The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1990, 28 January 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1907.

It affords us unspeakable pleasure to be able for once to pat the Government on the back, and to accord to the members of the Cabinet all the praise that is duo to them for having at last given way to the importunities of the real friends of the people and the persuasive powers of a section of the Press who were not supporters of the Government, in that the Premier is at last able to announce definitely that during next session of Parliament the tariff would be “dealt with in the direction of removing duties from the necessaries of liJe.” The announcement gives us a double pleasure in the thought that' we have done our share in forcing the hands of the Government in this matter, and convincing them, apparently, that the long-promised concessions cannot longer be delayed with safety to the stability of the Government itself. But while we are both willing and anxious to jubilate over this delightful consummation, we cannot forget that on more than one ocoocasion before we became elated, and many others with us, when similar promises had been given, only to find when the promises should have been i edeemod that' they wero conveniently forgotten and"that the coveted “free breakfast table,” though paid for in votes over and over again, was as far off as ever. It was in fact like the proverbial bunch of carrots on the end of a stick held by the donkey’s rider, and the poor donkey is still following tho bait. Lately, however, lie has shown an inclination to stop and give up the fruitless chase of an object that never seemed to get any nearer to his reach, and once more the bunch is thrown on the ground a distance ahead. As a spectator of this farce, wo have urged a cessation of the pursuit, and all that need be done now is to sit and wait until the time arrives when the coveted prize is brought within reach.. Next sesI sion of Parliament will see the prize shifted further ahead or the latest | promise fulfilled, and we incline to I the opinion that the rider is becoming

rather afraid of being bucked off iT ho doesn’t stick to his promise this limo, therefore there is reason for just a lit'tlo jubilation and increased hope, for oven if one promise is redeemed it will he something to praise 1 lie Government for.

The revision of the tariff is another promised rolorm that ought to I'.bvo boon tackled long ago; but the Government was unwilling to laco it for many reasons, the chief one, perhaps, being that the late Minister ol Customs was so hopelessly u liable to grasp the details, and so utterly incapable of piloting such a contentious thing as a Tariff Bill through the House that it could not bo.attempted during his term of office, and all this time the most anomalous tariff that has ever been framed has done duty for the authority to collect duty. Anomalous as it is, it would not ho so had if it imposed the same duties lor the same classes of goods in every port ; hut it did nothof the kind, for in very many cases the amount, of duty to he paid depended not upon the tariff as it stands hut upon the collectors’ interpretations of it, and as n j-osult cor tain goods were charged one rate at ono port of entry and a different rate in another port. It is scarcely ciodiblo; but importers have told us that certain classes of cotton goods wore considered dutiable at one port, and that to import them froo of duty they had only to have them passed through the Customs at another port under another technical name. In this way ono draper in a town who

“know the dodge” was competing unfairly against others who didn’t try to dodge until they found out that they had to do it in self protection; hut meantime somebody was getting rich at the country’s expense and because of the iuoxtricably muddled condition of the tariff under the direction of a most incapable Minister who dared not attempt to put matters straight. Congratulations must therefore await the new Minister of Customs when the Tariff Bill makes its appearance on members’ benches; but until ite details are revealed those congratulations must be confined to the intention to bring about the necessary changes. It is not without justifiable misgivings, however, that ive accord this meed of praise for tile renewed promises above referred to, for when wo remember that the same Premier who made them once stoutly averred that his Government would stand or fall by the Land Bill of which he was then speaking, and to-day, after already once backing down upon that blatant boast, we find him, in the same speech that gave utterance to the promises, again trying to shirk the consequences of that boast and his promises in regard.to the Land Bill, one naturally loses faith in his promises, and feels inclined to mix all his statements with a great big lump of salt. Instead of sticking to his Bill, as he boastingly said he would, he now announces that the- Government will introduce not one Land Bill but two, and while he endeavors t‘o persuade his audience, by innuendo rather than direct assertion, that the two Bills will be simply the one Bill split into two, we cannot muster up enough credulity to swallow that notion. In the first place he cannot give the two Bills ono title for there must he a distinction, and in the second place, seeing that the Government have already very considerably altered the provisions of the original Bill about which they were so boastful, it may be taken for granted that the change, not only in the title but in the method of .introduction portends a change in the provisions ns well as a very decided weakening of the Government’s intention to force either of Ilie Bills through the House. The Government have, in fact, protended to “take the bull by the horns,” and we now find them hanging on to the fail ready to let go when they can sid'ely do it. Such opportunism is not consoling to those who think, and Iho country has a right to expect, that • a Government should stand or fall by its policy; that it should adhere to its promises; and that honesty of purpose, determination to do what is right should override the desire to hold office. If therefore the Government thought for a moment that the original Bill as it stood or (lie present Bill as it stands was the .right tiling for the country they should stick to it; but it is plain priina facie evidence that they do not think anything of the kind that we find them so ready to jettison" any proposal, or Bill, or notion that is likely to interfere with their own navigation of the Ship of State.