The West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY JUNE 19, 1912. MR. BUXTON'S-BLARNEY.

West Coast Times, 19 June 1912, Page 2

The West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY JUNE 19, 1912. MR. BUXTON'S-BLARNEY.

As the fatal hour approaches whoa the House will at last ho able to express ita" approval or disapproval of M'r. Mackenzie’s delicate administration; when the country will he shown whether or not the Stop-gap Ministry possesses the confidence of the members which it pretended it possessed nearly three months ago, the antics of'the members of the Mackenzie Cabinet fairly beggar description. All the pseudo-statesmen have had their moments on the centre of the stage during the political farce which has been enacted for so many weeks, and all have made themselves more or loss ridiculous—but none have been so truly funny as Mr. Buxton, or rather, by the grace of Mr Thomas Mackenzie, the Honourable . Thomas Buxton with no portfolio of any importance and receiving by way of salary, nearly as much as his services 'll the Cabinet are worth—namely, nothing. Mi - . Buxton has been something like a dummy of a circus—but at last be, too, lias had to emulate his follow actors and he has said something. But an emerald will shine none the less though its worth be not spoken of, and Mr. Buxton, whether adorned in a shiny silk top hat and owning perhaps temporarily, the appelation of the “ Honourable” in front of his name, is still Mr'. Buxton, the not over-bril-liant politician who represents Temuka. Over at Christchurch on Saturday, some newspaper man hungry for copy, swooped down upon Mr. Buxton, tempted him, and the wise man from Temuka fell:

- Mr. Buxton said ho had found much difficulty in seeing how tho Government could fail to obtain a majority on a no-confidence motion, when it was remembered that all tho Liberal members who attended the caucus some months ago had pledged themselves to support the man who should be chosen as the Prime Minister. The undertaking was given unanimously before negotiations were begun, and it was entered into frankly and freely. It seemed to him that if any of those members departed from the loyal support promised, their action would be quite indefensible and would rightly expose them to severe criticism. Every man should know his own business best, but he ' feltjsure that when the division was taken they would all bo found standing solid to pledge and principle. . . Much was said Is- the

Opposition about some new members wbo, Opposition members state, broke pledges when they voted for the* Government during the short session. Surely the ac- ' tion of those men who had no Parliamentary experience would compare favourably with the actions of men of long experience who went back on pledges made a; the caucus. Can the Opposition justify an attempt to got any man to go back on his pledge? Would it hold office by such votes if it could ? And so on.

Some of this is really choice! But there is at least one very true state- d ment among the whole mass of blar- 11 ney. Mr. Buxton was reported to have f said that “every man should know his H own business best.” Quite right of * Mr. Buxton. He certainly knows the c difference between a carrot and a I potato and also knows wheat from oats, but the. country 1 has yet to be shown the out- 1 standing capabilities possessed by Mr. 1 Buxton which fit him to take a lead- ‘ ing part in the Government of the * country. Outside his own little dis- 1 trict Mr. Buxton is practically nn- ( known, but wo can glean from his utterances quoted above, sufficient to • come to the conclusion that ho has been 1 too prone to swallow l ,imehewed, all the J plausible platitudes and political bal- 1 derdash which so frequently find their . way into tho columns of the “Lyttel- ‘ ton Times” and his own dear grandmotherly “ Timaru Post.” But what will go down in Temuka is not good enough lor tho Dominion. Mr. Buxton asks, and rightly too, whether tho Opposition can justify a man going back on his pledges P Wo can simply return the query to Mr. Buxton. Should the pot call tho kettle black? The unexpected elevation of the member for Temuka, and tho soon-to-bc-ended occupancy of Ministerial rank by Mr Buxton are direct outcomes of broken pledges. Mr Buxton is a mcmof a Ministry which scrambled on the Treasury Benches over tho backs of the men who went back on their pledges. And now tho Mackenzie Ministry has tho crass audacity and unmitigated effrontery to ask the House to confirm Ahab’s title to Naboth’s vineyard before even tho owner of the t vineyard is dead. Other of Mr. Bux--1 ton’s statements arc equally amusing. • The member for Temuka in his simplicity wants the country to believe that every member of Parliament who attend tho Liberal-Labour Conference “pledged themselves to support the man who should bo chosen Premier and or.sly before negotiations were begun.” \\ hat a statesmanlike procedure ! Imagine the farco which would have resulted from such an undertaking had Mr. Buxton himself or tho. ‘“lndependent” Mr Isitt.br oven painful Mr 1 ayno, by strange vagary of fate, been chosen by the party? We can easily dispense with this aspect of the whole jumble, for we are safe in saying that Ml, Millar and the other dissatisfied members will be quite justified in showing the same opposition to Mr. Mackenzie and his ill-starred Cabinet as that displayed by them at tho caucus. , In any case Mr. Buxton seems to loose sight of two salient features. First; there was not a majority of the mem. hors of tho House present at the caucus, and oven all those present did not j belong to tlio Xust-Tading xtboral Party; and second; that only twentytwo members of an Assembly of eighty ' members, asked Mr Mackenzie to be- , come Prime Minister, aud among those s twenty-two there were many, like Mr. 1 Buxton, who were angling after Cabi’ inet rank. Ami unlike Mr Buxton, , somo of them have been angry ever e since tho Cabinet was chosen. One f action on' the part of tho new Cabinet seems to our way of thinking, to answer Mr. Buxton. If, as the Hon. Thomas Buxton, Minister 1 or all tho small things and holder of a portfolio without a salary; if, as wo say, as Mr. Buxton declares that all the members who were present at tho Liberal-Labour. Caucus pledged themselves blindly to support “tho man e " h ° slloldd subsequently be chosen as s V emier ” why did not Mr. Mackenzie s Administration meet the House i sh °wed the country—and tho r PP°si 10,1 that they , possessed s n I ?, BSt * he confidonco of the House ? i Koa y > JJr - Buxton is too simple. The B Cal ;," y Scotchman at the head of the 5 pol,tlCrtl conglomeration which does i service as a Cabinet, knew too much to , SVrT SUC !' rißkß - “Every man d kno "’ llls own business best,” > “ ys B " Xton - A,ld ho w right. We advise him to keep to his- potatoes and Ins wheat and leave tho busi- , 116I 168 * °! P ° litics t0 thoso who thorough- - Jy understand its principles, and ap- ’ preciate its precepts.