The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1913. ANTI-REFORM TACTICS EXPOSED.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1667, 6 February 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1913. ANTI-REFORM TACTICS EXPOSED.

r The attack in the Opposition , press upon the Hon. Jambs Allen's j expression of the hope that in time ( to come New Zealand will be able ( c to- provide an expeditionary force ' of 8000 men for Imperial service il- s lustrates very well the peculiar char- ■ ' actcristics of Opposition criticism: j . inaccuracy, disingenuousness, rash- ( ness, and clumsiness. The absurd j suggestion that Mr. Allen proposed 1 that 8000 men should bo forced to go j r abroad is worthy of notice only for < its evidence of a - readiness on the \ , part of the Opposition to say almost , anything. It was quite unnecessary ; t for anybody to explain the quite j obvious fact that neither Mr. Allen 1 nor anybody else cither could or j would suggest that the, 8000 men , would be anything but' volunteers. | The Lyttelton Times rather shrinks ] from- the extreme folly of misreprc- i senting tho Minister, but it holds \ out a little encouragement to those < enemies of the Government and the < Dcfenco Act who may liko to do a ] misrepresenting for themselves,! i and ifc says that the Legislature did ' not contemplate an expeditionary | force. Y<% the Act expressly lavs ( it down, in Clause 26, that tiic | Govern.or iiiay at any time accept £ [ offers, for service abroad, although i i nobody is compelled to make any j svich offor. The clumsiness of the 1 Opposition criticisms manifests itself [ in the, naive eagerness with which i more than one of the Opposition ( journals confesses the ease with ( which Mr. Allen's speech could be ( misrepresented, and their declara- 1 tion, all in one breath, that the i nation will not tolerate tho sugges- c tion of an expeditionary forcc, Dut ( . will manfully provide it all tho i . same.. < But what is specially curious is i the-anxiety of these hasty people to f represent Mn. ALLEN as having kept \ tho idea of_an expeditionary force a ' secret until ■ the other day. The ] Lyttelton Times says that Mr. 1 Allen's announcement illustrates < 'again the serious mistake the Gov- ] ernmont l made in dispatching the. 1 Minister to London without giving I the public some inkling of its naval i and military policies." Tho Ashhur- i ton Guardian is much more foolish- < l,y emphatic: "Why," it demands, . ! < did not Ministers take the. people i i into their confidence instead • of i springing it [the idea of an expedi- i tionary force] as a surprise upon i them? Were they afraid that a £ storm of opposition. would bo raised ? f > There seems to be no other way of f accounting' for the deliberate dis- I courtesy of refusing information to i tho people to whom Ministers are j ■ -.directly responsible, and then,giving s it away to the first interviewer who b .asked- for; it on behalf of people'to whom Ministers have; no such re- I lation"—and so on, and so on, to < the. final assertion that "it would [ have been far wiser policy for Minis- J ters to have 'trusted the people' by ; stating the proposal to them prior ( to tho departure of Mr. Allen."' ' r And other lessor papers still than j the . Ashburton Guardian have been j saying that Mr. Allen has caused • widespread alarm, and that he has ! i sprung as a "surprise scheme" on ( tho public "something • that he has 1 . evolved from his own inner con- ( j sciousness since ho parted from his ( ) colleagues." Now, . these critics '■ 1 either have forgotten a certain public ] function held in this city on Decern- ' ber 11, or ejse have remembered it ' and have been brazen enough to pre- ' mime on tho public's short memory. * . The occasion was a notable gather- J ing, at which some stirring and important addresses were delivered by 1 , Mr. Arthur Myers, the Chief Jus- 1 tice, Mr. Allen,, tho Prijie 1 Minister. Those wprc reported at 1 great length in, all the local news- c papers. In the course of his spcech, { Mr. Allen developed his idea of a 1 joint scheme of Pacific naval do- I fence, and outlined his hopes of the c very expeditionary force which" his * enemies are now pretending was never mentioned to the New Zealand 3 , Public. The local organ of the antiReformers thus reported his' observa- f tions: . < Tho time was coming when they would * have to answer & question from Britain I ■that had not jet been answered. It was 1 this: 'What are you .prepared to do if f the time oomes when wo want your aid' How inany men can yon send us? The c expeditionary force hero was not yet 11 organised, but the time had come when they ought to organise it without delay, 1 her could .not tell when the moment would como when Britain might say to .Now Zeaknd: Wo jvant your, men, armed, equipped, ready to be drafted at onco into the greater organisation wherever it mar be Milled upon to go. (Applause.) Ho i , hoped that not many months would go ; . by before the organisation was complete * [ under which they would be able to send i . away, if necessary, as perfect a trained i force as it was possiblo. to equip. (An- t . plause.) . ' In the'fuller report of our evening 1 , contemporary, Mr. Allen was re- 3 . corded (as he was also recorded in J ■ our own report) as having been more J explicit: J Tho Territorial Forces were developing, , and the time had now como when wo would bo able to giro an answer to tho * aaestion: 'What are, you -prepared to I do in tho time to come when wo want f your aid; how many man can you send B to us?" The expeditionary force was not t yet organised. They were gradually J drilling and training tho men, but tho ' time had como when they ought 'to or- ] ganise an expeditionary force. They could { not tell when the moment might como v when the Home Country might say that • it wanted 8000 or 10,000 men, armed and 1 equipped in such a way that they might A 1 be instantly, grafted on to the greater i organisation. He hoped tho timo was not c very far distant when thoy would be in l a position to send away from New Zea- ■ land, if need should. arise, as perfectly c trained a force as' it was possiblo for 1 them to equip. r ; And now Mr. Allen is charged with t having kept all this a "secret" until ; he reached London, and with having t insulted the nation, and with having t I failed to trust, the people 1 It is \ ; possiblo that in their fury his foolish r critics had forgotten tho gathering s on December 11. In that case they I . will apologise. Our own opinion is t ! that they had not forgotten the 1 spcech wc have quoted, and that c 1 they will not apologise, but will go I on pretending that Mr. Allen never c submitted his idea to local criticism i before leaving. Yet not one of these t foolish critics ; who. arc shouting so t loudly now had a singlo word of r ■ criticism on the point at the time, i , The public will see in the insincerity c ' and mendacity of tho anti-Hofoi'h)ii\B ' i [in fcl'la matter tha measuro of tbqjj

l-oliancb that can bo placod upon any criticism they may dircct at tho Government in the future. Sooner or later, of course, their desperate lack of a ease against tho Government and their desperate determination to stop at nothing in fabricating the appearance of a ease were bound to result in their committing some wretched blunder like that in which they are now hopelessly involved.