AN IMPENDING "WELCOME MESSAGE"

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 573, 30 July 1909, Page 6

AN IMPENDING "WELCOME MESSAGE"

I |;AT/the social held on Wednesday night by the Liberal and Labour Federation, .two Ministers; of. the Crown were'. present,, and thoy; did, their host to chqer the 'drooping spirits of the faithful remnants ;,of tho. once-powerful organisation. In tho\,course.of their;^peeches.iihoy'; alluded in mysterious'language 'to. s'omo .miracle ; which Sir Joseph'Wabd is quietjy working in London,' tho' immediate result of' .which .will b0..t0. cause '.'Liberalism"-. to smell ■; .sweeter Vin ; the' nation's' nostrils than'is'at:present the. caso.. What can' tliis' miracle bei. Mr. Millar hinted at it in these terms: " r; : .;"■,.;■•' ' "■ 'When Sir.Joseph, Ward returned he.would bring ;sucll'a.wc-leome message that would make his friends spring round him again. Ho had.been suffering a great ! deal of opprobrium,, unfairly, unjustly,: but he thought '.tlie result;of liis'labours.would justify every- 1 thing that had been doneiip- to the'prescjit.' ■ Time,;would tell. ,>:;■/. / v '\: '••'■•':'.. '• The Hon. ' K.- M'Kenzie was equally I : vague' ; and > consolatory. :•' ; ',- : ' ■ j: Tho leader of the, party was going to, give another impetus,to tlie progress of the coun- | try/ and his' visit to' England Would bo bene'ficial to New' Zealand m many, more ways than one.':.'.--'. "' . : , .- .;■''' Having gone so far, Mr. Millar and Mr. M'Kenzie . might have gone, a little further, and given us some indication as to what it is that Sir Joseph intends to do:- ; We had. been under the impression that Sir Joseph's mission was to represent New' Zealand at tho Defence Confer.-, ene'e.'. We''.have some,'recollection of some , tantalising ■ statements made; by the Prime: Minister : on-his return from the j last ..Imperial- Conference; Ho had 'brought off a, coup which we, wore to understand. would bring the greatest happiness to the colony. Most. people; reflecting on the extraordinary fondness of the : Government for borrowing, concluded .that.the Prime Minister could not mean, anything but that he had arranged for a loan so colossal as to make his previous financial performances appear almost Scottishly cautious'and'prudent; And, as everyone knows, it'turned out that his great achievement was to supply the country with a new designation. Is 1 it; ! that'the country is to be .still further promoted in the matter of nomenclature V Or that we arci to have, a baronet, or something higher, l for our Prime.Minister? We should .incline to think that this is what the Ministers hinted at wero it not that Mr. Millar said expressly that the Prime Minister's coup will "make his frionds spring round him again." : The only thing that is in.the least.likely to galvanise the Liberal and Labour Federation into life, and to remove the "misunderstandings" arising out of the "unfortunate circumstances" so delicately alluded to'by Mr. Millar, must be of. a material character. The Federation was never dreamy and unpractical. It was never given to wasting its timo.on ideals. Its rule of lifo was always Falstaff's: " What is this honour? A word. . Who hath it? Ho that died o' Wednesday*. Doth ho feel it? No. Is it insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffor it—therefore, I'll none of it: honour is a mere scutcheon.' . ,Its enthusiasm has been strongest when the power to bestow substantial favours was strongest. Hence we must conclude that what is contemplated is tho'provision of further opportunities for reuniting the faithful in the shape of loans, or special facilities for loans. Nothing is inoro likely to recall the lost lambs of the Federation to the fold .than tho news that there is more money to ho spent. -As Mu. Millar says,; "timo. will tell" whether the high Imperial mission of Sir Joseph was not really undertaken to avort the. impending doom of ."Liberalism" by. a further biuret of borrowing.' '..,