THE OPPOSITION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 771, 21 March 1910, Page 9

THE OPPOSITION.

HOW IT ASSISTS THE GOVERNMENT. ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW. Sir, —Now that your, contributor and '"Oppositionist" have about exhausted tho orthodox and tho conventional, tho stereotyped and tho obvious, perhaps; you 'will afford mo space in which to develop another aspect of tho case.

I want to prefaces/a; somewhat un- - pleasant' task : by' afflming; that:.!, yield to m one in admiration of Mr. 31assey. . I. sincerely; respect- his; singleness of purpose j I'have no words ;to describe nis, untiring, a-pplicatioiij Lis .assiduous .; »ncrgy; I marvel at his undaunted coura S°- . Oil tho personal: side I . would gladly travel round the world with him, givo him a. power of attorney,. or make hun executor of my will. look, here,. 1 would .buy ;a- horse from, him without seeing it. ■rcan't.'say more. ; tha]i that, let, though"! have -always" supported Inm, I regard him as New Zealand's greatest political 'enemy, in tho sense, that but for him Liberalism,, as it ia called, .Ward rule anyhow, would now be a , thing of tho past-. • ' What is tie ; position P '/■; During, the last twenty ;years we .have witnessed a terrible degradation of publio life.- Both' the tone and the. personnel of '/Parliament .have. inconceivably lowered. Tho idea of any man having any, principles'that he will stand by" is widely ridiculed. Ministers openly debaucli only too willing constituencies, members vie; with one another in prostituting ,themselves to the, level of mere "procurers. ' 'Every; election year , sees ari enormous, increase iii the Public Worlrs Estimates. Every;, three- years';we ,600 increased-'; 'pay ; .to ; 'railway : servants, school t-eachers. old age pensioners. The judgments of our Arbitration Courts'.'aro regularly.. : overriden;: by vote-seeking members of the Legislature. -■' In short-, wherever jou look you see-bribery arid debauchery stalking; unconcealed -and unashanied.,-' .: Worse than this/ these things - are; commonly regarded as but an; essential; partiof politics. ; The majority of our electors are; under forty yeais. of .age. - Not ono of ..these had a vote' at the Commencement, of the preseht'regime/ ■ They have had no. chance ofknowing.that politics can mean anything elw. Their attitude and 'their, votes are'guided by fixed'and-deeply-in-grained, prinoiples and beliefs. And r side by,;sidq .'with, .them,; . a yearly increasing number of those who, seeing ; the inevit-ablen'ess 'of the whole thing,; simply: shrug their, shoulders and make. friends with the mammon i'of - unrighteousness. . .

Tho Paramount Duty. If . this ,ia so, and n'eitlier you,. nor. your contributor, nor' your porrespon- , , dent, can deny,, it, .what'is tho one and ':v. only,: overwhelmingly paramount:' duty ' of, the Opposition ? -•'Surely it is to get the Government .off the .benchesV and give' the public a. chance' to' see that :'there .is an 'alternative to ; present' con-: ~i:- ; ditions. . Theyhave heard - it, often . enough, only' seeing will convince: . Be; .. fore this-duty',: surely,'-'.vanj'thing ■ and everything else fades" into absolute ■ nothingness. ' I confess, sat all •events, .\ this is ' the - one;-,'and only- political that I consider 1 ' Worth:,mentioning. ' when ; I :obserye it-heconipletbness : ■ wit.li which this'.idea ia.' ignored/ imy k'v'out-sd," .' by-Mr..- MasseyVand' his followers; arid-hmv they' boast'of.the fact, I tell- you, sir,, I. sometimes - begin '.'to ~ .' wonder,; whether,- I. am wholly sane.- /' The explanation "I i}ofFcr.".to. liijselPis that, wnile' this view must- appeal to anyone 'who ..takes-a broad'and,compreliensivo -surfey or the '"position, unable :. to '': notice it* because .of the -inveteracy with , which_.hp : keeps: liis eye glued to a microscope. At all events, in -the' result . ' it'would-,appear: that ho, only.-exists to act' as the tutelary gkiius: of'-.the Cabinet. His mission: seems to'bo.to keep watch .and guard ;over, them lest haply . any one' of them should dash his'foot against.. a,' stone. ; ■ Does- any., Minister suggest .-anything .calculated ;to mak'6 unpopularj .with vehement: warn-' . in§s, .Mr.;,iMassey rushes--to the -rescue/- ■ pointing out the danger, suggesting a inoro • prudent J course,':; and; , insisting .- . upon its /adoption.: His bitterest com- , plaints i.are heard at., the end of a ses- ; sion,:;;vyhen -Ministers'' rush their proposals .through at such a rate that his ; / acut-ess fears are aroused lest by some : misch'ancei , somo dangerous "■ microbe • should , escape . his microscopic, research. And has come' to' be recognised '.-. that' Ministers have-only" to select, a' . doccnt title t-o a Hill, and they can chuck on to t-lie floor'of Parliament the : , most egregious assortment, of : garbage, and'. Mr: i\lassey ; will 'carefully sort :it : over and''insist upon the ' rejection x' l ' . anything calculated .to • injure ; the Cabinet.:: He is not Conteht with records ; ing his protest'. :By 'no means'.. He ■•; takes', charge .of the,' .'.\yhole' situation, and fights : for hours,..days, if .necesBary, to prevent Ministers from taking ■ some.step that would be.fatal to their ■ popularity. When be fails he'-, covers himself in. sackcloth and ' ashes, and when he , succeeds the welkin .; rings. - with,' plaudits from: yourself and many . others. ... After two. nights' strenuous , fighting we read of a great Opposition victory, because even Mr. Mills liais ; : ■; been' ijrevented ,from ■ causing trouble in the Cook Islauds," and bringing the Ministry into i'idicnlo and contempt. And so it goes on, year in and year ,out. Even in: tho. recess, the Primo Minister cannot'.make the most trivial remark but the warning voice is raised in Auckland '.-'No, -that!.--would not be' wise. -It might: looscn r your hold upon office." Let me . give one . concrete ex- .- ample. Supppse-Mr: M'Nab's first Land .Bill had been passed:'asfit was-printed. AH sorts of inconvenience have ; «nsued. For instance, I could hot have .bought the place I now occupy; tho ' vendor would have: foiind his market (' circumscribed. From both of us I can' . trace an: ever-widening train of : those who 'would have . suffered cruel inconvenience:' - Granted,' and that many other such' cases ..would have occurred. But, if in tho ■ result the -Ministry had . been ousted from! office, how would-the ', account have, stood ?••'. That. is. my point. ",Yet, at the Auckland presentation we-find Mr., Allen positively, boasting that Mr. Massey could havo had . Ministers-out long ago if lie had taken advice freely tendered to him. •

Evil' Effects. Of course we kriowtho answer.. Mr. Massey ; 'will not have it - said that lie allowed a wrong to be perpetrated that he .might' reach'-the'Treasury Benches: .To tliia there is a double rejoinder. .'Firstly,,it is not the,-question of Mr. Massey' assuming office that keeps mo r awake. ' I want to get' tho other, fol- ; ..lows out. That -accomplished, it is :. merely an incident that . Mr. Massey should bring to the service of the country those splendid qualities of microscopic research, untiring industry, and .' sterling honesty which we all so much " admire. "And in. the second place, is not wrong being perpetrated now in the fashion I have alluded to? Docs not the ill-effrct upon tho national character enormously outweigh .any evil results that could accrue from anything', or 'everything that Mr. Massey • has prevented? Apart from the specific effect of any given legislation, what temporary inconvenience could be too high a price to pay for the extinction of a system under which the manhood of . the country is'taught to depend upon Government doles of thoir own money ? I think not. At all events for tho remainder of this Parliament I am ready to submit to anything that Ministers mav devise. A dose of undiluted Ward,

I am convinced, would sicken the country from end to end, but the Ward and water solution concocted by. the Opposition, though a sickly mawkish kind of draught, lias no value as •' an emotic. -Balfour went out because ho had passed the Chinese ordinanco and tho education Act, not because Cainp-bcll-Bannerman had provented him from doing so. But what has tho Opposition to. repeal? . New Tactics V/anted. The plain fact is that both Mr. Masscy and Mr. Allen direct their energies to popularising tho Opposition, and this is more than they can accomplish. There is nothing in the reform of the Upper House to make one's jiulses tingle—England, proves: that—or send men shouting to the polls. Once in office 1 have no doubt tho Opposition would justify tho actions of those who evicted the present crowd. But "its loaders are too. hard, too unsympathetic,, too destitute of porsonal magnetism, ever to popularise the Opposition. The unpopularity of Ministers is the only thing tho country has to look to, and this is the one thing that Mr. Massoy. works himself, to death to prevent. "Upon his own showing, and your own endorsement, the, present position leaves nothing to he desired by the majority of electors; who, as I have shown; have acquired their notions of politics :during . the last fifteen or j twenty years. : : Existing legislation has been- passed - under a Liberal regime. But, you aver,; the original Bills were I shorn of. their obnoxious features by the Opposition. Quite so, says tlieelector,- then- we have-'a Government to feed us with bribes, and an Opposition strong enough to keep tho Statute Book in older, what/more can wo ask? What more indeed, why make the-Op-position any stronger?. It seems to me at any rate that all'this/boasting about amendments ' secured,; and legislation suggested, has been grievously overdone. Nor can I agree with your.contributor that the Opposition should lend itself to the perfecting of a Local Government, any other, Bill, to be presently printed under the naine' 'of Sir; Joseph Ward. ..' ' • . V'' • What makes me grind my teeth Is to see "the centre of interest in 1896 now installed as Premier . of, this country, and in that'position strolling . easily about, .visiting .'England' whenever he wants.to, motoring -all over New Zealand, distributing favours with princely .'freedom, lolling, comfortably on the Treasury Benches, perfectly . secure' in thei knowledge that he 'always has at hand a necessary.'drudge to act as guide,', finger-post, and ; lighthouse. Government supporters, openly -chuckle over it, Government sciibes do'not hesitate to -publish their , satisfaction, -and the whole, thing is looked; upon, as an inevitable and. integral part of our political system." The prcsenty -indescribable chaos in: our. railway system is only one-of the minor' items in tho price we have to pay, and I can'; see no hope of 'any change.':. The. taotics that availed when parties were "'evenly' balanced, and every three years saw a change, - are still adhered to, arid the game ; is pjayod according to the book'of the 'eighties:-, "A . still "strong 'man in -a blatant land" would, have our Premier at his wits' end in a session, but. Mr. Massoy, I .sav it.with -regret, seems to. be ■shrill rather thanl still. (/ .;

I daresay yon wiU : think it well, if you publish: this at all, to preface it with -the announcement that you do not bold yourself responsible for' the opiaioiis.' expressed: by /correspondents, but at least it breaks new' ground, and might prodiico sohie ■ interesting tojoinders. Its' matter , arid style will , reveal my. idontity.to all I am concerned to reach ;, to all others I am content to be merely ■': • A LOOKER-ON. ■March 18. . ■/ _ ,■ .