A WORD TO THE ELECTORS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1584, 14 October 1905, Page 3

A WORD TO THE ELECTORS.

the Editor Gisborne Times., 3ir, —The Hon. W. Carroll’s oommitte o re published a manifesto specifying a caber of " beneficent measures” passed the Heddon Government ae reasons y ail the Liberal electors of Waiapn ;ht to oast their votes for Mr Carroll. Is provokes enquiry and makes one !—ls it so? And even if it were so, ?hi he to get our votes ? [am one of those electors, and I am ng to vote for Mr Carroll, but not withi discrimination, and certainly not if a fcei' Liberal appears. " The present leral Party, I am sorry to acknowledge, inly in my judgment the " rump” of tbe real Liberal Party,” but degenerated iagh it be, I cannot well do other than is dor Mr Carroll,because he sails.under i Liberal flag* such as it is. It is a choice evils. In writing thus I shall of course called, In a cynical way,a candid friend, ell candour is an excellent quality, and my opinion the preserft Liberal party d Government need much to b 3 dealt th candidly. That is why I, a Liberal ictor, am called upon to test tbe claims t forward on.behalf of Mr Carroll., I, onld have been glad to remain silent, it the committee will rouse sleeping igs by issuiag a thoughtless manifesto, et mo touch upon the principal of these measures.”

1. The Woman's Franchise s Aa yet it only a half-measure, because the elelent of equality is awanting, but, imperct aa it ia, it was obtained only after lany years of effort and agitation before is Seddoh Government was hoard of. bat admioistratorr, however, had the onor of " passing" the legislation, not hole-heattedly, but only because the re* >rm could not longer be resisted. 2. The Advances to Sbtt'ers scheme; !he lilie remarks apply to this. It is only half-measure, and is a half-hearted seasure at that. It wasonoontcome ofthe eaotion which produced the Ballanoe Ad?ig?etratlon— the reaction in the country trainat the extortions of the money-lend-'la interest, which had grown to be intolruble- It took form under the mana of ohn Ballance, but the final legislation vaa certainly "passed" by the Seddon iovernment in 1894, after his death. And mdeniably, opportunism is stamped on its ace, for it means only-give the hungry leopla a sop, but'as little as possible. The ioarage of " the great Liberal party” went iown into their boots—not to say that Ihey were trying to make friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness—in passing euoh a half-measure. 8. Laud resumption for closer settletaem : Does any well-informed eleotor : ,hink there is muoh elso in this than the lotting up of a system for sweating fhe taxpayer, and particu'arly the lessees after .resumption? The price is always the Highest market price, and is paid oat of borrowed money, so that the lessees are rack-rented. The whole unearned morelinent goes to the landholder. And that, a'ofortanatsly, is not by any meads the ionly ill-effect. The scheme of resumption by pur,chase ig rotten economically, for it Isbased upon the ignorant, senseless, idea ' that *' the -State ”■ • fthat is the people of New Zealand) is fair game,' - and that such notion- does not affect the individual. Further, every QO b pnrobaae increases (not the value but) the price to bejpaid for all otbpr land. -The -State -is a competitor in the. market, and'Tom. Diok, and .Harry ; haye in consequence to buy . dear. It is just another .opportunist scheme of compromise, rather than face the true remedy of aheavy enough land tax to force holders git larga areas «t unused, or hall-used, land

to soil. The soonfls it is faofld the better, because the land must be got for closer settlement. Tho vote s wi 1 bo sure ere long to show their taotb, aod " tho great Liberal party ” mast take the con' sequence*, if unfaithful to true economic priooiple. Then the dealings with the land-holders under the system ? What do the oleotors know ? I should like to bo behind tho scenes sometimes. 4. The Bank of New Zealand saved from disaster: What call was there upon the inhabitants of Now Zealand to set up the Bank for tho ourlohmoui of a remnant of tho old shareholders, and for some speculators in Bank aharos ? None whatever. Tho commercial disaster threatened was thoroughly provided against when tho Cabinet, on that late Friday , night, issuod a proclamation declaring the bank’s notes to be legal tendor. All dangar at once vanished by that proper Aot, which was certainly in the pablio interest. It was tho unprincipled legislation following that the eleotors have oause for bitter complaint againat the Seddon Government and tho great Liberal party, viz., the setting up again of the bank as a groat private profit-making institution, at the esponso of the people of jNew Zealand, by giving it a State gnaranee of from fivo to six millions, and by aklng np, for oash, half a million in bank hares, without reooiving anything in etnrn for snoh aid—yes, without their making even a passable condition in the interest of the State, say by limiting the rate of dividend to be paid in the future to 5 or 6 per oant, as Is done in some countries. The result this year (1005) Is thus stated in the Lyttelton Times.of 17th June, 1905, in a leader:— 1 " On this year’s j figures the directors, while paying the maximum dividend of 10 per oent to preference shares [State shares], would bo able to pay 85 to 40 per oent to the ordinary shares, and still make a substantial addition to the reserve fund. If the bank’s prosperity continues for another year or two the shareholders will be getting a dear return of 50 per oent, and will be more embarrassed than even the shareholders in the gas oompanles are to bide their profits. It wonid be a onricne outcome of tho banking legislation if, five or ten years hence, the country had to pay a large sum for the parohßse of the ' goodwill ’ of the business it saved from destruction, but it Would be by no means a surprising de- j velopment from the present situation.” And this from 11 the great Liberal party ! We, the eleotors of New Zealand, may well pray to be saved from any party or Government that passes 11 beneficent measures ” like that. Such legislation was a disgrace and degradation, to the Liberal party. lam content to bo oalied a- candid friend of snob a party and of snoh a Government, and also of onr member,! who must bear hie fall share'of responsibility. Mr Carroll’s oommittee would have shown wisdom - by not rousing sleeping dogs.

<The truth ia that our representative system of government, with party and seoreoy of tho Cabinet, is proving not only a signal failure, but is becoming an instrument , for effectually hoodwinking the electors. There is only one remedy, viz., direct action by the voters on. legislation, and an eleoted Executive, so that the political strings cannot be snooessfally pulled as at present.—l am, etc., W. SIEVWRIGHT.