THE BENEFITS OF REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1309, 12 December 1911, Page 4

THE BENEFITS OF REFORM.

! Inn direct moral and maters' benefit that will accrue to the country—in the shape of honesty and prudence in the administration of tic nation's affairs—is only one of the blessings that will follow the destruction of Wardism and its power for evil. To the commercial and industrial community, and to everv worker who knows how deeply his welfare is rooted in tho maintenance of industrial and commercial confidence and vigour, the prospect of a change of Government is a very cheering thing to contemplate. It is possible that in the long run the best thing about a change l of Government, will be the awakening of the nation to real political' consciousness and the ■ending of that blight'of "bossism- , that has poisoned the freedom of our country. In the meantime, however, nothing but good can come to the' comme.cial community and to the workers from the elimination of recklessness and dishonesty from the management of the country's affairs. Although the complete stoppage ot borrowing is impossible, and would be, unprofitable if not .ruinous, and fiiids advocates only in the Labom party, there is every reason why the mad plunging policy of Sir Joseph Ward should be destroyed n<, a menace to tho country and replaced by a policy of prudence aiming at as rapid as possible a realisation of the Ballance policy of selfreliance.' The fruit of Balance's wise declaration for prudence and honesty appeared promptly and disVr T As recor dccl in the late, Mr. Alfred Saiwders's historv of New Zealand, tho London Fhw'iiciul J nncs, which had sharply criticised the old policy of boom and borrow, said, sonic months before Ballance died and before the plungers recommenced :

When Mr. Ballanee inaugurated a sound policy we wore nmong the first to recognise and applaud the fact, and now, mii • " Ie "" enormous debt, ,-ind with all their past incomprehensible folly/ wo would, under such a Treasurer as Mr IJaUance, rather hold Now Zealand stock at the present time than that of «nv otuer Australasian colonv.

Sirc Joseph Waud himself, in his 1891! Budget, after declaring that the Government believe that borrowing is not necessary," said : "The policy of self-relianqe has borne fruit, and economy in both public and private life has assisted to brine; about a happier condition o't things."

The Mr. Ward of thoso days was not the Baronet of to-day," who, after helping to add over twenty millions to the national debt, and then adding nearly twenty millions more in five years, and who has raised the taxation per head to a level unparalleled in fiscal records and made living hard for us all, and harder than ever for the poorer people, is no.v fighting for the retention of office in the interests only of a small clique. We quote in another column from a speech of his in 1897 in which he declared, quite truly, that tho best recommendation of a country to the British loan market and the investor is anxiety to live within its means. What Mr. Ward then said was said disinterestedly: he had nothing then to gain by saying anything else; but now it contrasts with the desperate politics of the Baronet of 1911! Let Wardism come to an end, and there will come to an end all occasion for those persistent and repeated warnings by Mr. Harold Beauchamp, aa Chairman of tho Bank of New Zealand, and others, of the necessity for caution and the growing feeling of insecurity and .uneasiness in commercial and industrial circles._ The principal cause of the uneasiness of the commercial men and employers, and of the check to industrial investment, is the wellgrounded fear of everybody as to where next industry and trade will be attacked by the "Liberals." Nobody believes that Sir Joseph Ward's ideas are innately hostile to property-owners, or that the Government has any convictions one way or tho other, but it is a needy and unscrupulous party, and has sunk to the stage when it is willing to sacrifice anybody and any interest In order to keep itself in office. With its downfall, public confidence will be restored both here aud in England, for it will bo recognised that the country has at last awakened to the national necessity for prudenic and principles in the administration of its affairs. _ Industry will take a new lease of life, loans will cost less, the public will sec less of ifs substanco wasted. And jush as high taxation finally presses hardest on the poor—even Sir J. G. AVard insisted on this in 1890, as a reference to tho news article previously mentioned will show—so lessened' taxation, higher credit, renewed public confidonro and stimulated trade will rescuo tho workers from tho hard

.ships liciipcd upon them liy the "|,ih-n-iil" riijimr. Nohody lihh n. hijjW inti'iTHl, in Hit; destruction of Ward' ism lliiin Ihe workers, and that Wnrdisnr will he destroyed is (lie hope nf every trader who in nut pro-

ism Mum Ihe workers, and that Wardisin will he destroyed is (Ik: hope (if every trader who is not profiting from (.lie abuses of Warclism.