The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEHBER 25, 1914. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S INDISCRETION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2316, 25 November 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEHBER 25, 1914. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S INDISCRETION

It is one of the misfortunes of tlje Leader of the Opposition that he is ovor-rcady to take affront at any suggestion that he is capable of error. Correction or contradiction almost invariably leads him into violent outbursts which are far from edifying and which do not help his cause. In one of his recent speeches in tho South he exploded angrily on the subject of valuations and as the result of an interjection ,was unwise enough to allow his angry feelings to get the better of his judgment. Now Sir Joseph Waed is on very unsafe ground when he getß on to this subject, and when he allowed his ruffled feelings -to lead him into the indiscretion of charging the Reform Government with increasing the_ taxation of the iarmers by means of increased valuations he committed one, of those tactical blunders for which he has gained some notoriety. In the first place it . is extremely unlikely that tho public will have forgotten l that, one charges levelled by the Opposition against the Reform Government when it in-: creased the graduated land tax was that the increase was' a bogus one inasmuch as it would not be felt owing to reduced valuations. _ Timo has proved the falsity of this allegation as it has proved the falsity of so many of the, charges made against the Government by its opponents, for the increased graduated land tax collected was an unanswerable/reply. But the point that has to be considered at.the moment is: How can Sir Joseph Ward justify his accusation, to-day that the Massey Government increased the, farmers' taxation by increasing their valuations; while his own party has repeatedly charged the Government with reducing' the .valuations as mentioned above? So much for that phase of the matter. There is another, however, which shows Sir Joseph Ward in a still more unfortunate light. For many years he and his party were constantly harping on the tremendous increase in the wealth of tho country under their administration. How was that wealth represented? By the increase of land values as disclosed by the' Government system of valuation. That is to say, the Government Valuation Department was constantly increasing the valuation of land for taxation purposes and tho Seddon; and Ward Governments exulted in this as an evidence of tho flourishing conditions of the country under their beneficent rule. Were these increases justified? Did Sir Joseph . Ward make any protest against, dragging out of the farmer the oxtra taxation they entailed 1 Of course he did nothing of tho kind. Why did riot he attempt to remedy the system of valuation if it was wrong? And if it was not wrong, what can-reasonable people think of his action to-day m seeking to make party capital against his successors in office for the very thing which his own Government had dono the whole time it was in office? Can any fair-minded doctor endorso such paltry electioneering tactics? But tho position of Sir Joseph Ward is even worso than wo havo stated. He knows, or should know, that instead of the Reform Government having dono anything in tho way of altering the law so as to increase the valuations as most people would infer from his speech, the Government had actually, passed an

Act to more liberal and reasonable for improvements. That is to say, it had actually reduced the taxable value. Such increases in valuations as havo taken place occurred under the old Act in force when the Waed Government left office, and they would have been .still higher but for the amending Act passed in 1912_ by the Massey Government. It will thus bo seen that when Sir Joseph Ward allowhis feelings to carry him away and the Government on tho question of increased valuations he was actually .condemning what tho Continuous Ministry, of which he Was a member for so long, was fesponsible for.' Instead-of the Massey Government being to blame it had actually passed an Act to minimise the hardship of the law as, passed by the Continuous Ministry; and is_ now going still further and is taking steps to recast the whole system of valuation and place it on a fairer basis. A Commission of Inquiry is now sitting with: this object. The Leader of tho Opposition is no doubt much worried just now over the election prospects of his party, but he will find it extremely difficult to discover any excuse for his latest indiscretion. Instead of injuring the Government as he hoped he has merely served to direct public attention to the failure of his own Government to remove, the injustice of the existing system of valuations—an injustice which the Massey Government took immediate steps to minimise and which it intends, if returned to office, to remove altogether.