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Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1876, 4 October 1906, Page 4

Pays tho Melbourno Argus A striking foaturo o£ tlio New Zealand, bush forest is tho North Island troerata, with its masses of blood-red fonthory Hewers. Even more remarkable than its appearance is the lifestory associated with this strange botimic curiosity It often springs from seed sown by the winds in the fork of a treo. Gradually it puts forth long rootlets, which descend to tho ground, coiling round tho supporting trunk. In timo this rata becomes a troe itself by crushing and sucking the 1 fe out of the tree on which it grows, Thero is a strange lilconoss between tho habits of the North Island rata and tho habits of the Labor-Socialist parties which democratic countries have of late evolved. Wherever these parties are found they present the satno parasitic and voracious tendencies. They havo all begun as modest climbers attached to firmlyrootod parties of Liberal, Radical, or progressive varieties, Thanks to the support and nourishment which such such parties have given them, they havo thiiven until able to stand alone With strength has come an ever increasing desire to devour and absorb tho lif>> most closely in contact with them. To fulfil the law of their being they must kill every other political growth witliih their reach. 'I he nearer ordinary trees grow to them the greater tho risk of destruction. Only by keeping itself strictly aloof from Lab r Socialism can a Liberal or Radical party hope in tho long run to survive,