The Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1910. CONFIDENCE AND NO-CONFIDENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9910, 27 July 1910, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1910. CONFIDENCE AND NO-CONFI-DENCE.

Tliore is iio need to use hard words concerning Mr Massey's latest move. Tlio leader of the Opposition has done nothing very dreadful, for even a dull opponent of the Government must be expected to take advantage of his obvious opportunities some time or other. The. marvel is that Mr Maseev waited so long. Tiie Government has been backing and filling over the land question ever since the last eleefciou, and no one knows how it feels or whether it feels at all on the matter. The Bill intradural last session by tho Prime Minister was an extraordinary medley of sound principle and unsound practice. and although it was described as a compromise it was in reality an utterly unwarrantable sacrifice of principles that the Liberals were supposed to have had at heart, ever since there was a Libera! Party in New Zealand politics. The Bill was resisted, as it should have been resisted, by every true Radical, and just when it seemed that the Primfe Minister was bent on destroying the Liberal Party, the measure was dropped. Sir Josepli Ward lias announced his intention to reintroduce that strange measure again, but wo doubt ir ho is at all anxious to raise tho issue. Now Mr Massey has raised it for him. Tho position in Parliament is calculated to cause the Government some uneasiness. There aro only some twenty-two' or twenty-three members of the liouso of Representatives who can be depended upon to resist any interference with tho traditional Liberal policy on the land question, while there are probably thirty members of the Government and its following who are pledged to give Crown settlers the right to buy their holdings. The Government, following the lead of the Prime Minister, tells tho country that tho tenure question is of minor importance, and that the essential feature of a progressive land settlement polipy is to get tho people on the land. In these circumstances tho Government might be expected to say that tho question i.s disposed of so far as the settlors already on tho land are concerned. But we are afraid that the attitude taken up by the Prime Minister is only his way of indicating; that ho has personally no very .strong convictions on tho subject, and that he will concede whatever Parliament wants him to concede to the settlers on State lands. With a following so sharply divided, ho is not eager to send the main issue to the vote. Mr Massey's move has been described as "clever." The cleverness of it is not very apparent. His own party is pretty solid for the freehold, and he is hoping, of course, to embarrass the morubera of tho Liberal Party who have pledged themselves to support the extension of the right of purchase to all settlers on State lands. These members, ho thinks, will be discredited in tho eyes of their constituents if they oppose his motion and support the Government, whereas if they vote against the Government they will bo helping to turn it out of offico. But politics is an old game, and this is an old trick, and the proper courso for the members to pursue is perfectly well recognised. They will regard Mr Massey's amendment as a no-confidence-motion pure and simple, without regard to its subject matter, and there is no likelihood of any politician losing sleep over the business.