The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, NOV. 23rd, 1922. A BID FOR VOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 November 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, NOV. 23rd, 1922. A BID FOR VOTES.

Mn Massey has issued as an addendum to his marvellous election manifesto, a still more marvellous recital of ‘‘ten years of progressive administration” in which he coolly takes oredit for the fruits of all the beneficent legislation placed on the Statute Book by, successive Liberals-Labour Governments. Tho Prime Minister woiAd

have the electors believe that it was by the efforts of himself and bis political friends that old age pensions, advances to settlers, compensation to workers, protection to women and children, and the rest of the progressive and humanitarian legislation promoted by Mr Ballanee, Mr Seddon and Sir Joseph Ward, became the law of the land. But as a matter of fact practically the whole of this legislation was vehemently denounced and vigorously opposed by Mr Massey and his friends. They sneered at the Advances Department as “a pawn shop”, and declared the pensions and compensation legislation. while opening the way to imposition and fraud would place upon the taxpayers a gicater burden than they could hear. However, we are quite prepared to allow by-gones to he bv-gones in this respect. Mr Massey has confessed his error and no doubt at election-time his repentance is silicic. But. there are other portions of his rerital which cannot he regarded 1 quit so complacently. He says with a fine affectation of believing his own words, that political patronage was abolished in the Government seivice by the Dublin Service Act, of 1012. Unless the Minister is culpably ignorant of the facts, this statement is an astounding piece of effrontery. It is notorious that political patronage is more rampant throughout the service to-day than it was at any time before • Mr M assev and his lriends attempted to delude the public into believing they were surrendering all their privileges and perquisites to an immaculate Commissioner. The Commissioners own office is a striking instance of the persistence of the state of affairs Mr Massey and his friends were going to abolish. Ft does not control more than a fraction ot the Public Service, and it does not care to cross the will of Ministers. The only thing it does do is to provide on occasions a buffer between the Government and its critics, hut even here it is becoming less and less effective. The Prime Minister’s recital of his own achievements is made up largely of boasts of the amounts he had added to the salaries and wages of various sections of civil servants. If the Commissioner exercised any check at all tipc.ii the seasonable bounty of Ministers we should not have this sort of thing paraded at election-time. The truth is that Mr Massey is not quite so confident of the goodwill of the country as lie professed to he a month or two ago, and is now engaged in a fervid hid for votes which takes less heed of scrupulous accuracy than it does of the pressing needs of the situation.