The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 1887. POLITICAL TACTICS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1614, 20 July 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 1887. POLITICAL TACTICS.

Exceptionally strenuous efforts are being made throughout the colony by the organisation ot Political Reform Associations and the importation of prominent Free-traders to address public meetings and educate the electors m the tenets of that one pure political faith by which alone the colony is to be saved from ruin, to secure the return of candidates of Atkinsonian proclivities. What is it that has produced suchawonderfulchangesince 1884, when the Atkinson Ministry wereexpelled from office. A huge popular cry for retrenchment and economy has been successfully got up m various quarters, brought about by the deficit m the revenue, and for which the present Government is held responsible, and whose measures to meet this deficiency are meeting with so much opposition. That retrenchment is a very good thing m its way there can be no question, but this alone will not remedy the evil. We want such facilities ottered for settlement on the land as will induce population. Population is quite as necessary as retrenchment for the prosperity of the colony, and more so for its progress. We are quite as much opposed to •• reckless extravagance " as any of the anti-Ministerial-ists can be, but we fail to see the desirability of driving out a Government which has done more m the way of real retrenchment, all the reports as to sham retrenchment notwithstanding, than any of its predecessors, simply becuuse its proposals for meeting the deficit |are not acceptable to some classes of the community. The cry . for retrenchment so successfully created is nothing more than an electioneering dodge — a red herring trailed across the scent. When the Government took office they had to face a much larger deficiency — a legacy from the Atkinson administration — of some ;£i 50,000, and this they did successfully, and during their tenure of office they have effected and are effecting large savings in* every department when practicable. We must look elsewheie for the causes which have led to this feverish anxiety for the return to power of the Atkinson Ministry. To our unsophisticated mind it appears that the ruiiholders seeing that their leases are m danger should the present Government be retained m office, have frightened the importers— by representing that they wilt be ruined should the colony be committed to Protection— into combining with them to secure the return of anti-Ministerialist candidates. Should Ministerial candidates be returned they know that their leases will not be removed, that the best portions of their runs — the agricultural landwill be taken by the Government for purposes of settlement, and that the deferred payment and village settlements schemes will be continued, and that every encouragement will be given to outsiders desirous of settling on our waste lands — the ~bttc noire of the Atkinson party —while the • importers know right well that sucb encouragement will be given to local industries ; that .the profits of tbe import trade would be greatly diminished. Hence the great anxiety to secuse at any cost of time and labor, of course — the . return of supporters of the Atkinsou regime, notwithstanding its " gridironing " snd other evil propensities.