THE COMING STORM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 678, 1 December 1909, Page 8

THE COMING STORM.

.Sir,—The f Radicals .of .the' 'country-; are very, angry ''with'; the Government, and'some of their, ■organs-are extremely outspoken aid prophetic of evil to the Ward party. As a sample, take the following from the "Waipuknrau Press" of Tuesday last. ■ This Radical organ says:—"Mri Laurenson,- in defending the Government's policy, contended: that it was better for tho Ministry to grant the freehold, than -J to be defeated -by adhering to- the>'■ leasehold,; and thus let ; in,i Mr. Massey's party,, -who.''would sell every, acre of Crown- lands.? In our opinion,- nothing could.be worse for. tie country than tb bavo a: Liberal party : abandoning 'its principles in order to retail office. In the Homeland ho political'party will do'this; but it has become Prime Minister Ward's settled policy:, to retain place and power he is ready at any,-moment to sell his best political,friends to -their.' political foes.. The inevitable'result of such a policy is to break up.the' Liberal party. To such men as Mr. A. W. Hogg, and Mr.-T. E. Taylor—and there are more of them in the House than we had suspected—such a policy, is hateful and detestable. In. the end, this'section of .the; Liberal party is sure, to prevail, and the men' now in office'will either be driven to the.other side, or be out of political life. 'The .Radical'sentiment of-the country is far tocstrong to.permit of surrenders to the' Toryjarty for the sake of retaining the' sweets' of office'. Were if otherwise, we should have stagnation instead- of;progress.'. At the last, and the previous general election, there was no great principle dividing the political ■parties,- which is always.an infallible sign of political stagnation, and'of great" feebleness in the party of reform. Sooner or later this condition, of. things becomes intolerable, and the Liberal deader responsible for it : is'regarded by the more .aggressive forces of his party as a traitor' to Liberal principles. This is the at -which we have now arrived; Wo have come to the parting of ,tho. ways, and very soon: the Radical trumpets will.be calling the masses to;the banner a hew leador. ,: Then mil come- the' tug-ofrwar, and the forces of monopoly will find themselves face to face witha party as capable as Cromwell's 'Ironsides,' and as well led.: Democracy is'not to be held back and kept waiting indefinitely for muchneeded reforms. It will certainly not wait Prime Minister Ward's time." ;Deniocracy is not asleep; it is wide awako, and demands virile leaders. Thousands of, our people,.'as a member of Parliament said tho other day, are in a condition- bordering on ; starvation; yet the Prime Minister is. laying heavier burdens on the workers, parting, with another large portion _of the people's heritage : ih>the land, andgreatly strengthening the hands of the monopolists. What Bazaine was to the ; Fronch, Ward is to. Now Zealand Democracy.'- The irian has sold us to.our enemies. Therefore wo join in the, demand : for a.: new leader, 'and God grant , that he may bo: as . politically virile as the present Prime Minister is politically effeminate." :. ■ -.•:■: ~

The above correcfly .represents the views and feelings of the .'Radical party of tte country, and it seems certain that we are on the eve of great developments' which will leave the Prime Minister and his colleagues in a hopeless minority in the constituencies.—l am etc., '■''':,-. -.1- '■ '■■ OBSERVER., November 25, 1309. -