OPPOSITION TACTICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5519, 20 March 1896, Page 1

OPPOSITION TACTICS.

(From the Lyttelton Times.) Some o£ the political and personal friends of the Premier and the Minister of Lands are inclined to think that these gentlemen have recently given rather too much prominence to the attacks that have been made upon them by the subsidised section or' the Opposition Press. But it should be remembered that they have received more than ordinary provocation, and that in defending their own policy and administration ; they are really defending the credit and good name of the colony. The Conservatives have not stopped at maligning Ministers; they have persistently decried the colony its.elf, and have gloated over any incident that seemed to give the slightest colour to their malicious inventions. The Bank of New Zealand's troubles, the Midland Kail way dispute, the severe winter and the declining birth - rate were all in turn laid to the charge of the Liberal Government ; and by constantly repeating their accusations up and down the country, the Opposition newspapers have, no doubt, managed to persuade a certain number of their readers that Mr Seddon and his colleagues are responsible for the blunders of bank managers and railway directors, as well as for the inclement weather and the lessened fecundity of the people. Perhaps the Premier and the Minister of Lands take this sort of thing a little too seriously, but while the Conservatives are spending thousands of pounds in defaming the members of. the Cabinet, we cannot find any serious fault with the spirited retorts that occasionally come from the objects of their attacks. It is scarcely fair, however, to conclude, as Mr Seddon and Mr M'Kenzie appear to have done, that- the whole of the Conservative newspapers . are maintained for the most contemptible party purposes. We have no wish to make invidious distinctions, but if any Christchurch elector who takes an interest in this subject will turn to the files of the Dunedin newspapers lyinff in the Public Library, he will find that there are still Conservative journalists who are generous enough to recognise the merits and applaud the achievements of their political opponents. It is unfortunate, of course, that a few hundred capitalists, whose interests are not always, to put it very mildly, the interests of the great majority of the people, should employ their wealth in disseminating falsehood and slander, but while political parties exist we shallalways have this travesty of the "liberty of the Press." It is remotely possible that the time may arriv.e when parties may bo abolished from newspapers as well as from G-overnments, but for the present, and probably for many years to come, the public will have to make the best' they can of a system that falls a good deal short of perfection.