THE COMING ELECTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 406, 21 October 1911, Page 3

THE COMING ELECTION.

To the Editor. Sir,—As an old campaigner of over 50 years' standing in matters political, I may be excused for commenting on Mr Wilson's speech as reported in your fair and impartial columns of 11th inst., and though we are, as yet, strangers to each other, I feel sure he will excuse my saying that, politically speaking, he has not yet cut his wisdom teeth, and I also feel sure that the majority of voters of the Tauraarunui electorate are too wise to allow him to try his 'prentice hand in our Parliament at the present juncture of affairs. In dealing with the public works of this part of the Dominion, he lays great stress on the fact that whereas £250,000 per annum was promised by Sir Joseph Ward, and only £200,000 voted, £120,000 of which we spent, and so on, for two succeeding years, and by inference the fault is laid, first at the door of the Government, and secondlv to our sitting member. Such statements as these, the majority of voters will stigmatise as the veriest twaddle, for the very fact of some £BO,OOO not having been spent as voted, shows to all practical bushmen in the King Country that owing to the excessive rain-fall in this part of the Dominion, and perhaps to the scarcity of available men, conveyances, horses, etc., together with the fearful mud-holes to be negotiated, then the limited time when it is possible to successfully carry on road making, easily accounts for the apparent discrepancy. As regards the bona fides of the Premier our would-be Premier friend may take this nint. That any doubt of a distinct promise made, by any body, or bodies, to perform a certain thing, or things very seriously militates against the fulfilment of those promises. This is a psychological fact, that cannot be denied. We now come to the sale uf "Dreadnoughts" in order to raise tons of money for the backblocks—what childish nonsense! I will here tell Mr Wilson that our gift of a Dreadnought to the Mother Country was the best and cheapest advertisement New Zealand ever had, even looking at it in that low light, but it brought us at once to the forefront of popularity, and wonder, among all the nations of the earth, and linking her in the bonds of indissoluble love throughout the British Empire. Well / all I can say about these tons of money to be raised by our aspicrant Premier, by selling Dreadnoughts, etc., is that I trust he will so3n see the error for his ways, and quickly withdraw this silly statement from public view. I am sure his patron would not back him up in this foolish utterance. He cjuotes Mr Hogg as an awful example of disgust of the- Premier, and of his, Mr Hogg's, resigning from the Ministry, but he is off the track there. Then he says that the Premier has come round to Mr Hogg's way of thinking in order to placate Mr Hogg's constituency. This is incorrect again, for the Premier's idea of a bank of issue he will fina differs materially from those of Mr Hogg, who is a friend of mine, and who knows my ideas uf a bank of issue as I know his on that subject, and if the Premier had so altered his mind as to come round to Mr Hogg s opinion, there is an old adage that meets the case, viz: "A Wiseman will change his mind, but a fuoi never." I trust our friend will adopt the wise man's policy, and even far as to apologise to the Premier for having attributed unworthy and untruthful motives for having brought in a Bill that might be a great help to ua in time of need, to tide over, in case of war (or other reasons), a tight money market. In dealing with the "taihoa" policy Mr Wilson complains uf, it might be regrettable in a fewindividual cases, but as a general thing, I may ask, what is the use of selling or leasing lands until access to it be made by rail or otherwise? It is like the child crying for the moon to be given him to play with. Mr Wilson's land policy has been served up to us in every shape and form ad nauseaum by his Mr Massev, who, from the North Cape to the Bluff, is ever "singing the same sad thing," and had he a musical ear he couid not fail to hear "the sad sea waves" echoing back this dismal dirge along the two thousand miles of sea front. Personally, I have every respect for the leader of the Opposition, who, I believe, is honest in his belief;?, but unfortunately his lights pre darkness. Therefore he is certainiy nioie use as leader of the Opposition than leader of the House. There never was a Government absolutely honest in some of their methods, even if ii. is the Cabinet's high aim to be so. There are too many conflicting interests to contend against. But I say cu this Government, whose political life has extended over twenty years, ihat during that period they have placed upon the Statute Book laws, that for 20 vears preceding their advent, I had'advocated in addresses to the public, and in various newspapers of the then colony. Therefore it is only natural that one. should stick to the bridge that carried one safely over, and whose Government has done so much during their political lite, in placing this country in the loiefront of all the nations of the earth. Nor do they think it is "infra dig" to copy our laws.—l am, etc., W. WHITE. Te Kuiti, October 17th, 191].