THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY. DECEMBER 21st, 1917. HALF-DOLLAR IDEALISTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 21 December 1917, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY. DECEMBER 21st, 1917. HALF-DOLLAR IDEALISTS.

A day or two ago we bespoke impartial and serious consideration for the new political party that is being formed in New ealand. This because we realise that an infusion of new ideas and fresher and more progressive personalities into the political situation is badly needed. Nor, on detailed review of the proposals of this new party do we find them deficient of the germs of a truly constructive effort. It is only when we reach the tail end of the political prospectus that we discover a transparent weakness. We find that the whole organisation, and its tremendous objects, is to be based on a capitation of Is to 2s 6d per head. There need be no hesitation in saying that a man who will only pay Is a year (the price of two goes of Charlie Chaplin) for the political regeneration of his beloved native land, is a parasite that should not be allowed to kill the tree. His subscription is either a " tip" bestowed irresponsibly and indifferently, or the niggardly dole of a man whose heart is in his boots, not where it should be, in his pocket. "We take this opportunity of urging a new policy on.the well-mean-ing promoters of the new p: rty. Let them adopt the principle of their own central financial measure, and impose a graduated charge upon their membership. If they do this, they will benefit even more by those they keep out than those they get in. A man who will give a five-pound note to a cause he thoroughly believes in, has passed all tests. Another, who pays only a shilling, may have the slenderest or most undesirable of motives. Or, most probable of all, his donation may be that automatic motion of the hand many of us have learnt to perform in our sleep since the war began and its innumerable appeals came upon us.