill. But both they and tho Premier will have to equare accounts with tils public when tho next election does occur, for numerous departures from the policy laid before the country by the late Premier in his last campaign. We can recollect nothing in Mr Seddon's speeches during that time which would warrant the deeper plunge into protection to which the new tariff commits the colony: on tha other hand wa do recollect that, reform, of the Legislative Council was promised; while Sir Joseph Ward lost little time in stuffing the Cliamber with a fresh lot of m-en mast of whom lacked even a local reputation. Again, where did Mr Seddon foreshadow, tha extortionate taxation on land propcoed in the Bill of which Sir Joseph Ward moved tlra second reading last evening? We sliall say nothing at present about Mr Millar's Arbitration Bill, but its reception by tlia Trades Councils of the colony is enough to show that its provisions are entirely novel and unexpected. In plain fact, the Ward Ministry and itn policy are both the creatures of chance, and have yet to justify themselves with tho electors.