The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, MAY 12th, 1913. THE REFORMERS AND THE WORKERS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12881, 12 May 1913, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, MAY 12th, 1913. THE REFORMERS AND THE WORKERS.

The latest /move of the discredited opponents of the Reform Government is an attempt to misrepresent the:«ttitude', of Mr. Massey and his colleagues towards Labour. The dodge is so trans-, parent , as: to be quite harmless,. and the only purpose it is likely to serve is to convince intelligent electors that the Opposition is in.a hopelessly bankrupt condition. The once boastful followers of the- i>oo loi^l .'Continuous Ministry have become a scattered rabble of political, scavenger's, reduced • to; the pitiful employment, of dragging the muck-rake over 'their iown garbage in. an endeavour to find material to hurl at their victorious opponents.;The;;-Mas--sey Government has made -gp'odJ All thb highly coolured predictions, as to thb direbapjpehihgs that would ensue^ if ever the people were persuaded to kick the self-styled Liberals out of office have been falsified; ■ No" longer: ig .thero any talk about soup-kitchens and starvation .wages. Not, only. Lavo tho awful.consequences failed to materialise, -but the. country is feeliog;in- . finitely better fdr the change. 'Men have come to realise that .the.affairs of State .aro in good hands, aii-i that: como what may, the men who arc tivw

Ministers will ,do the right thing, regardless of the consequences so far as their o^-n* political existenco ,is oo):ccni-, cd. Having been for so long entnri"l!-

Ed 'by tho selfish partisan policy, rf ex

pediency, which made "the fate if a. political party its "first considßi'ation the taxpayers are naturally p'le.vscrV to know that- und/ '-r-lio new reginr.o k'he ;public weal takes prececlonce :i;f \%}lother considerations. As a r re^u|ci.- it is , not dimcult to: summarise' pQpii?ar cipinioriof :the ; Massey iMiniitry :;;''Tliey' aro a brainy crowd, they/are^rot'.thg puppets of any one class,;^h^y they niean, and niean -\vhat they ss>yj and they haven't any time for !ium- : bug." Outside the ranks of the spiirod and discredited party now, sulking in the shade of .{Opposition, almost jany' man -will frankly express some such' opinion of the Massey ( 6bvernmeni, which has, we belie,ve, secured a strong

fcw&l t3'sting. s h.pld,' oil j the ; icionfide|icb' '■■; HtheVpiibiicp 'gaWdiy^^]§ej^^^: ! ■la^?TMe^;' liAiiakinig••its\rbiiet:fVo'ni;^he-"

equally jaundiced "ier," iasks, the' electoral to believe •that thb attitude" of• the Reform Party.' towards Labour is to-day not what it

was prior to the last election. No evidenco is. offered in proof ..of this assertion, because, of course, there is lio

evidence of tho sort to be got ianywhero

In. tho-Dominion^ Stated in its ugliest aspect, the malicious • allegation' ■ for which the " Telegraph" and the " Timen" aro jointly responsible is' that (the. Reform Party made use of the, -work-* ers; for electioneering purposes—that ■when it suited them Mr. Massey aM his1 friends-, wero prepared" to fawn; on tho Labour, leaders, but that now they

are in power, they have become openly hostile..to the workers. ;Thetstatement is falsa.. front: beginning to end". The attitude of the Reform Party towards tho workers has not undergone the slightest change, and that that attitude in ono of bona-fide regard for the -Wellbeing of every honest, self-respecting and iaw-iabiding man. and woman in the community has already'been! made abundantly manifest. Thero never Bas been, and there, never will bo so Jar as <M.v. Massey and his colleagues aj-e con-cc-rrieil, any fawning upon the professional agitators whose business, in ,'life is to dibfcurb the industrial peace.' It is no doubt true, as the "Times" ,says ; that theso gentry have conceived a bitter disliko for the Massey Ministryj and that they would, if they could, sweep the .Reformers out of political V:L\ A Cabinet .of extreniists of'the Sj'.uplo typo would be much more /to thtK • tisto. Fortiu3ately;for New.Zen-' 1 :r;d. Jio-.ycYor, public opinion-is never lJ:-h' to countenance such an" outrageous travesty on democratic,government..