THE Kaipara Advertiser, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21, 1912. A POLITICAL BOMBSHELL.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 21 February 1912, Page 2

THE Kaipara Advertiser, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21, 1912. A POLITICAL BOMBSHELL.

As a rule the Governor's speech at the opening of Parliament is a farce of the first water, and this applies not xraly to ~Nqw Zealand, but other countriep as well. However, the one delivered by Lord Islington last week in the House of Eopresentatives, will, presumably, rank as the most extras i agant effort that has ever been pre-» sen ted in the history of this Dominion. Generally, such statorical triumphs as read hy the Governor—who is merely the mouth organ of the ministerial party—signally fail to evince enthusiasm and fall flat; but on the particu-. lar occasion, under.present review, the

result was altogether surprising and unprecedented, Ie was only to be expected that Sir Joseph Ward, Bart., would show a bold front even at the eleventh hour, and provide Mr Massey and his followers with something more than a Sunday School treat; still the latter gentlemen were not wholly pre?* pared for the bombshell that was thrown into their midst—the series of radical, political fireworks that seemed to go off "pop" as each succeeding clause of the speech was gone through. In short, it spelled " Sir Joseph " in every line, optimistic, sanguine, and vitriolic, if not quite convincing. Why he did not electionise on the same principals will ever remain a mystery. Had he done so when he went forth upon his great political campaign tour of 1911, the outcome might have been totally different. '.

JJLSTEE AND OHUECHILL, There was once a stage driver whose team of six 'was, by the experts declared unruly. He put two grooms at the head of each horse while things were being fixed-up' for the start. When all was ready he assumed, a grand air of courage, tightened his grip of the reins, and cried out in a loud voice, " Let 'em Kip," whereupon the six fiery steeds stood stock .still and everybody laughed except tne: man with the reins. The difference between this story and the story of Churchill's visit to Belfast is that the man with the reins is included among those who are laughing. At this end of the world we are'laughing most at the wise remarks of the Times newspaper which sighs thankfully that a rash experiment has been carried through without orious result. We laugh because a writer has been found who pretends to believe that.free speech can be anywhere in the British Empire regarded as being in the stage of experiment. Also, because the sequel to the success of this free speaking is going to be Home Eule established in old Erin, and if that is not a serious result it would be interesting to know what ie. Especially as the establishment- of the principle in Ireland is now definitely declared to be the forerunner of its extension to the rest of the United Kingdom with the view to its becoming the basis of the system on which the British Empire will some day at due data be founded, The basis is autonomy with un'on against the world. The exact details which are giving the Cor servative press most worry are nothing. The principal is everything to the Empire, and the Empire may rely on its taking a shape 'agreeable to many millions of the subjects of the Crown.

Mjt'Eodmond's thanks to. Mr Churchill place the whole matter on its right footing, while those uf Sir Edward Carson afford the best possible cover under the circumstances for the retreat of the fighting lion from a field on wlr'eh not even blank cartridge ■was fired, 'l'he moral of the story in Ireland is that the Ulster people have too much sense to be persuaded into believing that self government is a thing of tyranny. The intelligent Irishman has long wondered why that which has succeeded everj'where, even in Boer land the home of irreconcileablo hostility for three quarters of a century, should ever have been regarded as certain of failure in his country. He will never wonder any more. T . . . ..

GERMANY AND "BRITAIN. The minor prophets of this country are astounded. The Kaisei- lias neglected their warnings. He has actually announced an increase of armaments in the face of the victor/ obtained by the Socialist Party at the elections. But the Kaiser, strange as it may seem, actually knows a great deal mere about, the Socialists"land their aims than the minor prophets of Britain overseas. The Socialists of Germany may inve><*h in .their .spare, moments against armaments. But iv the serious strife of politics they keep the armaments, in the background, Moreover the politics of the Empire are not made in .Germany'as .they are made in England, They are made by the Kaiser and his Chancellor, atid the* thirteen divisions of the Reichstag acquiesce move or' less eheevfullyv In fact it is because- there are so many divisions that the Government rules, and must always rule. In practice the perplexities of a House of many divisions are less than those of a House divided into two traditional parties. , Henco the verdicts of elections do not' count quite so much a> they do in these countries. On tho one hand one can not wonder at the Kaiser's tone, because it is evident that a country in ■which the judges are so much worked on by the general sentiment as to convict honourable men of espoinage on the uncorroborated evidence of , convicted felons. On the other the visit ot Lord Haldane inspires the hope that in Berlin the two nations may soon find that which both ought to bn looking for with all their energies—the basis of permanent peace—to the advantage of both without injury to any living soul. The mention of Walfiseh Bay, which we do not want, and the Germans very much require for their consolidation in South West Africa, is indicative of tho return of commonsense to the politics of the two most powerful and most foolishly sensitive of all Dations.

INSURANCE* The description of Mr Lloyd George published by one of the Unionist crew of journals is a striking1 emollirnent to his personality and a valuable testimony to the good ho has done his felloe men by the passage of the In-

surance A3t which no other man alive could have got half so far. It is the reluctant tribute of an enemy convinced' against his o svn will. We realise in consequence the nature of the service done. Here is a man who declined to wait foi a measure of absolute perfection before taking the plunge into needed reform. His rule was-" the? more the need the quicker the plunge." His method was to get the best possible tinder- the circumstances, leaving subsequent circumstances— otherwise experience—to suggest further improvements, the process of am.endm.ent to continue urder this' guidance until perfection comes as near &s is possible in the affairs "of men. " His own boast that he had, by his success with this measure, rescued millions from abject despair, is admirably supported by the reluctant but eon: potent eulogy of the Unionist journal. It .is fair-to add that the experience of this country has had its influence on the enterprising Chancellor, because the course: .he"isfollowing is the course set -by this country with many experiments of legislation. We first told a world oE timid bathers stripped, like ourselves, white of ill-natured prejudice, ami sKrmkihgj unlike us, on the timid edge of the black water of effort, that the' plunge is the thing which secures the the anxiously sought reform. ■': It is not for nothing that the Dominion of New Zealand embarked on so many ven-| tures twonty years ago. That was aj great help to humanity ; a thing not; to be ever forgotten. \ ■ t