DANGEROUS TACTICS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1266, 23 October 1911, Page 4

DANGEROUS TACTICS.

« ;; DuitiNO last Monday night's sit- '' ting of tlio House the PliiilK MIN- t ' istek and his faithful henchmen e. .sought to occupy a largo space in b Hansard with so-called "proofs" ■' that the inemhcrs of the Jicform J, party had opposed the old age pen- (, Hioti scheme as a matter of principle. I: Such a charge, of course, is foolish 1: on the face of it so far as the Reform " party of to-day is concerned; it is foolish, also, and unfair in respect J oE those few memhers of the, Jtofovni i> party who were in Opposition when !f tlit' original Act was passed. Sin J,' JosKl'li Ward will Ij.t again reminded n shortly of Koine of his own past opin- p ions upon other questions— upon I 1 questions upon which a change of '.'. opinion may be more dillieult to ex- Cl plain. In tho menntimo, the Gov- c ortunout's purpose apparently is eua' w

ply to endeavour to persuade the public that the Reform party will repeal the Pensions Act if they get tilic chance. There can be no other 'explanation of the conduct of the Ministerialists on Monday night. It is not our wish to tdl our "Liberal" friends the cards that they ought not to play; but wo may remind them of the sad fate of a Scottish gentleman who was stupid enough to play against the Unionists in Britain just the same card as they wish to play against tho He form party. Mis. Uni:, the Scottish legal member of the Asquitii Government, told various audiences on several occasions in ]00!) that 31R. Bauoui; would abolish old age pensions. Mk. Unr. was, until then, a prominent and well-known member of the Government. He is now neither prominent nor well known, although still a member of the Government; he is never heard of; he has been politically crushed. And his execution took'place when Mr. Balfoitu dealt with his calumnies on October 20, 1000, in a speech to the Constitutional Club. Mr. Balfour began by admitting that his opponents must be allowed some latitude. But there were limits. Mn. Ure had been repeating his lie all over the kingdom. Accordingly, Me. Balfour said: It is tho frigid and calculated lie which moves my indignation. I really think it is an outrode, not upon a particular party, but upon something bigger than any "party, upon the whole fabric of free insl'itutio'ns, that lire should 1» carefully thought out. deliberately coined, and then put into illegitimate circulation. . . . Occasionally things arc said which pass tho line; and when they are said manifestly with deliberation, obviously villi intention, and when they are repeated tiino afler time, then I think no languago of condemnation is excessive which is used to expose that enormity before tho public. Mr. Balfour went on to say that the worst offender was the Lord Advocate for Scotland, and he denounced in these burning sentences Mr. Ure's repeated insinuations that the Unionists would take away the old age pensions: Ife has gone on, either by direct statement or by unmistakable suggestion, repeating a calumny which he must havo known as a calumny to audience aiier audience where there wight be some present who did not know "hat ho knew. Ife has committed in that a double crime. 1 newt not tell you I am referring to what ho has said about old ago pensions —about old ago pensions nnd the peril in which the recipients would find themselves fhould the next general election ic-sult in a change of Government. Helms'committed, I say, in repeating day after day these niis-slatc-menUs, a double crime, He has eommi'toil a crime against' those poor old people who arc in receipt of pensions, because he has suggested to them that tlii'V rannot look forward with confidence to the promises of the St-atc being fulfilled on Ihuir behalf; that their pension depends upon the moving chances cil' politics, and that if the party to which the Lord Advocate happens to be opposed should como into olHce tlity will lose that which I'arliawPiir, King, Lords, and Commons havo promised them. .If that extraordinary exercise of mendacious imagination lias any ell'cct with regard to ll'C people t'o whom ho is speaking—and of course lie intended it' should have some ell'ect—think what pain aud anxiety, in Hie interests of a political movement, ho has inflicted upon the most helpless aud deserving of Hie community. 1 remember, when my allenlion was first called 'by a friend of mine fo iho fact that less responsible members of the Radical parly than the Lord Advocate of Scotland were propagating this particular falsehood, I , remember writing a letter couched in perfectly unmistakable terms in which I raid, among other things, that no Government could if they would, or would if they could, interfere with these old ago pensions, and that' you might as well Iliink of repudiating your obligation in the iiationarcreditors as repudiating your obligation to those recipients of the national bounty. 1 was taken t'o task by tho Radical newspapers for suggesting that any Radical could propagate that falsehood throiish the constituencies; and it was aft'er that:—after I had made (he statement, and after I had been criticised for making the statement by Radical papers, on the ground that it was un-neccs-ary—that' the Lord Advocate comes forward and at meeting after meeting suggests the same mis-statements, tho same misrepresentation to audienrod which perhaps had neyor had an opportunity of seeing the contradiction. It is after (hat that ho comes forward and plays upon the fears and anxieties of tho old and infirm; and I do not know of any form of condemnation which can bo couched in language too severe oven from that point of view, even as regards that part of tho offence which tho Lord Advocate has committed. The result of Mr. Balfotjr's powerful speech, to -which the extracts we have space for do little justice, w.iß the political suppression of Mr. Ure, and, what is of more importance, the final killing of the Radicals' campaign of calumny in this particular. Every Liberal politician in Britain who wishes to avoid falling into discredit has since the date of this speech refrained from suggesting that his political opponents arc hostile to old age pensions. That our "Liberal" friends in New Zealand appear to be courting Mr. Ure's fate is evidence of the exceeding desperation of their case,