POLITICAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5570, 20 May 1896, Page 4

POLITICAL NOTES.

♦— The Tory heathen may rage, says the Oamaru Mail, but socialistic ideas, are taking firm root in Australasia, whatever may be the case elsewhere. In concluding a recent address to his constituents, Mr J. G. Wilson said private affairs might compel him to retire from the next political contest. There was no political reason connected with this — simply a private one. There is weeping already, according 'to the Napier News, over the . fate of the National Conservative Association. Despite every effort to infuse life into .the movement, it is already at a standstill. The National Association as'a political power is a hopeless failure. It is no use , trying .to make the people follow leaders who in the past have been so selfish and cold-blooded. And "in vain is the fowler's net spread in the presence of ihe birdl" Thos'the Pelorus Guardian :— ln spite of all the bitter tirades against the Government, we now find everything on the upward grade. None of the .wild, reckless prophecies made by the Opposition have come to pass, but have disappeared "like mist before the morning sun," and if the Liberal Party will only be true to themselves and the" country j we can safely assert that the next elections will be the strongest protest against party government ever given, because there willbe only one party left to govern the country. "Mr Seddon is a man with a masterful mind," said Mr J. G. Wilson during his address at Shannon on Monday night. Since the announcement cf a surplus, the Opposition have (says the Nelson Star) had to back down on all their statements as to j a falling revenue. Almost every serious point raised has been dropped, and the political situation now is a personal scramble for office. • __ _— — Two of the places Captain Eussell was beguiled by the National Association into speaking at during his recent visit to Auckland — Waiuku and Pukehohe — only managed to muster half a hundred people each, and yet (says the Manawatn Standard) the Opposition papers would make the people believe the Captain's visit created quite a furore. As to the future, says the Colonist, Captain Eussell, though apparently he disagrees with the Liberal policy, pledged himself not to reverse what he would call the Seddonian legislation, and yet,- by inference, he pleaded to be. taken into favour, although he pictured himself as\ being ignominiously thrown aside at the very earliest opportunity. A more sorry spectacle' 'a leader could scarcely have ' presented. " . The Neio Zealand Times, commenting on '. the census returns, says there is not enough outlet for the. young men of Canterbury as they grow up. Canterbury could easily carry a million of people, and something over 120,000 is too large for the Canterbury capacity. Could there be stronger proof of the folly of the legislation which permitted land monopoly to ruin a grand district, or of the vital necessity for the legislation which seeks to enable that' grand district to carry out its agricultural destiny by resuming monopolised estates for profitable settlement ? That brightly-written paper, the Waikato Advocate, neatly exposes the very transparent humbug of the loud protestations of "true Liberalism" now being made by the Conservatives. The Conservatives, says the Advocate; have subscribed freely to the policy of the present Government so far as it has gone, and alfect to shy only at the instalments yet to come. When these new instalments have received the approval of the people, as of course they will, the Conservatives will swallow the extra dose without making a grimace over it. There is a growing spirit of dissension in the Conservative camp in Napier, says the jVetcs. Quite a number of the ultraConservative wing have declared that they will not support Mr Douglas M'Lean's candidature, and we should not be surprised to learn that Mr E. D. D. M'Lean has been retired in favour of Mr P. S. M'Lean. The latter is said to command the confidence of the Conservative Party as a whole, and we have no hesitation in saying that he would be a very much more formidable opponent than Mr Douglas M'Lean. The following reassuring .statement is

from a leading article in the Hawke's Bay Herald, one of the most Conservative organs :— " In some matters the socialist element in the French Chamber of .Deputies is so advanced that even in their most haruni-scarum moments Mr Seddon and his followers become in comparison hoary-headed old Tories." One gets tired, says the Nelson Star, of the endless quibbles raised to damage the Government. The turn of a phrase as to what Mr Ward said or did not say when in London has been done to death. Then Sir Robert Stout makes an alarming statement about the banking legislation and withdraws it in the next breath, but still leaves behind a nasty residuum of doubt in the minds of his hearers. These tactics of building a supposition" on a supposition are to be condemned. After reviewing the circumstances iinder which legislation specially affecting the present leader of the Opposition was passed, the Napier News concludes : — " We leave it to readers to judge if the Russell Land Bill was not a gross act. of injustice, a piece of supreme nepotism, and the result of political corruption.. No such evidence of wrong-doing can be brought against any member of the present Ministry, for despite the apologies of the Opposition Press we can say a great wrong was done to the people by the filching from them of a portion of the public estate. It is so very easy to prate about purity, political chastity, blameless lives, and all the rest ; but it is well to remember sometimes that there are records available from which damning truths can be produced." The Premiers latest sin, in the judgment of his Conservative censors, is that he dresses respectably. Says the Wairarapa Daily Times : — " The eternal fitness of things demands that Mr Se&don and Captain Russell should exchange clothes. We grieve to see Mr Seddon, the man of the people, attired in fine raiment, with fashionable silk, hat, broadcloth frock coat, wearing an expensive shirt and adorned with a heavy gold chains ; and we are hurt to find Captain Russell, the man not of the people, going about Masterton in an old tweed suit which could not be pledged for a pound at any pawnshop in the colony." > The Napier Neivs thinks that "for very shame's sake the Conservative leaders and writers' on Conservative newspapers should hide their heads at the bare mention of the name of the Bank of New Zealand." Says the Southland News:— Mr Seddon is neither politically nor privately in league with any foreign speculators, but, on the other hand, is, as a patriotic public man, doing everything that can legitimately be done to forward mining enterprise in New Zealand. An educated people cannot (says the Nelson Star) accept barren criticisms as conveying any right for election to office, and an Opposition to command support must have more backbone than the present one. .To let things remain as they are, and some vague plea for purity of administration,' represents a poor platform from which to seek the suffrages of the electors. Mr Richardson, besides committing the sin of propounding a policy for in Opposition that deems such a thing a troublesome encumbrance, has (remarks the ! Oamaru Mail) actually had the temerity to say a good word for the advances to settlers scheme, which has* the violent antipathy of Captain Russell and all the "National" Ass.'s in the colony. Poor Mr Richardson! He has the misfortune to have .a policy — a disqualifying condition in the eyes of the Opposition — and he has made the fatal mistake of giving publicity to his policy instead of purging his political soul in secret for such a sin. Commenting on the South Australian elections, the Sydney Bulletin remarks that "the only visible result so far is that the democratic vote is distinctly stronger, and the National Ass has 'fallen with a great fall, and there are signs of greater stability in South Australian politics than that province has yet exhibited." " Nonsense ! Nonsense ! Humbug ! " This splendid example of Conservative criticism is from Captain Russell's description of the policy of the present Government, given at Greytown. • The Sydney Bulletfn has been devoting a good deal of interest to New Zealand politics of lalje, and said in a recent issue : — "Nearly everything that hard, unmitigated lying and slander can do to overset the New Zealand democratic Ministry is being done , by the National Ass in the present campaign." Just now (the Wanganui Herald remarks) the Tory Press is actively engaged in circulating mis-statements against the Government. This is done for the purpose of misleading, if possible, the electors into the false belief that the affairs of the country are in'a " parlous state," and- that nobody .can save the colony from utter' ruin except the leader of the Opposition. Those who know, the political value of Captain Russell smile at the bare- idea of so -mediocre a leader of* "a few large jland-holders -and disappointed place-hunters proving equal to the task of taking the helm of the ship of State. , Replying to an article in a Canterbury Conservative paper, the Wanganui Herald says : — The statement that " New Zealand is losing ground in the great race of nations for pride of place" is mere bombast, as this colony does not happen to be entered for that classic event ! She is stilTln'the colonial class of competitors, and going very strong. She stands well to the front in products, minerals and manufactures, has a bigger steam fleet of merchant shipping than any other British colony, and more liberal land and labour laws than any other country in the world, to say nothing of adult franchise, free education, and other public advantages, which go to make up a sum total not possessed by anyother constitutionally governed' country under the canopy of heaven. If (says the Napier News) there had never been a party of persons called the " Twelve Apostles " in Hawke's Bay ; had there never been a Russell Land Act ; if there had never been a Royal Commission set up to inquire into the He.retaunga land transactions ; if there were, in fact, no past history into which people might peep, it would, perhaps, be possible for Captain Russell to stand on public platforms and prate about men of pure lives, of blameless characters and honesty of purpose. As it is — well, it would be better that he and his clacquers in the Press should hold their peace. A correspondent of the Southland- Daily News says :— " Mr Seddon was practically a working man himself when he first went to Parliament, and began at once to

espouse the working people, from which he ,has never faltered. He laid the axe, as it were, at the root of the tree, and has ever since kept pegging away, and, in connection with Sir George Grey and the late Mr Ballance, has probably done more than any other man living in the interest of labour, and I will say that the working man that would, directly or indirectly, be a party to giving us away to the Conservatives would be a traitor and an enemy to his class, and guilty of an act of folly beyond all human ken. Not only have the Seddon Government been good to the working classes, but they have been the best administrators this colony has* ever had, and have carried on within our means for six consecutive years. Our credit was never higher in the London market, and our prospects are improving every day." The Mount Ida Chronicle, a journal which, from the nature of its ownership, is naturally a bitter opponent of the Government and everything connected with it, still has the following tribute to pay. to the Hon John M'Kenzie : — We have great pleasure, finally, in congratulating Mr M'Kenzie on the greatly improved tone of his references to matters coming more immediately within the scope of his own Department. We believe Mr M'Kenzie to be on the whole sincerely interested in the advancement of settlement and sincerely anxious to do his best for it, and the continuous improvement in the tone and substance of his reference to the land question is good evidence that he has bent his mind upon it in the desire to help it along. It is no small praise" to acootd-to arMinister to acknowledge his active desire to make a success of his own Department, • and 'to characterise that ; dosire sis progressive; but this praise we can unhesitatingly accord, and we believe that in this we should be supported by the general opinion of the Opposition.