NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1269, 26 October 1911, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

$ . Satirical laughter greeted the announcement made by the Prime Minister yesterday that so far as he could see the general election could not be held until the middle of January next. No doubt, members thought this a good joke; yet nothing would suit the Government better than to put off the elections. At the present time the attention of the public is closely concentrated on the political situation and the result is far from pleasant for Ministers. But if the holiday season is allowed to intervene and the attention of a large section of the electors is distracted from politics by more agreeable matters, there may be a temporary slackening in interest in political affairs which is more likely to benefit the Government than anyone else. It is very unfortunate that there should have been so much muddlcment and unrest occasioned over the coming elections. YVe cannot recall any previous general election in connection with which such suspicion existed of trickery and underhand methods. The bungling over tho rolls.has been largely responsible for this, but the feeling of uneasiness is strengthened by the Prime Minister's hints and suggestions that it may be necessary to take some unusual step, such as tho postponement of the elections; or to pass some special legislation, the effect of which may not be fully realised until it is too late. There is a growing feeling that the voting at the licensing poll may bo affected by the bungling which has taken place and tho steps taken to remedy it. How far the polls would be influenced by postponing the elections until January, when so many people would be away from home on holiday, is not easy to determine. If any attempt is made to prolong the life of tho Parliament beyond the recognised term of three years it should De resisted to the bitter end. If the country wants to keep the present Government in office by all means let the country do so; but let us be quite certain that the Government is not permitted to retain its hold on office by trickery in defiance of the wishes of the country.

There was an interesting little pas-sage-at-arms between two Ministers and the Senior Government Whip in the early hours of' Wednesday morning. The question under discussion was the fairness of compelling the Native owners of certain leases! to allow the Greymouth Borough Council the use of the sections on which the Town Hall and municipal gasworks are erected at a peppercorn rental. The member for Grey, Sir A. Guixness, had moved in this direction and the Government Whip, Mr. Ell, condemned tho proposition in very violent terms. To the surprise of everyone the Hon. RM'Kenzie rose and chastised the Whip of the party, and in the most downright terms expressed the opinion that it was the Europeans who had made and were still adding to the_ value of Native lands, and the Natives should remember this fact. It was time, he thought, < that the Natives were placed on the same footing as Europeans. This was too much for Slit James Carroll, who scornfully asked his colleague if any member would dare to propose to' force Europeans to lea.se their land at a peppercorn rental as was now proposed in respect of these Native leases. The Native Minister v/axed very eloquent on the subject and a little indignant too. The incident was illuminating in the evidence it afforded of the growing uneasiness in the Cabinet at the Native land policy of the Native Minister. Sir James Carroll has very skilfully handled the Government party and shaped the Native policy of the Government just as suited him. He is far too clover for his colleagues in the Ministry

' Files to hand by yesterday's mail contain the results of the Canadian elections and the comments thereon. The crushing defeat of the Laurier Government appears to have created surprise everywhere. In Canada itself the Conservatives had expressed confidence that the Government would be defeated, but no one anticipated tho political landslide which actually occurred. In the United States and in Great Britain the annihilation of the Reciprocity proposals was naturally regarded as the most significant feature of the elections and it is generally considered that all hope of a reciprocal trade treaty between America and Canada must now be abandoned for many years to come. But while Reciprocity formed an important issue in the campaign there were other issues which influenced the electors to throw out the Continuous Canadian Ministry and replace it with a new Government pledged to administrative reform. The Daily News Advertiser, Vancouver, in its issue of September 23, published the following paragraph in its editorial columns under the heading "Base Appeals":

Thero is a ghastly humour in recalling tho appeal of tho late Government to vote for the Liberal candidate as ono who could get more for tho people than an opponent of the Government. It is a mean argument at the best, suggesting that a Government is habitually unjust and dishonest in tho administration of the public sen-ice. But it is also futile since the people do not know which candidate will bo a supporter of tho future Government. Mr. Templem.in worked this appeal to tho extreme limit, offering the expenditure of millions on tho harbour as the price of support. Had he been elected he could not havo delivered tho goods.

There is surely a hint here for the electors of New Zealand.

Me. Bell can flatter himself that he has alarmed the Government very greatly by his candidature for the Suburbs seat. The abuse heaped on him in Parliament last evening can be taken as an assurance that his outspoken criticism has gone home and that Ministers arc extremely anxious to injure his chances of success and if possible intimidate him and put a stop to his very incisive analysis of their maladministration. It is quite in keeping with the methods of the Government that they should distort Me. Bell's remarks and endeavour to make it appear that he had imputed personal dishonesty against individual Ministers. Yet they must know that Mr. Bell specifically disclaimed any such intention. In his Vvadcstown speech, published on Tuesday last, he said, as reported in a Ministerial journal:

When he spoke of "jobbery" he wanted to make it clear that he did not mean that any financial advantage was gained by any member of the Ministry. Of that ho hadn't any shadow of proof; he did not suggest' that any Minister was one penny the richer for anything ho (tho candidate) called a "job," and ho did not wish to be misunderstood.

Yet in face of this statement, published two clays ago and commented on in their own journal, members of the Government party profess to believe that Mr. Bell meant exactly the reverse and abuse him in that choice style with which they have made the public so familiar. As to their attacks on this journal they have done their utmost to discredit and injure it for the past four years without any success. The statement by Mr. Fowlds that the reports published in our columns arc distorted is quite in keeping with tho tactics the Government have pursued towards the paper throughout. There is no paper in New Zealand that gives fairer reports and Ministers know that quite well. When Mn. Fowlds states that our reports are "edited" he displays very gross ignorance or he is wilfully attempting to mislead. No responsible newspaper publishes reports which have not been sub-edited. The law of libel as Mr. Fowlds is well aware necessitate this. Offensive references and libellous remarks are frequently deleted from reports by every newspaper, but to suggest that reports are distorted with a view to misrepresenting the utterances of speakers is to suggest what is absolutely false. No newspaper anywhere has allowed its opponents greater latitude in tho way of abuse than The Dominion as our readers can testify. It has wasted many columns of _ valuable space in giving full publicity to the abuse which its enemies in and out of Parliament have hurled at it. And the result is to-day that despite the constant attacks made on it by Ministers and their supporters its position in the country is stronger than ever it was, while the position of Ministers is so desperate that they have to. descend to still further and more unjust vilification of their critics in a last vain endeavour to stem the swelling tide of adverse public opinion.