The Dominion. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1909. PARTY V. PATRIOTISM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 528, 8 June 1909, Page 6

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1909. PARTY V. PATRIOTISM.

The informal meeting of members of Parliament convened by the Prime Minister and held yesterday passed off very much as was expected. It was practically a foregone conclusion that Sm Josfcpu Ward would bo able to secure a majority of members to support any proposal which ho might choose to bring forward; but it was not anticipated that he would have so little to say that Was new and so very little to say at all. that bore directly on the,real points at issue. We are quite well aware that Sir Joseph Wabd occupied a Very awkward and a Very unenviable position when ho rose to address members yesterday, afternoon. Few public mon care to appear in the role of special pleader where their own porsonal interests arc closely affected, and still fewer meh appear to advantage on such occasions. We do not suggest that Sir Joseph Ward was seeking to.influence tho House to his own personal advantage, but rather that ho was handicapped by,the knowledge that his actions wore open to the suggestion that ho had a good deal to gain should members agreo to the course ho was urging upon thorn. His speech did neither the occasion nor himself justice. It was distinctly meritorious from one point of view—it was temperately delivered, and in most respects was marked by a commendable self-restraint. But it was so overloaded with extraneous matters, and the points made were so obscured by constant aiid usoless reiteration, that its bearing on the real issues involved.was almost entirely lost to members., The Peijie Minister's evident anxiety to place on record the fiilldetails of the Dreadnought offer was largely responsible for this confusion. We regret to think that this dragging in of the Government's offer was nicroly jjart Of a pre-arranged plan to influence public feeling and confuso tho real.questions which members had assembled to consider. There was absolutely no necessity to mako more than a passing reforence to the matter, which will have to bo'fully gone into when Parliament meets in a proper cOnstitutidnal way. '.

Those who may trouble to read . Sir Joseph Ward's speech, or rather the summary of it .which we, publish, will bably be 1 filled with amasement at the discovery that not one now fact was dis-. closed by the PniMic. Ministei: to support the suggestion that the poming* Naval CohferciiCo is. tho vitally urgent affair that has been suggested by ' Ministers.' Not one now circumstance was nmd« known to justify the Vague hints and dark innucndo3 with which supporters of tlia Govortiment-have attempted to sway public feeling. .' The' communications wh'icli have passed botween Sir Joseph

Ward and the Imperial Government aro the same as were sent b}t tho Imperial Government to the. Commonwealth and published by us last week. Our readers are fully aware that they contained no' thing sensational—that New Zealand, in fact, was tiiei'ely invited to send a representative to -a conference of a purely consultative nature^"lmportant, no

doubt, but not a niattor of vital urgency. Sir Joseph Ward, probably realising thie, was unwise ■enough to attempt to magnify the importance of tho Communications by a further reforenco to vaguo sometliirigs in tho form of confidential'communications- Which he Could not evdii disclose the. nature of nultih less the details. - No one Would wish the Government or anyone else to disclose confident tial informatioii of any kindj but it is rather over-doing the thing to refuse, .with.- a fine show of virtuous indignato state whether these confidential communications bore on tho- question of

his own attendance at the Conference or the general question of Naval Defence. •The most significant foatufc,df the discussiou was tho attitude <Sf Sift Joseph WAnD; It-was plain , that from the outset he had made tip his mind- that ho Waygoing to the Conference—arid on his own terms; When questioned as to Why he. insisted that the business of the country should be hiing up simply because ho wOtlld bb .absent, his reply amounted to little more than the contention that it was 'not reasonable 'to expect him to go and leave his party to carry Oh the business in the absence of'

the head of the Government. We have shown the"utter absurdity of this contention, and it , was fully enforced in thd course of the debate. Sin JosfcPti WARD will find it difficult to explain /away his attitude after the carrying of the first resolution yesterday. Members unanimously agreed that it wns desirable that he should attend the Naval Conference. All party considerations wore laid aside, and the high compliment of & unanimous decision was arrived at. And then the Prime Minister of the country, who had taken two hours in ah endeavour , to fit tingly impress members with a proper conception of tho magnitude and intensity of tho fiefco fires of patriotism whioh were burning in his bosom and influencing his actions—this Prime Minister"who for two hours had striven to convince members and the country that his one and only object was the advancement of the interests of the Empire, brazenly declafed that nothing would induce him to go to the Conference but the adjournment of Parliament. Let thero be ho mistako about this; The words. used above are , not Siii JoSeph Ward's, but the effect of'his actions is exactly as stated. After the, unanimbtis expression of opinion frorii members that Sir Joseph Ward should attend-the-ConfefencOj Mri J«ies Allen put a direct request to him, asking liiin to waive the condition that' Parliament must adjourn or he (Sir JosErii) would not go to England. Sis .Ward refused point blank. Ct>u!d ticri3 bo any stronger commentary c:> tlic Prime Minister's professions than is disclosed by his attitude yesterday? Will anyone bo deceived? Will anyone bc ; Hove that his attempt to prevent Parliament from sitting is actuated by patriotic motives? Will they believe that it is in the interests of the Empire? Will they not inetefid realise what must now bo plain to ail, that is, that the Prime Minister's patriotism does not rise above tho level of party—that his constant professions of readiness to sacrifice all to the

needs of the Empire ure cni'cfiilly safeguarded by the reservation Uiiit liis own party interests must not suffer? Yesterday's meeting should prove of value to the country, if only for the fact that it has shown clearly the true level of the J?auiE MiiN'ißiEit's patrioticm,