The Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1893. The Coming Elections.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4740, 4 September 1893, Page 2

The Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1893. The Coming Elections.

The Conservative party is making tremen- < i dous efforts to recover, at the coming : elections, the position from which it was hurled at those of 1890. The tactics ' adopted by it are, speaking roughly, of two kinda, spreading panic and sowing dissension. The columns of Tory newEpapers, and the speeches of Tory politicians teem wioh prognostications of the woe3 which • will, they assert, be brought upon the ! country, especially upon the working ' classes, by the "experimental legislation," • aufl the " interference with private enter- j prise " of the Liberals. They aleo proclaim ; loudly that the Libeial party is disunited, j split up into factions following various ; leaders, or advocating some special " fad," ! and utterly irreconcilable. What policy ia ! to 1)b substituted for that of the Liberals we are not told. The Conservatives believe that the less "government" we have the better, so probably they hold thai, if they get into power, all they need do is to allow things to take their own course after the present " vexatious restrictions on private enterprise" have been { removed. In other words, the country i will be handed over to the tender mercies of the wealthy, who will be allowed to increase their fortunes without being hampered by legislation conceived in the interests- of other classes, and without being called upon to pay for the special privileges and benefits a considerate country will bestow on them. The Tories ; will, of course, deny that this is their object, but the history of this and other countries proves that it is so. The main cause of the Tory hatred of. the present Government is that it has v-cmtured to legislate with the direct ; object of advancing the interests of the ; working classes, even where tho3e interests | conflicted with those of the employer, } the merchant or the landowner. In the j paet "private enterprise" was allowed full | acopß ; and the wealthy and powerful ; had consequently a much better chance ; than the poor and weak. Not only ' were they allowed to push the latter to the [ wall, but the tendency of most of the ' legislation of the day was in their favour. i The present Government is making an t eif ort to reverse this stats of thing?, and to prevent the weik from going to the wall, even if by so doing it should | somewhat hinder the arrogant progress of j the strong. This is its unpardonable sin J iu Tory eyes, and, therefore, do Tory I journalists and politicians rage. Should j their party regain power -we may look for { a return of the old state of things, of the iule of laissez faire ; and the results will be depression and distress, worse than anything we have eean for years. It is idle to assert that such troubles as we are at present suffering from, are the effect of "Radical notions." They began before the " Eadicab " came into power, and rhey are the result of long years of unrestricted "private enterprise" and laissez faire. It is for the electors to say whether they will return to power the men who are not willing to allow certain classes of the community to monopolise all the good things; or whether, by splitting their votes on side issues, or in any other manner, they will again hand over the Colony to those who, in the past, ruled it in the interests of wealth.