The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCT. 5, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1877, 5 October 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCT. 5, 1906.

I The plaintive wail of the Premier in sounding the death knell of the reciprocal treaty with Australia was one of those fine pieces of acting for which New Zealand politics are now becoming notod. Simultaneously that night Sir Joseph Ward was bemoaning with well-feigned earnestness his task of having to reject the treaty which he said ho would dearly 11 ko to hug to his bosom, though ho confessed he did not like it, while Dorothy Vernon was adroitly humoring a hated suitor on tho local stage. it was a singular coincidence calculated to mako super* stitious people believe that there was somo weird telepathic connection between tho political actor and the accomplished actress; but the honors must rest with fir Joseph, for the actress, though perfect, had rehearsed her part, while his was a spontaneous effort. Miss Tittell Bruno would, of course, be too modest to admit that ' she had taught S'r Joseph anything during their recent acquaintance in the Emp re city, yet thero is no denying tho effect of her presence there in the charae or of Dorothy- Liko the refrain of a popular song it lias “ caught on ” and fused itself upon the politics of the country. “ No one regretted more than Sir Joseph and his colleagues the fact that the Committee could not see it 3 way to ratify the agreement entered into by tho late Premier,” so

10 says, and yot in tlio next breath ho oinlomns tho tiling in moat unmis akouhlo forms. “A. careful oxamiria-

t.ion of tho position,’’ ho tolls us, “ by himaolf and his oolloaguos and tlio responsible ollieors of tlio Customs Dopartmout had boon made, and they found that tho result of tho operation of tho troaty would bo ontiroly

different from what had boen iutondod by Mr Hodden,” and “ho was quito sure that if tlio late Promior wore now alivo ho would, with a full knowledge of tlio details, cliango his opinion ” In short Sir Joseph could not in any sonso approve tho troaty, and yot ho “ rogrottod ” tho (Jommittoo’s action in recommonding tho House to reject it. Dorothy couldn’t havo done bettor

than that in playing off Sir Malcolm Vernon and Ciuoon Elizabeth, and Miss Kruno will havo to look to her laurels whon sho next appears as Dorothy. Mipposing in tho circumstancos that Sir Josoph’s rogrots had boon disposed of and tho Oommittoo had reeommondod tho adoption of tho troaty, what would havo boon tho Premier's position ? Ho would still have had to rojoct it without tho advautago of having tho Oommittoo to fall baok upon for exouso. Such thinly veiled and palpable hypocrisy is not creditable to tho couutry iu dealing with our

neighbors, and Australia has just reason to believo that she has boon fooled from beginning to ond of tho regrottablo business. Tho troaty was, as a mattor of fact, tho outcome of ono of those unwarrantable interferences which Premiers sometimes commit themselves to without consulting the people whom they represent, and they havo only themselves to blame if their autocratic action is not after-

wards endorsed by the people who aro affected. Apparently Mr iSoddon did not oven consult bis oolloaguos in tho matter of arranging this treaty, and whon he went to Australia ostensibly on a holiday trip for the benefit of his health ho should have confined himself to tho immediate object of his visit, thus possibly escaping tho fatal results of the excitement which afterwards overtook him. But quite apart from the consequences, and the personal risks he ran, in negotiating this treaty without the knowledge of this country or its Parliament, he was doing something that he was not warranted in doing, and the fate that has met it is only the fate that was its due, no matter what may have been its intrinsic merits. Mr Deakin and his colleagues were doubtless justified in thinking that Mr Heddon had the concurrence of this country in the action lie was taking (even his reputation of being its uncrowned king was sufficient to justify that assumption), but now (hey find that it was not so, and thus wo say that Australia has been fooled into tho bargain, and her only consolation is that had it boon ratified by Parliament sho would have had»the best of it. Tho incident will not tend to strengthen tho reciprocal feeling between the two countries in the future ; but, after all, what is a reciprocal feeling worth that depends for its stability, if not its very existence, upon the question of how much better it will be for one or the other in a

monetary sense ? The scion of the Heddon family now in Parliament talks of this poor thing in the form of a treaty as being “ intended ” to be “ a link in the great Imperial connection.” What a travesty upon the very name of Imperialism! Imperialism which, if it means anything at all, means that bond of brotherhood, and mutual assistance under all circumstances, of a kindred race to maintain its Grown and Constitution intact against all foreign invasion. Is that high ideal to be subject to variation in proportion to the selfish interests of a sectional moiety within itself ? If that was what was meant by Seddonian Imperialism we want none of it, and the information that it was so, coming as it does from the family political heir, addn zest to the thought that the treaty has been rejected without causing even a rippl9 of disturbance in the great smooth sea cf true Imperialism.