PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 November 1922, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

AN AMAZING PBONOUNCEMENT.

i The Prime .Minister’s manifesto presented to an expecant public this week is indeed an nmazing prononneement. Surely never before has such a wealth of promises been compressed into a column of cold print for the delectation of every credulous elector. There ' are to he reductions in taxation, grew ter national efiicieney, carclul and economical administration, sympathetic and generous treatment ot returned soldiers, a vigorous public works po- ; licy, speedy completion of railways j now under construction. improved roads and motor and lorry services for those that cannot have railways, an | extension of the hydro-electric I schemes, more telephone facilities. ! better shipping arrangements, np-lo-I dato mail services, a vigorous immigia- 1 i tion policy with encouragement and j ; assistance to citizens of the I nited | Kingdom, world-wide wireless com- : ! munication, reafforestation. town- j ! planing, more assistance to local hod- j ies and a host of other good things tor , which the country has been pining . during ten years of Reform adminis- , : tration. The deputations that waited upon ; ! .Mr Massev while the general election , ; was still far distant, with requests tor: i the expenditure of a lew hundred i I pounds in their district will he re- , : gretting now that they did not deler , their visits to Wellington till a more j auspicious season. Bribery anti cor- i ruption would he perhaps, too harsh words to apply to the Prime Ministers profusion of promises, hut they certainly establish a new record in this department of electioneering. j Economy, more economy, nnd sii.l j more economy was the note Mr Mas- . scy was thumping with a relentless; ! hand a few months ago. but now with , j “the day of decision” approaching lie i gives a different interpretation to his theme and “Economy, he says in his manifesto, “must not he pushed to that point where it would interiors with the further development ol our resources, which is so necessary il we are to increase our exports, find employment for our people and bring more capital into the Dominion.” With this new interpretation it is easv to agree, hut in the circumstances the Prime Minister’s abrupt descent from the fortissimo to Dir diminuendo is scarcely convincing. Iho country has heard Mr Massey talk economy. : .i both keys, before this. In , that memorable speech of his delivered m the Wellington Town Hall on dill U'Tl—memorable bora use its lavish promi-'.x paved the way sera'' hie ato oificc a year late nom i >scned borrowing and reduced ' cost of living were th« main burden ol lii.s tale. In his first year ol oflijg' the j public debt increased by or • live mil-’ lions, in his second year by over lour 1 millions, and in lii.s third year by near-j Iv live millions, figures enormousD larger than the average increase dm ing tho preceding twenty years of l.i-j boral administration. | The administrative expenditure also j showed a large increase, and we ill j know what happened to the cost ol 1 iv- ‘ ing and whether or not Mr Massey’s • promises of Ifwill prove more reliable than did his promises of 1911, we shall not presume to say at this stage, hut as the Prime- Minister wax elected to he judged by the limits ot his policy and administration, wo need not apologise for calling attention to the facts as we know them. We must con fuss, however, that we are even more disappointed hv Mr Massey’s studied attempt to set class . against class and party against party , for the attainment of Ids own politi- j cal ends than we are by his needles j invitation to tho electors to give him j an opportunity to do what he knows j ho cannot accomplish. j The concluding paragraphs of his , manifesto are worse than cheap flag- j waving. “The third party” he says. : meaning, the Labour Party, stands aloof i wedded to revolutionary principles and j action, which, if successful, would : tend to disintegrate- the Empire, and . substitute for the, ordinary self-go- , veriiment which the country now cn- j joys, Soviet rule and class legislation j of the worst possible kind.” The Prime j Minister knows this to he all sheer, nonsense, and lie also knows perfect.y ] well that tho party mac hine he eon- ; trots, or at any rate allows to run his , affairs in the constituencies. always : exerts itself on behalf of a Labour j candidate, when the occasion arises, , rather than give assistance to a LibO Fell. If there is a member of the present House of Representatives hearing any re.senibln.nce .to the extremist and disloyalist, Mr Massey has pictured for j the purpose of frightening electors into his own camp, it is the member for Roller. and yet the right honourable gentleman himsell has said oil the floor of the House that he has no desire to see Mr Holland out of I ailiament. If the Prime Minister had the Loader of the Labour Party and his i colleagues in mind when he framed the . concluding portion ol his manilesto, he i is not only inconsistent, hut llagrantls j ungenerous in holding them up as the ■ “horrid example.” i