Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1898. The opening of the Campaign.

Manawatu Herald, 14 October 1893, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1898. The opening of the Campaign.

On Thursday night, at Wellington, the veteran Mr W. T. L. Travers, opened the election campaign with a speech at the Opera House. Mr Travevs was a member of the first Parliament in New Zealand, ari3 has also been a member of other Parliaments, but for a number of years has remained in private life, carefully watching the actions of those at the head of our political machinery. He now seeks the support of the city electors It is not surprising to find an ex- , pevienced politican and an old ; colonist, concluding that he ,could not su^porHhe present Government, i though he claimed td be a Liberal. He has discovered that the Goyern,- --' ment rnisdriderstan'a Lißeralfsm- fe mean the advocacy of the interests of one class in the community, and so have a very large number of the electors made the same discovery. We are glad to see that Mr Travers boldly pointed out the absurdity of the taxation laid upon colonists, so that funds may be found to secure large surplusses, and thus the means to pay Co-operative labour. As in a ' soldier, obedience and punctuality are the watchwords, so in a Treasurer should sufficiency and exactness be the guide. A story is told about an officer in the Peninsula War who got into trouble Irom too much zeal. He had been ordered by the great I

-B«ke to be* at /a certain 1 Vende Rvotfs a s?tr S1 , Yen horn% When -the Dnlre ot Wellington 'arrived ho enquired of the officer how-long be had boen on the ground. " Two hours, Your (mve C -< wnsthe«M»s«»-i-. Then the JJnko let htm Ir^., t h a .t he was not needed there before the time Used 'air<nmtt-tW6^mflri?etoTe-TtilTr"fvftV just as bnn* as being late, punctuality was what was nested in a soWiev. "Lll'-iA '-b\ an nip manner all that pnrlinineiU demands from lM~Trea7 surer is sufticiont money -to cover the pxnenrtjtimj ngrml upon, to, gain which ir> nmpowera-portain taxes to J»-> lain upon the. people; hut the lnrcn't- the surplus the Treasurer shows nt t.ho p n <] of the year, is only a proof of his incompetence to be (rusted in framing an estimate, and signifies that that surplus is just so much unnecessary taxation the people have to pay. Yet we find the Ministry . delighted in having displayed so much stupidity ! .Mr j Travers doubted if the Government had given relief in the incidence of taxation to those who wanted relief. He had. considered the question carefully, and had found that very few of those who worked hardest got enough to maintain themselves, and those who did found it impossible to save any money. He looked upon this sad state as having arisen from the Government having refused to cheapen the necessaries of life. That this is so is beyond contradiction, as the Government have been urged by the Opposition to do something in this way so as to smooth the path of the true workingman, but as this would have deprived them of money to spoon feed the political "working-man" a creature of little use, barring a vote, and of no ornament, the present Government ignored the independent to favour the very dependent work-ing-man. The sturdy settlers away in the heart of the bush, hewing out a home, to secure which they have to put up with much hard wort and many privations, can bless the present Government, as their ready money dwindles away, as it is their fault that tea, sugar, tobacco, tools, ifcc, cost the unnecessary sum they do. A large portion of each payment to the storekeeper is snatched by the Government to enable it to inform Parliament next year that the Treasurer extracted so many hundred thousand pounds more than were needed to cover liabilities. These are the Ministers that the country people are asked to keep in power, it remains to be seen if they are so silly, and it is refreshing to hear a lawyer and an old colonist having the courage, in the city where Parliamenihasrjust closed to i say what he did say/ In iihe country ! the surroundings would have been in j i keeping, but the Government look to the towns to retain them in j power, and it is to the noisy and idle class of large towns that the Government have been so subservient. It is well then that such statements should be made direct to electors in such centres.