NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1299, 30 November 1911, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

. Few people who take an interest in politics havo missed the significance of the entirely new fact that In Southland, which in 1908 threw out Mr. M'Nab, the "home" district of Sir Joseph AVap.d has ceased to be a pocket borough. In Awarua Mr. Hamilton bids fair to destroy tho idea that the Prime Minister has a perpetual lease of the electorate, and in Invercargill Mr. Flemixgi would seem to be about to give the country another shock. Mr. Hasan is almost unknown outside Invercargill; Wellington people, who naturally have a better and. closer knowledge of •Parliament than people elsewhere, know him only as a man whose name is always on the Prime Minister's side in the division list. In. 1903 a Mn Paape, who does not appear to have had any politics at all then, pressed Mr. Hanah very nard. This year Mr. Hanan is opposed by Mk. Thos. I'lemino, one of Invercargill's leading citizens, who, to judge from his opening speech, ranks as one of the soundest and shrewdest, of tie 270 odd candidates now before the country. In that speech he dealt with every leading political question of the day with a. finish and aplomb that even the ablest and most experi l onced members of the Eeform party will not he likely to surpass. We Sjve on another page'a few of those of his points that lend themselves to <mort quotation, and when we add that these arc just the warp and woof of his keen, close "criticism, the quality of Mr. Hanax's opponent will be readily perceived. If, as seems more, than likely, the. people of- Invercargill decide, to turnout Mr. is 'no longer aiiytaing but a cog in the party machine, they will have'as their representative a member who cannot fail fo become a strong and influential , figure in the House. The aay of the dummy is over; the day of real polities, live politics, has arrived, and with it the day of the man who brinjrs thought and energy into his handling of political problems. We shall be surprised if Mr. Hasan is not given his dismissal. Like Awarua, Invercargill has for years suffered the injustice of being regarded by the rest of the country as one j of .Sin Joseph Ward's pocket boroughs. It now has a fine opportun-1 ity to strike a blow for political reform, and at the same time secure a representative in Parliament who will do it every credit. Apart from its grievously wrong conception of the administrative duties of a Government, nothing has told moro strongly against tho Waiid Ministry than the financial morass that stands' where stood the broad rock of Balance's financial ideals. The central feature of every Ministerialist candidate's speeun i"s the defence—supplied, of course, from the Government's machinc-speech-factory —of the huge borrowings of the Ward Ministry, and the comparison of the actual debts of the country with the hypothetical assets. Mn. James Allen showed, in his criticism of the Budget, that in his flurried confusion Sir Joseph Ward had made an error of two millions sterling. This error has been ruefully, reluctantly, and snarlingly admitted. A still more serious error as to the public" assets of the country has been sharply exposed by Mn. C. H. Ensor, the Reform candidate for luccarton, who is every day damaging tho hopes of Mr. Witty, the good-natured but colourless and obscure gentleman, whom a -few very keen political observers in Wellington may remember to have noticed now and then as the representative of Riccarton in tho last Parliament In tho 1911 Budget the public assets arc presented as £93,318,575, of which one item is—

Valno of lands held as security for amount borrowed for advance to settlers and wooers 20,000,000 Me. ENSonhas been showing in hin speeches this interesting fact in this connoction; ■ that the assets represented by the advances to settlers and workers' advances were shown as being worth, not the £8,000,000 advanced, but the £20,000,000 that the property is worth that they are advanced against. Previous to the 1911 Bud net these State astct.s (the sccirtti/) have been proper!)/ shown as the amount invested,. That is to say. the statement of public assets is deliberately over-stated by £12,0r0,000. what this country neetfs as badly a< anything is sharp, direct, honest criticism of the financial methods of Sir J. G. Wahd. The alternative to Mr. JiNSOR is Mr. Witty; and wo believe that Iticcarto'.i will prefer to a pleasant but colourless idphcr like Mr. Witty a man who will fight to preserve the country from such trickery and deception in the administration of the country's financial affairs. Tub Ho.v. T. Mackknzie would w:em to have made an orror of judgment in thrusting himself upon the electors of Kginout as a candidate for ;i constituency he had never troubled his head about until it became necessary to look round for a. new scat. The electors of Egmerit arc for tho most part-bard-

headed farmers, who can make a very fair estimate of the value to lie placed upon the election promises of thn Minister for Agriculture, and also as to the tremendous desire he professes to have to attend to their interest?. This same Mr. Markenzib Jβ the Minister the New Zealand Producers' Association approached in April last with a view to getting him to cable to Lord Devoxpout to ascertain whether vessels carrying New Zealand produce would be able to berth at the West India Dock. The matter was one of very great importance to the dairy farmers and producers generally, as it meant improved accommodation and better handling for their products. The dock authorities wcro proposing to spend £1,000,000 in improving and deepening the entrance to the dock, but some doubt existed as to whether our New Zealand steamers could berth there, and whether cold storage would be provided. Mr. Mackenzie, who is telling the electors of Egmont how very anxious he is to help along the producers of the country, showed now keen his desire in that direction was when he received the request from the President of the Producers' Association to ascertain from the dock authorities whether Now Zealand would be able to take advantage of the changes being made. Of course he cabled as requested. Oh, dear no. The election was a long way_ off then. He simply replied stating that the improvements were not of a nature that would admit of a possibility of discharging cargoes of frozen meat from New Zealand steamers, and recommended the Producers' Association to read the London Times of January 28—nearly three months old. It was too much trouble apparently to cable, or perhaps the producers of the country were far too insignificant a set of people at that time to trouble about. Anyway the President of the Producers' Association had to cable to Lord Devonpokt himself, and was informed that the dock authorities did contemplate provision for large ships and cold storage, though the dock entrance could not be altered for some time pending other work. The further information was supplied that meanwhile great improvements were being made in road transit, and that new storage was provided adjoining the city market. Valuable news this lor the producers. What docs the Agricultural Department exist for if it is not to supply information of this kind to producers; and yet even after they had brought the matter under the Minister's notice the Producers' Association had to cable themselves to get it. To-day Mr. Mackenzie no doubt would endeavour to cable to Mars to ascertain the prospects of the butter market if tho electors of Egmont asked it, but what would happen after the' elections on December 7 1' What has happened in past with .tho promises of tho Continuous Ministry ! But Mr. MACKENZIE and the Continuous Ministry may both pass out of sight after the elections.

In another column we reprint from our. Ministerialist contemporaries, supplemented by a verbatim note taken' by our representative at the small and depressing reception given to him on his .arrival last evening from his northern tour, some very painful examples of the sort of language tlrtifr-' the''PKiME ! 'Mixist'Eß is using in his alarm at lm growing unpopularity.- We do not c.ire here to dwell upon the. coarseness and vulgarity of the statements referred to. We are honestly very, sorry indeed that Sir Joseph Ward should have shown himself unable to appreciate the obligations imposed upon j him by his Majesty's consideration in elevating him to his present rank. In this one respect we are- as Tory as the ordinary man, that we cherish the dignity of the British institu- , tions that are rooted in the Crown's functions. It would have been pleasantcr to us and to everybody if, in his fighting. Sin Joseph Ward had remembered that his new honour in some sort compelled him to set a,n example of conduct. But he ha 3 chosen otherwise, and it is obvious that nothing but deep anxiety and desperate fear could have driven him to adopt these deplorable methods of speech. It is very amusing to note the methods of the Ministerialist press in attempting to influence public opinion by forecasting the triumph of Ministerialist candidates in centres distant from those in which they eireulatc. For instance, everyone in Wellington knows how desperate. thc_ position of the Government candidates is here—how hopeless their outlook. Yet telegrams are being sent round the country predicting the annihilation of the Reform party's candidates. The object of course is to endeavour to discourage the supporters of the Re-1 form party in other centres. The I truth of the matter is that the Gov- j crnment knows that it is' fighting for its existence—that just as in! Canada the country suddenly awoke ' to the necessity for ending the exist-1 ence of a Ministry which had held office over-long, so in New Zealand to-day the uprising of the people against the Continuous Ministry is plain for all to see. Never before in- tho history of the present Government has the Prime Minister of the country met with such demonstrations of hostility as have been witnessed at Sir Joseph Ward's meetings even in the carefully-select-ed centres at -which' he has chosen to speak. Never before have Ministers all over the country had to fight so desperately in their attempts to retain their scats. And the machinemade receptions and the boosting of the Ministerialist press cannot mislead the public as to the true position.