ANOTHER TALE OF WOE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2180, 19 June 1914, Page 6

ANOTHER TALE OF WOE

EviEENti.Tr tilings are not going too: wwjl politically with thfj Wa*dis£ cause, aiid the leader of the Party is Mice plow be-wailing his ttrrhappy '■ lot, Be hag |&aved into the ears 1 of a sympathetic newspaper in tine' far south another, story at his woes*: He. hfls Hot on this •eeca-sioji been, assassinated 01? stabbed in the back■to' suffered i«iy other of those pain-' ful forms ol pdifel Kialt?eatm'ent, ■ the retailitig of which is as balm to , Ms ■ hyper-sensitive feetings. His'latest'griovaaee is that-unappreciativ-B Frees AsSGciat»n v agents have failed to keep an' .anxious world suitably informed of : what was fa-vottMble "to his party, ■ while on the other hand they dis> ■ Sorted what was unfavourable to itsopponents. It is §tU-to possible, we 1 fcair, that softie- unhappy Press agent has failed to adequately depict the' transports of delight into whieh Sin ; JoSßnr Ward's recital of his potki--cal Virtues ttew Ms audiettee; and it may be that; the dettioastratkmS of. rowdyism with which the Red Feds indicated ilieir dislike of Mr. : MiVsg'BY were not paifrtted ift swffi-' don Wy hi rid colours. These things, : we gay, BMty have'happened., we d.e) fttsi pretend to know that they did happen, but we em quite undsrstafid Sir- Joseph Ward's feeiiaga in thi : matter. It is, indeed, deplorable ttot he should' have Mm deprived of a single cheer, or that Mil. Mas- ' se* akmkl have -missed th« odium'ofA solitary hwrt or greswj. But having said so iimeii for the benefit of the : . tender susccpti-biii-Mss of the Reader: of the Opposition, he will perhaps ; forgive its for suggesting that it isj really time that flic Liberal Party equipped him with a 'flannel chest-' protector or a wrapper of cotton' wool, or. some other suitable -means of warding off from- 'his sensitive-; temperament the damps and chill? ofj an unfeeling world. It- is not anedifying sight to witness the Champion oi Liberalism constantly tora-Mainin-.g of thft hard usage- -Moot-dad Ihhi by his oppOjßents, and baring his wounds to the public, ia the hflpo of winning a little sympathy, where he cannot, gain approval fin his merits. There are tenderhearted peopli: who can never fe© made to see- the wholesculw! virtues of a vigorous birching as a check on the wayw<i.rdness of undisciplined youth: but it is doubtful if the spectacle of an oxperknooci politician ofsfltinnally wailing of li ; s hurts wilt either win sympathy w attract support, As a matter of .fact, Sin Josgpft Waiib knows quite well that these could be no combiiiatifin on the pari of the f"rc6s Association to injure him or his party, as he suggests, for the _ simple reason' that the Association consists of practically I lie, whole of the daily newspapers in She country, and the agents hi the different, centres who Mild ('mi- the messages belong equally to papers which respectively support the Uovernmout or the Opposition. In Wetliiigtoa, ■ for instance, • the

*cw JcGfamt Times and the JjV-m----itiff J oat. .ire the Press Association agents; m Aucklanci the Evcuina btor and tfe X«w 'Amhmd ttc.mlj, and so on throughout the Dominion. We are not by any means champions of the Press Association, and we have at times expressed our opinion of it freely enough. But the Association as iUi organisation has krft no room for doubt on the part of its agents as to the necessity of sending out fair avid impartial reports of all politic;i 1 happenings, regai-dlcss of the "colour" of the'papers from which they emanate. f\ K truth is. as we have had occasioii to. remark befiji'c, that Bni Joseph Wae& as a political feaefcr has developed the habit' of cndaavoitritig to cover his own shortcomings by blaming others. He . cannot or" will not see that bis failures are due to his own_ w-cmkijßss, barrenness of political ideas, and lack of guiding principles. It is true that he cannot be blamed for tht absence of those qualities which .go to make a success* ful leader,' bill having taiim tip the role of leader, he might at ieasb spare his own party and the public the Miction of those depressing recitals of his grievances,, which but servo to •■em.ptks.i'se the weakness which he seek? t.o hide.