A POOR TRICK.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1992, 24 February 1914, Page 4

A POOR TRICK.

The failure of the Leader of the Opposition to rise to the oeeasiMi and provide his supporters with some sort of a, policy to talk Or write- about has forced his newspaper advocates to Birte as tnucli as possible of hi| efforts as a financial critic. Silt Joseph Waiip . gave a great deal of .his tirae, a/t Wintdji on Friday night to justifying his own. financial transactions, and in endeavouring to show that he had not left a _ very enibarrteiing situation for his successors in office. It was a rehash' of his' Parliamentary speeches on the subject,' and the .matter has been ai'giicd so often that it is not worth while covering the ground again. The fact remains that his adrajnlsttation of the State Advances J)o:p..artrncnt was such that it necessitated the cutting down of the amount of advances that could be made to applicants. for State loaas, a, situation which the Masses Government lias happily succeeded in remedying. It is not Sift Joseph "Ward's attempt to .justify his own financial wizardry*, however, that is of interest at the,.moment;, so much as his endeftvowr ; to create the impression that the finances for the crifrcnt year are not as satisfactory as they should be,''or. would have been, had he been ia office, and that the MASSEy Government is in some way to bla,ftie. to ' serve the particular jjurpose he had in view tho member for Awarua tdok the Be* cemter quarter's rettiriis of rcvefiiie and expenditure, and commented on the fact that there had been a drop Srj Custom's revenue of £l#,CdO'and of Railway revenue of £.ipo.,Qoo; adding that, on the other hand, there had been, an increase of expenditure. Sib Joseph Wakd knows as well as anyone that it is both art* fair and misleading to judge the financial Worlungs of the year., on any one quarter's operations. ' But he aggravates his offence iu the present instance, because he mnst knpw that the December quarter oi Mill was a quite exceptional period en aseouht of the strike. ' With shipping Hocked and the handling of cargo delayed., the 'Custorns .revenue wag bound to fall temporarily; and it is. well known, too, that the tremendous, dislocation caused by the strike seribmsly affected the Railways. probably oedsr to those who give the question any thought that Sin Joseph Waiib must bo very hard pressed indeed in his: off arts to make capital_ against the; Oovcrnfflent when 'lie is driven to ■ resort to this sort of thing'.