YES-NO.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 987, 30 November 1910, Page 8

YES-NO.

THE ACROBATIC PRIME MINISTER. A FEW TYPICAL SOMERSAULTS. WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENTS POLICY? When asked, some weeks ago whether the Gaming Bill was printed, the Primo Minister replied, "Yes—no." This and some other recent statements of his have directed a good deal of attention to his somersaults aud changes of front, and it is considered convenient, therefore, to place on record a. collection of some of the cases in which he has turned right about faco. Tho Liquor Question, The most recent of his ' performances in this .line was his sudden reversal of the two chief policy points in the Licensing Bill. The Bill proposed that the two issues—local No-Licenso and national Prohibition—should go upon one voting paper. If- you wanted No-License you had to vote for National Prohibition, and vice versa. Moreover, .the effective majority was changed from CO to 55 per cent. All' of a sudden, the Prime Minister announced that he had decided to reverse his policy on both points. It is commonly understood in tho House that if ho had not done so a motion of want of confidence could have been" carried against him. Mr. Hine's Charges. The most. remarkable of his recent exploits, however, was his double somersault in respect of Mr. Hine's chaTges. There is no need to repeat tho circumstances of his decision on September 29 that theso charges should be investigated by a Parliamentary committee, and his; second decision on October 12 that they should not be investigated by a Parliamentary committee, but by a commission of judges. But there is a somersault within the somersault. No doubt Sir Joseph may have had one idea ;of his own all. along. What was that idea? He said one thing on October 12 and another on October 25. Here they are, in parallel, and the public enn take its choice-.— ■ October 12. October 25. In submitting this Tho opinion still matter to a Commit- ■ was, as it ha<l been tee, I had in view from tho beeinnmE, tho moment we cot that tho only trithe charges to ask busal which should that this matter bo appointed to hear should, by commis- charges against a sion, be referred to member was a body two judges of tho composed of memSupreme Court. I bers to which tho want to take that member belonged, courss now. A Government House, Another recent somersault was performed in connection with the Auckland Government House. Even so faithful an ally as tho Dunedin "Star" . said that this was "a disgraceful volte face." There was first tho definite announcement that the Government' House grounds should be used for a university building. The Government then proceeded to strip and dismantle the building, and ' Auckland protested with amazing vigoiir. Mr. Powlds, on behalf of .the Government, declared . that the House must go. Tho Prime Minister weakened. Ho sought to sootiio the Auckland public with assurances that ho would. leave the . matter to Parliament.' Tho House took the first opportunity, which came "a few weeks ago, to" reduce a vote on the Estimates as a command to tho Government to stick to its guns. 1: Later in tho same sitting the Prime Minister successfully appealed to the House to reverse- its voto and presorvo tho Government House. To give,all the documents is-impossible in a short space. We frivo only a selection t— From tho'Budget of. 1909:— "1 may Bay, for instance, with regard to tho Auckland University, that it is intended to utilise tho present Government houro grounds as a, rito for a. university building." From a- statement by Hr; Fowlds in Auckland, on May 3, 1910:—"It cost 3 a. eoou deal to keep it fthe building] in repair, and it would require a considerable ex- , pendituro to make it habitable for the new Governor, if he were, to take up hia residence there. In fact, that Question of renewing it would sooner or later have to "be considered, and I do not think any New Zealand Parliament would sanction tho expenditure that would bo necessary. . . . with regard to tho absurd statement that the Government has been cuilty of doinK 'things surreptitiously, it was clearly slated in the Budget of last year that tho Administration had decided to take that courso of action.!' . ' From Hansard, Vol. 152, p. 308 (October 10, 1910):—"TheHight Hon. Sir J. G. "Ward: 'They proposed to continue the Government House in Auckland,' ;md proposed to ask the House to provide a vote for refurnishAnd the- Houso agreed. Compulsory Training. Another well-remembered right-about-face was performed in connection with compulsory training. During the latter part of 1908 and tho first part of 1909 there was no more vigorous opponont of compulsory training than Sir Joseph Ward. Even so lately as April 2, 1909, he was ■ against it. He eaid on that date at Upper Hutt.— ' Tho Government would submit proposals. NOT or A COMPULSORY character. . . . This .would mako it absolutely certain that the younger portion of tho community would be equipped in this direction as efficiently and as effectively as il they "tried to FOECE UPON THEM A SYSTEM OF COMPULSORY training, which a- great many peoplo objected to.

Six or seven • months later. lie brought j in a Bill, which was passed into law, providing for the compulsory training that he objected to. Strikers and Imprisonment. Less well remembered are his shufflings in connection with industrial arbitration. It is sufficient to recall one of them. Here is what he said at Kaitangata on April 11, 1908: .. ... Personally he was entirely against imprisonment for any such thing (striking!, and if' the whole of the- men implicated came and asked that the gaols'should be thrown open, in order'that, of their own froa will in.the matter, they might walk in, ho, as Lender of tho Government, would give instructions that tho gaols should bo securely locked, and the men kept out Imprisonment as a remedy was useless and repugnant to ones better judgment. He has sinco that date helped his colleague to pass a stringent Act providing for the imprisonment of strikers, in some cases for substantial periods. Lawrence-Roxburgh Railway. The Lawrence Roxburgh railway afforded him an opening for one of his finest efforts. Appended are extracts from his speeches, as reported in the "Otago Daily Times" on April 28, 1909, and in tho samo paper of October 17, 1910:— At Dunedin April At Beaumont, Octoia, lsuy. be r j5 j lgl o "How could they "It bad been go on professing thought right tU m ono breath that stop the railway they wanted to ... However, the havo the railway present ".-xry nrm. system paying, and porous state of «f in the next urge that fairs made a matethey continue to rial difforonco in construct railways carrying on nuhlin that were going to undertakings . . burden them with a When he went h-,„C loss of £50,000 on to WcUinS W tho interest only? would discuss 'with ' 'lir. Knight asked p'ropriefyTfTutti^ whether tho Prime the railway -ThJSlf Minister would hold (Applause)" ' out any hope that the railway would At Roxburgh. Octe bo continued to bor 15 loin Beaumont. "If ho were to' n *t . "Sir Joseph Ward. Government t oa^a ln , r i ply, u Baad ,l 10 & oaTr y the ltos*tS I oaadld. Ho ooaltl sure thar would S

hold out no such in- cot it carried to duocmcrit." . ■ Beaumont. II •ho could get it carried to 'Beaumont, ho thought they would agree that a crcat deal had been uonc." ■ And now tho Public Works Statement announces that the lino is to bo proceeded with. Equally neat was his swift and workmanliko right-about-faco in the matter of guaranteed railways. Tho parallel method must bo again invoked. His first Railway Policy. statement was to an Otago deputation, his second to a deputation from Clutha Valleys:—" October 18, 1909. November 17, 1909. "Unless applicants "With regard to for Hues were- pre- . the 3 per cent, euarpared to show their antee. tha mei'o fact sincerity by belpine of their, offerinc to prevent the other that was not coins: lines of (ho coun- to help them in Eettry being saddled ting tho line o-ny with unproductive sooner. ■ • • While railways, tho Gov- it was a good thine ernment could not for a district to come to their as- guarantee a lino, sistance. Vfherethey aitainst loss, there were suro that the was no virtue about return was not it in a case whereEoinE to give a the line would pay. reaoonablo result. It was only where the Government there was likely to could not undertake bo a loss that there to make the rail- was any - virtue in way. •. . Tho Gov- it. ernment was annout to help the people. ' If the people interested in this railway had faith, and were prepared to support that faith, tho Government was anxious to help them." Pookmakcrs. Even the question of gambling finds the Prime Minister as alert as ever—as able as ever to loop the loop. One need not do more here"than quote the central clause of his Act of 1907 and the central clause of his Bill of this year:— 1907 Policy. 1910 Policy. Every racinß club Section 34 of the which is authorised . principal Act- is to use the totalisa- hereby repealed. . . tor shall from time It shall be the duty .to time, on the ap- of every racinc plication of any club authorised to person who is, in use the totalisator the opinion of tho at any race meetcommittee, or other inc to ueo all' reamanajring body of eonablo and lawful such club, a fit anu means of prevent.proper person to be ine bookmakers so licensed, grant a ' from plying their license to such per- calling on the raceson to enter on any course at. that racecourse used or meeting. [Penalty occupied by such for neglect to be club, and there to revocation of club's carry on business • license/) • as a" bookmaker. (Section 31.)- • - . Etc. Then there is the Knyyett case, which ouded in the Prime Minister's surrender to Auckland's clamour. Of the land question it is needless to speak—its history is simply a long record of tergiversations .on the part of the Government. And there is much more.' But sufficient has been said to place beyond all doubt the title of the Prime Minister to preeminence as the greatest political acrobat on record.