The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING GISBORNE, AUGUST 31, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1848, 31 August 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING GISBORNE, AUGUST 31, 1906.

“ Tjin word Liberalism ia a most expansive term,” said an orator once while addressing a small assemblage of dovotees at the shrine of Henrv George ■. but the stenographer who reported the speech substituted the letter e for a in transcribing the word “expansive,” and though the orator became irate he could hardly deny that the accidental alteration was not after all tno strict truth In advanced stenography the two words are identic cal as, applied to Liberalism, they are appropriate, though not synonymous. That Liberalism of the modern standard is both expansive and expensive needs not the collection of an over-* whelming mass of facts to demonstrate, and anyone who desires to be convinced of the truth of the statement

needs only to note current political events to find enough evidence to overbalance an enormous amount of scepticism or prejudice, or whatever else may stand in the way of clear vision. The latest instance of its expensiveness is the placing on the Estimates a sum of £6OOO to be granted to Mrs Seddon | as a .compassionate allowance for the loss of her late husband, and the excuse for granting this huge donation is I that he happened to die while occupying the portfolio of Premier .of the colony. Other Premiers have died in j harness and allowances have been made to their widows, but in no case has a greater sum than £3OOO been proposed or granted, and in each instance there was reason for exercising the utmost liberality, because, unlike the present circumstances, neither of those deceased Premiers had amassed wealth. They drew smaller salaries 1 from the State, and devoted none of their time to their own benefit- If then the sum of £3OOO oaeh was

loomed sufficient; for Mis liallatics an

Lady Atkinson it ro(juii<3a a telescopic vision to dit-covor any ronsou why Mrs Seddou should bo grantod a ponny Luoro. As a matter of fact sho is not ontitlod to as much, unloss it is estab-

lished that the vote lias sorao rolation to tho sorvices rendorod by tho rospoctivo docensod Promiors. If jthat bo tho contention, who will daro to say

that Mr Hodden's sorvicos to tho country have boon just twice as valuable as those of Sir Harry Atkinson or Mr Ballanco V But even assuming i hat they wore, ho drew noarly double tho s ilary for his work, and spout a groat doal more of his timo in feasting and travelling away from tho colony at the colony’s oxponso, while they stuck to tlioir doslcs and mado no fuss about

it. Then for a time ho (lrovv £3OO a year from a Gorman syndicate, and indulged in other private speculations, while they devoted every moment of

their lives to tho business of tho colony. If tho grant is to ho mado on tho grounds of necessity there is no reason why it should exceed. half-a-ero wn, because on tho day of his death Mr H odd on was a woalthy man, whoroas Sir Harry Atkinson was a poor man and Mr Ballanco was a poor man also comparatively spoaking. The amount of Mr Soddon’s personality proved for tho purposes of probate is commonly known to bo sufficient in itself to keep his widow and family in perfect comfort, and whon to that is added his largo investments in newspaper and hotel property, consols, and other tldngs for her bonolit, that ploa is effectively disposed of. Where then

can we seek for the oxcuse for voting so largo a sum out of the moneys belonging not to those who propose it, but to the pooplo of tho colony ? There is positively no excuse left except that something has to bo done to keep alive the traditions of liberal Liberalism of tho modern school There are plenty of poor widows whose husbands have died in tho sorvico of th 9 country who have been granted a more pittance, and who have to maintain young families on their own labors, and yet the Liberalism which preache.9 “ equality of opportunity,” and a lot more fanciful things as their leading tenets, never dreams of giving those poor but deserving people an equal opportunity to a share in a £OOOO grant from Parliament. If Mrs Bccldon is really in need of a grant to maintain herself in comfort during the rest of her life, we see no objection to Parliament treating her as it has treated others in a similar condition by granting a like sum ; but to make hor a present of even a ten-pound note when she does not requiro it while there are so many widows and orphans who do, and for no other reason than that she is Mrs SoddoD, does not commend itself to any fair-minded person, or perhaps to anyone else except the new school of liberal Liberals who can be more liberal with public money than they would like to be with their own. Blrs Seddon has sincere sympathy in her bereavement ; but if she permits the sad loss she has sustained to be in any way compensated by monetary gain she will forfeit that sympathy to a very large extent under the circumstances.