The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1919. THE LABOUR PARTY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16882, 1 August 1919, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1919. THE LABOUR PARTY.

We aro sure that, if anyone could win over a majority oi the people oi IS ew Zealand to become supporters of tlie Labour Party, it would' be tkc.Hoh.-ffi-Paui. Persuasion is ;v his , ioi'te. ■' Not from him do the wild statements come \Vliich, though they may atiract apprise when they, are uttered m the" mind-paralysing heat ot oratory, make sane men, reading- them iri bold print afterwards, bonder why the Labour Party as at present constituted will be its own worst enemy. II his nahic . jippears with others upon* manifestoes and appeals so contrary to the general interest that "tiieyv, cause a shock to run .throughout nine-tenths ot the community, .its appearance on them seems so out of keeping with his general demeanour that 'one' might almost think it had got', there by s'oiiic accident; "All but the Labour Party had been tried and found wanting-, and this year, ' if the peo/ple were wise, they would put Labour into its own." vSo Jill 1 Paul pleaded at the political, meeting- held in; Ti- : maru on Wednesday night, as .part of the assiduous campaign which his parly have been making, for'the last twelve months, while all others have been debarred from electioneering-. On the face of it, what could be more insinuating-? But advice that seems plausible at" tlie first may bear a different abearance -when riiore thought is given to it. Have the other parties sp entirely wanting- ? , The 'electors of ZsVw Zealand did hot think so at the elections held in the: first months of the war. The complaint against them now is that,- during- four years in which INTew Zealand, in common with the remainder of tlie.Empire, .haa been fighting- for its life, they have failed in various matters of domestic legislation and administration. It would »be foolish to contend that the Coaiition Government has not often been weak and procrastinating' where domestic circumstances called for piron <r and instant action. Domestic. legislation is in arrears. But the Coalition Government, required for war time, never could be suitable for the conduct of large: measures of domestic policy. and something- must he necJected bv n man who' is fisrhtinp- for liis life. If the Labour Party, iir Paul" states, had been assisted to get domestic legislation duiiug- war-time, the domestic affairs oi the dominion "would not have "gone to pot' as they had. done.' 5 JLJut then the Laboiu Party would have lost the Avar. Would the country be any better off, paying- indemnities to tier, many,' wiiii its domestic leg-isia-tion tor alf future • time such a s the .Kaiser's Government, might to it, than'it is to-day witu ireedom and independence, 'with at least a shadowy chance, hateful still to the Labour Party, of receiving- some indemnities, and with, it can be owned, too many profiteers? .. We.are used to being- told that 1 tlie Labour I'aiiy must be judged by its platform, and one part of that platform, its land supposed to form the special suoi ject of Mr Paul's 'address. With its divisions of 1, 2, and 3, and its subdivisions of a, b. to e, and its sub-subdivisions of 1, 2 again, it is all as clear as some algebraic formula.'• The land policy which is required for the dominion will never be expressed in forty lines. It is easier to speak of a division between personallyearned and community-earned fruits of the farmer than to make it. Il is natural to think that, in all OiKses of doubt, the division would .«■» hard for the farmer at ■the hands of this' town party. Hi!t if tlie entire policy of ilio < Labour Party were much belter

than it is tlic electors have more than to consider. Policies can be altered, at any time, and we have been told how? ' 'tli e Labour Party believed that they should gradually " w'l ' y their aims. s! The..men who would have charg-e of policies have also to be considered, since one does not trust prudent more than reckless charges to irresponsible men. Can the men who never dreamed that the nation was in danger dm'in- five years of war be accounted safe controllers for the future The Labour Party, we are told; have "at least two leaders Mr Paul, no doubt, was meant as one. Strange thar., ; even in the Legislative Council, during so many yeai's, amiabilit? i should have been his chief charj acter. Who the other may be i Ave would not dare to conjecture, but we fear that what !New Zealand needs is another Labour Party, whose controlling infla - ences will different frontlhe present. Such a party mlgi-S have good hopes' to sweep the polls at the next election.