The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1911. THE LAST STRAW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 13, 23 December 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1911. THE LAST STRAW.

The public, however disgusted they may feel, will not bo very much astonished to learn that the Ward Administration still declines to bend t j the will of the people. Again the promise that an announcement of the Government's intentions would bo made this week has been broken, and Sir. Joseph Ward still continues to occupy the Ministerial residence in Tinakori ltoad and to act as though the people of New Zealand had not declared that they want no more of him and his Government. It has often been said of the Ward Administration, in jest, that nothing but tho exercise of physical force would induce its members to relinquish their hold- on the Treasury benches—that whatever rebuff they might receive at the hands of Parliament or the country they would still continue to cling to office and drag still further in the dirt tho name of Liberalism, and the' last of the high traditions which have until within rccent years been associated with the political life of the country. It would almost seem that this jest is to prove itself no jest, but grim earnest. Sir Joseph Ward, instead of announcing the intentions of the Government yesterday, as promised, has flouted public opinion and all the canons of political decency by refusing to say more than that Parliament has been further prorogued until January 10, and that he will make a statement soon. This means absolutely nothing at all. It is a mere formality. On January 10, or at some prior date, it will bo necessary to prorogue Parliament until some later date, and so the_ pvocess goes on uutil Parliament is finally summoned for tho transaction of business. The action of the Prijie Minister u tho sort of cheap trickery wc have grown accustomed to under the Ward Administration. The fact that the country has declared against it counts for nothing at all, and if by any trick or dodge it can defeat the verdict of the peoplo and retain office, even if only for a few weeks longer, it is prepared to do so. And why 1 Why is this Ministry, condemned by the country, degrading itself and its followers in this way f Is it for the good of the country? Docs any single person in New Zealand believe that Sir Jostsra Ward ij acting in this way and shirking his plain duty in order to benefit the Dominion 'I No one believes anything of the kind. Everyone knows that the sole purpose of the Ward Administration, in behaving as it is doing in flouting tho expressed wish of the people, is to benefit the Ward Administration whatever'the cost to the country. It is quite on a par with the attitude of Mr. Fowlds at Auckland when he accused the people of temporary madneßs because they had rejected him and many like him at the polls. These people in their tremendous egoism have growu to believe that the public are children to be bullied and dictated to or ignored at will, and that Ministers are the supreme power. We had thought. it impossible for ,i Primo Minister to be more out of touch with the sentiment of the country than Sir Joseph Ward has proved himself to bo in rccent times, but we venture to think his latest stand in defying the sentiment of the people as expressed at tho polls eclipses even his wretched blundering in tho past. What his followers can think of his attitude since the elections can only be guessed at. He might have gone down with his colours ilying; beaten but regaining some shred of his lost popularity by his manner of accepting defeat. Instead the public have been afforded yet another illustration of what Wardism really stands for: selfishness and trickery and the sacrifice of the public interest and everything clso to the one sordid end of retaining oflice, with its emoluments and its opportunities for personal aggrandisement. Tho Ward Administration may plan and it may scheme, and it may resort to every political trick and device that its perturbed leaders may think of, but it is doomed. To-day the country is more bitterly antagonistic to it, than was the case nt the general elections just ended, and the feeling is a growing one in all parts of the Dominion. Tho itk'u the Ministry hope to win over will realise this quite as well as the rest of the country. In fact we shall not be at all surprised to find fhat_ the behaviour of Sir JojiEi'H Wakd has been ths last- straw with tome of his ovn followers, and

that, they will decline to follow longer at, the heels of a Government which has so little regard for the popular will, so little consideration for the feelings and the future of the party and those constituting it, so little concern for the national interest.