The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1914. LOOKING BACKWARD.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2126, 18 April 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1914. LOOKING BACKWARD.

The efforts' which arc now being nivicio to give some appearance of life to the dry bodes of Wardism must serve to direct attention to the fact that Wardism is after all merely the skeleton of the Liberalism of tlio- days of Mir. Baujujce and Mil Sepbok. The results of the last general election find of the three by-oleet-ions which have since taken place may bo regarded as the reasoned judgment of the people of New Zealand* based on the continued failUi'c of Sin Joseph Wajid k> live up to the standard set by his pfedeceßsors who guided the fortunes of theLiberal .F&rtr. All the talk in theworld cannot' hido tho obvious fact that Wardiam is just as barren as regards policy as it was when the people of New Zealand, at Egmcrot, at Grey, and at liytteltofi declared at the ballot-box that it had been weighed in the balance .aad fmmd want' ing; and all the shouting and tumult cannot conceal the p-overty-strieken condition of tho Aftti-Befora group as regards ideas and.ideals, and its nttor lack of inspiration. Moreover, Wardism is liko a, house divided agaiflst itself, ancS is therefore bouftd to fall. Not long ago Sis Jofltf Finbmix gave the world a. glimpse b.ehind tho scenes, and shewed how the party was divided into tw-o hostile factions; Mr. G. W. Eussell is toying to outstrip the member for Awarua in the race for popular favour, and the rceent- cauetis only served to emphasise tho hopcless&ess of discovering a policy which would eoitnmand the assent of the f ival se> tions. It is not surprising that. Sjii Joseph Warp feds the difficulty of his position very acutely; but ho only makes matters' worse by constantly adopting the role of the- rM-n with a grievance and blaming everyone but himself for the unhappy position in which bo has landed the, remnant oi his once powerful party; the manner in which it hag steadily and rapidly declined in strength under his leadership should be quite fltifljcwmt in itself to convince him that, his methods do not meet with pepula* approval; bnt v ha cannot see- It-. One of the siKfis of a vigorous and progressive political party is that it has its eyes fixed on the preseflt.nnd the futui'e, Jind n&t ttirned bts.dk to tho Irrevocable past, toojjing backward is a habit naturally dcvelopocJ by members ef wa-ctie-mary movements whs have to live on thc-ir past because- they have ao future, Having no ins.p-ii-fttioEi for the days that ard to conie, they lia-i-p eternally on what they themselves w other people have, done in the days gone by. This is the unhappy position of Sin JosJiPH Wabd and his followers at. tfe present moment. They cannot face the rising sun,. but. arc always gazing: over their forgetting that the politicians of eaeli generation fmist justify their own , existence ;by tiheir Oivn ltaafcc way for bettor moil. Instead of relying on their own tnerifcs the Anti-Bcformers makiiig a -pitiful appeal to the electors to pafc them in power once rsofe becajiso Mr. Baiiastce and Mfi. S-Eddon did certain things a decade or two ago. But tho world has u> ■mo'S'e oft. and a- progressive, <temo v cratic community can have very Httlfe patience with sxich a confession ol impotence. Thp real owfistion is what has Wardisvn itself done, and what is it going to do if it ever gets the chance 1 The fact that the groat majority, in Parliament which it inherited from the Seddok Government dwindled away and finally disappeared a] together in so short a , space of time Is sufficient proof of its incompetenqo. It lias been condemned fey the people and mnominioiis-ly turned out of office._ .that is of Wardism, and if th-e Anti-ltß-fGrmei's will persist in lookitsß baekward that is what there really is to see. They ai-o cer-tainly welcome to whatever pleasure or inspiration they can extract out of it. 'As a matter of plain fact Wav-disW has been a failure from beginning to end, and on the strength of this inglofioua record the Anti-Rcfetmers _ ask the pebo-te of New Zcnk-nd to pive than another owaor-tiiaity of misgoveraiftg tho minion.