The General Election.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 11760, 10 October 1902, Page 2

The General Election.

SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL'S VIEWS.

THE OPPOSITION AND THE

FARMERS' UNION

"Isn't it rather unfair to ask for the Opposition's policy? (said Sir William Russell in reply to a question put by a Lyttejlton Times reporter). W c have been givinr- the Government policies for ten or a dozen years, and it has been living more or less on the credit of our iproposals. The Opposition has always been more Liberal than the Government, and is now absolutely Radical by comparison. The Government has paraded ail sorts' of vague impossible suggestions before the electors, never meaning to pass them into law, never understanding what they really meant. The Opposition has taken bhemi in hand, or such of tnem as appeared practicable, knocked them into shape, and helped in placing them on the Statute Book. The policy of the Opposition is to do all that the Government is doing for the good of the neople, and to do iib without trammlin on the lights of the individual or playing fast and loose with the finances of the colony. This can't be expressed in half-a-dozen "•"lanks," but it is the earnest desire of the men with whom I am associated, and some day the electors, will get tired of being fooled by idle Avords and extravagant' promises.''

"Yes; that's the trouble. The electors won't look hut© these things for themselves. They take politics seriously—some of them —once in three years, and then the-f give their votes to the men who have invented the loudest party cries, and who will give them the biggest promises. Our politics, like our Treasury, is run on credit, and the Government knows how to make the most of the system. But there. I needn't go over this old story again. It's not my fault if the ©lectors persist in their old careless "ways."

"No,. I don't expect a great deal from the Farmers' Union at the elections. Indeed I do not wish to see the Union turned into a party organisation. There is plenty of good work for the members to do, and I believe they intend to do it, but I hope they will meddle with oolitdes as little as possible. Their policy ought to be their platform, irrespective of party. If their platform is opposed to any particular party, so much the worse for the party. The right of Crown tenants to obtain the freehold of their holdings will be a burning question in the north, as I dare say it will be down here, but it can't be fairly said that the demand of the union makes

it ia Conservative institution. I know plenty of good Liberals, of Mr Seddon's own approved, brand, who are in entire sympathy with the attitude of the Union."

"No one will deny that the, present Government have looked after the interests of the farmers, in its own way but the appointment of the Frozen Meat Committee can hardly be counted among its. services to the agricultural community. That was due to the agitation set vsn by Mr Hornsby and his friends. The committee did not discover tho dreadful state of things Mr Hornsv depicted, but it found plenty of room for improvement. The improvement, however, must be sade by the farmers themselves. They must adopt the methods that ai*e employed in the South Island, as far as they are annlicable to the different circumstances, and trust to their own energy and enterprise. The Government can't take over the management of their business."

"I have no time now to discuss the finances of the Government, but they are alarming enough to anyone who takes a. thought for the future. The huge vote for public works won't stand analysis. A quarter of a million for the North Island Trunk Railway is, perhaps, justified. If the railway is needed, as I believe it is. it ought to be finished. Nothing would ba gained by dragging the work of construction over another twenty years. But what shall we get for the £3.00,000 voted for the Midland Railway, and the £100,000 for the Ota go Central? A few miles added to lines that have not the remotest chance of paying their way, and an argument for the waste of further money. But this, bad as it is, is not the worst, feature of the Government's finance. There is extravagance, and worse, everywhere, and, for myself, I don't envy the task of the men, whoever they may be, who some day will have to sefc the affairs of the colony in order."

"Do you wish anything?" asked Hie professor as the new hand maiden stopped at his study door. "Well. I don't want to be forthpi.iting," said the New: Hampshire maiden in a firm but pleasant Ic-ne, "but it does seem as if you "were setting in :i complete draught. Don't you want the door cluz or the windows shet, or leastways tha curtains drew?"

The English columns of personal notes in a Gei-man paper has contained the announcement : —"The Bishop of Rochester has left England for New York, pursued by Mrs Talbot." We can imagine the German scribe as diligently searching for the English, equivalent of "begleitetf." as we can picture the German divine and .caroful student of English who, at the conclusion ,of a speech to a British congregation, devoutly said, "God kipper your worthy pastor." In his Anglo-German dictionary the word "erhaetelv" was translated by "preserve" and kipper," and he merely chose what seemed the simpler of the two. Can any of our readers supply .us with another instance where the translator, so far from a traitor, becomes a humorist of no mean order?-—"Westminster Gazette."

The Duke of Argyle had occasion, one day to wait for a boat tat a small landing stia#e in Scotland., and, walking along the pier, came across an old Scotch lassie, waiting like himself, with whom he entered into conversation. He felt somewhat annoyed at the abrupt manner in which she treated him, and at last said: "My good woman-, do you know whom you are .speaking to?" "No; and who might you be?" "Why, I am the Duke of Aiv-4e." "Good pracious! you the Duke of Ar<r-le! Why. I always thought the Duke of Argyle was a steamer!"