The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 1, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1947, 1 December 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 1, 1906.

I The campaign of the Hon. the Minis- | ter of Lands is becoming more inte- | resting. When the hon. gentleman | set out a few dayd ago to smite all the | arguments advanced and to be I ad vanned against the Land Bill it was expected that he would receive what the press correspondents are in the habit of describing as “a good reception.” So far the expectations have I not been of that soul-satisfying char--1 acter to which Ministers have so long I been accustomed. Considering the 1 amount of advertising that the subject I matter of his, discourses has lately I received both in and out of ParliaImont, and the interest taken in the subject from one end of tho colony to the other, it might have been fairly assumed that the initial address of the campaign would have created some enthusiasm both for and against; but, sad to relate, the Minister did not succeed in drawing a full houso, notwithstanding tho fact that ho was about to speak for tho first time as Minister of Lands in a district where an election is close at hand and politics are, or ought to be, the main topic of conversation. Still with the aid of the great Liberal and Labor Federation, he succeeded in carrying a favorable motion with a smaller majority than the circumstances might easily have made possible with a more popular treatment of the question. The result of that meeting gave no very encouraging symptoms for the success of future efforts; but hardly anyone expected that the hon. gentleman and his cause would so soon meet with so severe a reverse as he did at Clevedon on Thursday night, and which is reported in our telegraphic news. Preceded as this address was by the inevitable banquet at the hands of the universal political providores, the Liberal and Labor Federation, and xvithout which i ao Liberal Ministor now-a-days appears to be able to hold an audience together, the Minister can hardly find I an excuse for his defeat on tho score of want of preparation, yet a defeat he has sustained, and that most decisively. At the banquet, when he was speaking to Liberal and Labor Federationists only, he was inclined to be a little bit boastful and prophetic, and he said “in regard to the Land Bill, j if the Government after firing its last I shot failed to secure the country’s

support of tho moasura it would havo to go out of oxiatonoo.” This did not dismay tho subsequent public meotiug, which vory emphatically gavo him tho “straight tip ” to go at onco aftor tho first shot, and not to wait for tho last ono. Whether tho ambiguity of tho Minister’s statement is duo to tho exhilarating effects of tho liberal dinner or tho intention of tho speaker to ho ambiguous in regard to tho intentions of tho Cabinet in tho ovont of final defeat it is impossible to determine at this stage ; but it would bo highly interesting to know what, ho meant by “it "in the sentence, “it would' have to go out of existence.” Did. ho moan the Government or the measure? More than likely ho meant the. Government; but by end bye tho moasuro can bo made to lit tho statoi merit. i low 'ovor, little did the Minister think wlion ho gavo utterance to it — that is, tho statement, not the Minister —that his position would so soon be jeopardised by tho decisive vote of the eh.sC' uih, or ho probably would not have risked even so ambiguous an utterance in regard to Ministerial future intentions. Of course tho Minister will continue his campaign notwithstanding, but a few more sturdy independent votes like that recorded at Oievedon would do incalculable good to tho colony, for it would show tho Ministry that tho days of autocracy are past and that tho people of tho colony menu to have a voice in tho government of its affairs For tins magnificent service tho people of Oievedon deserve a testimonial from tiio rest of tho colony, and if they want a bridge, a road, or even a town clock not a murmur should bo raised against them goUing it out of the public exchequer, for loss deserving people havo boon favored in that way many a tiuio and oft. Tho vote >s an ominous sign of impending dofeat for the Ministry ovor their land proposals, and tho uows of its emphatic expression in tho faco of tho Minister himself will give heart to other assemblies of votera to say what they really mean in regard to that question, so that, after all, Mr McNab’s suggestion about an early election may have more truth in it than had the Premier's denial and mild rebuke of his colleague for having lot the eat out of the bag. What will happen if tho Ministry find a majority of these votes against them in the country ? J c. 'i simply this, that they have tho op. on of resigning before meeting Parliament, and calling on the Governor to grant a dissolution • but they are not at ail likely to do so | until they have once more counted heads from tho Government benches, and then if they find that a majority | of members have taken their cue from the country in opposition to the Land | Bill, “it ” —not the Ministry—“ will have to go out of existence ” and the bull’s tail will be let go before a division is called for unless the Opposition table a direct adverse motion on the Bill, and then they must face the music and resign. If they do resign under those circumstances they may still possibly ask for a dissolution ; but the fact that tho country had been stumped on the question at issue and given its indirect mandate would be a sufficient clause why tho Governor should not grant a dissolution until those opposed to the measure in Parliament had tho chance of forming a Cabinet, and he would probably not grant it. If then the Opposition failed to form a stable Government a dissolution would be certain; but before that stage is reached we see no chance of a general election resulting from the Land Bill campaign or any other cause until the triennial term expires in the ordinary course.