POLITICS AND REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 788, 11 April 1910, Page 4

POLITICS AND REFORM.

Sir, —If you will allow mo a few words with "Oppositionist" I do not wish to bother you again. It always has pleased us to beliovo that tho stalo and .transparent, because threadbare, device of the mangled quotation belonged exclusively to tho jackals . of Liberalism. But "Oppositionist" rudely dispels this illusion. Ho quotes me as referring to Mr. Massey as "New Zealand's greatest political enemy," and goes on: "Why, sir, that is just what tho Government newspapers are saying every week-day," etc., etc. He could not have made this comment unless he had deliberately ■ suppressed my subsequent words, "in tho sense that but for him Liberalism, or at any rate Ward rule, would long ago have been a thing:of tie past." If my complete statement was likely to injure Mr. Massoy, what aro wo to say of your correspondent's action in tho matter? However; Tennyson has already voiced our opinions about half-truths. It would appear that your correspondent suffers from the itch to say something, and had to resort to such expedients in,order to have anything to say. But will Mr. Massey thank him for doing this over the signature "Oppositionist?" Is this Opposition form? After this it was, of course, inevitable that your corresponded; should glide into a dissertation mpon duty, honour, and kindred. subjects, about which his opinion clearly possesses a value peculiarly its own. In tho same spirit ho attributes, the rout of 1905, to. the fact that electors and the Government most unfairly identified Mr. Massey and his followers with the monstrously unwise tactics of the New Liberal party. No doubt tho motives of the Opposition were pure and we may assume that they merely were anxious to elicit the truth. But all the public knew was that, with quite unnecessary heat,, they supported the -New Liberals all through the voucher case, and voted ' with them right through. The two or thrqe who refused to touch tho thing got nothing but black looks, and the one who tried to save tho situation, by denouncing the whole concern in a speech which unquestionably secured his re-election, was invited to leave the party, and is still referred to. as a light-beaded, ir- . responsible,, quite unfit to associate with those sorious and thoughtful statesmen whose tactics brought about the debacle referred to.

But what I really want to do is to attempt to convey some sense of the ■paralysing feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that is produced by reading such .letters as' " Oppotionist's." Men : who may ■bo expected to prove successful political tacticians surely should exhibit- some sense of proportion, at least some elementary insight into, the question of cause and. effect. It is the deplorable lack of this faculty in so many of yonr correspondents, and notably, jn "Oppositionist," that fitls so many people with a. feeling of what's-the-use. After, the general election,' wo found an addition of ten to the ranks of tho Opposition. That is the effect. "Oppositionist" says that the canse was the tactics of -Mr. , Massey. , The political blindness of this obsorvation, the completeness with ■ which" it ignores the most obvious considerations, inspires me with, the sense, that I am in tho presenco ~pf. so majestic, so ' sublime, that 1 ought to uncover . my head and bare my feet; Ho, insists that the Opposition won these seats. May I suggest that the Government lost, them? The effect is the same in either case, but the cause is what we are dealing with. It seems to me, at : least, that the difference-between Mr. Seddon-and Sir, Joseph "Ward is : very much more than enough to account for those ten seats". If this were not enough, then, if Mr. M'Nab, with all the prestige of office, and tho public piirso behind him, yet managed to cut'his own throat with his Land-Bill, is it not certain that he must also have slit a number of minor Liberal weasands with tho same weapon? If to these we add the influence of Mri'Fowlds, the wonder is that Mr. Massey managed to keep the Governs ment losses down to ton. Without his interference, Sir Joseph Ward and Mr. M'Nab could easily have shown their ten apiece. Coming to specific cases, what had Mr. Massey to do with Taranaki results? - These v/ero produced by nothing but the dairy regulations. It was an outstanding, personality that won the Dunedih seat, and Mr. Flatman's six by eight tent supplied the winding sheet. lYct tho earnest and thoughtful section of tho Opposition will go to their I graves in. tho pious belief that the determining factors were Mr. Massey , s reiriarks upon paragraph (c) of Subsection 7 of Section 63 of some Bill that nover reached the Statute Book, and Mr. Allon's luminous treatment oi that popular theme —bur 3J per cents. Nothing can,shako Mr. Massey's.conviction that he won those ten seats. And we saw the result at Rangitikeu After a , lifetime spent in protesting against outside interference with elections, Mr. Massey interferes. The result was to deprive our man of that popular sympathy with one grievously beset which outweighs • all other considerations; to give Ministers the excuse they wero gasping for to pour into the constituency with their pockets bulging .with political bribes: and finally a larger majority for the Government than tho ffoneral election had produced. And this,. I say, is the outcome of that complete inability to refer any effect to its cause, that seems to be the dominant factor in Opposition tactics. For my own-.part, I believo that last election told Sir Joseph Ward the- worst ho has to expect. And I favour tho belief that at next election tho watchword will be: "Give Millar a chance. 7 ' In the meantime my fancy loves to rest upon notion of some stern-faced man of unbending purpose who , will place upon the Opposition benches not an increased number of ceaselessly insistent critics, but a liberal supply of cobbler's wax. .

I realise that in writing ns I have I shall be said to have linked ray name with infamy. For it is only a regrottablo person who would tell a friend of his.shortcomings. Such services should bo extended only to an opponent. But to mitigate, any bitter tasto that my remarks may have left in. the mouth, let mo conclude with a bon-bon in the shape of "Oppositionist's" final and conclusive paragraph : "There is.no room in the political world for do-nothingarians, aud to that school your .correspondent undoubtedly belongs." I have already dealt with his notions of cause and effect. I find in this evidence of liis powors of observation. With it in one hand, and the roll of the present Houso in .the other, I feel that I can forgive him everything.—l am, etc., LOOKER ON.