The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Two Years. THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1905. POLITICS AT HOME.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6878, 27 November 1905, Page 2

The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Two Years. THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1905. POLITICS AT HOME.

Untii. recently the principal issue in the politics of the United Kingdom was the fiscal question, which the Prime Minister refused to face ; hut, its place is now being taken by the unemployed problem, before which the leaders of both the great parties are helpless. Mr Chamberlain used to exalt Protection as a remedy for unemployment, but he has evidently failed to impress that idea upon the minds of his fellow countrymen, for nil the unemployment trouble of this year leaves his fiscal propaganda in a more forlorn position than ever. The leaders of the Conservatives are disputing as to whether Chamberlainism or the Balfourian idea of retaliation is to he adopted as the policy of the party, but it is clear that the electors will have none of either. To judge from English newspapers, Protection aud preference may now he considered almost as a dead issue, and the Liberals may claim to have already achieved a victory which only needs constitutional ratification But now, when power seems almost within their grasp, and they have begun to show signs of greater cohesion amongst themselves, another question, far more important than the tariff, the Education Act or the Hand slavery, on all of which they have scored against the Government, thrusts itself to the front and finds them without a policy. Mr John Morley confesses that he iias no remedy for this difficulty. Lord Kosebery has nothing better to suggest than that the incoming Libera! Government might do worse than provide General Booth with funds to work out the problem. Everybody will agree with him that charity is a mere palliative, even New Zealand's oll'er of a shipload of foo l, and even a fund of such magnificent proportions as that initiated bv the Queen and now exceeding £6U,000 But when Lord Kosehyry said that putting the unemployed on the land woald be inadequate and prove no remedy, one cannot but ask where else they are to be pn', or what eUe he imagines General Booth can do with them. 'l'o iirin,' labour into contact with the materials of nituiv, somewhere ami somehow, is the only way to employ ir, and everytime Lord Kosebery travels from his Scottish seat to London, Im can set- plenty of land, ouly half us- j d, which could be acquired for municipal farms. The Unemployed Act of the present year has enabled a beginning to be made in this direction. An extension of that measure, coupled with the full recognition of the right of every man to an opportunity to earn wages at some employment within ordinary capacity, would go far to solve the problem. If the Liberals will not lead along those lines, there is a party that will, and we may expect to see a large increase of labour representatives in the next Parliament. In justice to the Liberals, however, it must be said that some of their prominent men, including Sir Henry Camp-bell-Bannerman, ami one of their principal organs, the Daily News, have for more than a year been urging the necessity of laud value taxation, a reform which, as New Zealand experience shows, would stimulate industry and increase the demand for labour. The signs point to a great Liberal victory at the coming elections in the United Kingdom, modified by the emergence of a strong Labour Party in Parliament.