SPOON-FEEDING

NZ Truth, Issue 1182, 26 July 1928, Page 6

SPOON-FEEDING

kpor^ftobW Still Ahead Can it be said, when observing with due gravity the political trend of Dominion . affairs 'to-day that . there are a thousand voters, m full possession of their faculties who are able hopefully to contemplate the future? TT might reasonably be expected that the most able minds of the community would be sought for the government of the State; that men of ability, .initiative, probity, intelligence and some grounding m political "economy would be found m the jpolltical arena. It r/ould be equally reasonable to hope that young men — that is to, say, men of forty or fifty— who . had . the benefits of an. education, vaunted as second to none m the world, might have come forward or have., been invited to enter the lists. Men with a younger trenjT of thought, who have travelled, • have accomplished things, 'are broadminded and who, even if they lack experience in* the unhealthy game of party chicanery and, compromise, might infuse new blood and fresh ideas into that assembly of uninspired fiddlers. • , Seemingly, ,. young nien of political aspirations are few and far between; encouragement may be lacking, but that jls no excuse, for if any. man worth his salt has the ambition, for any particular career, he goes after it. That he will, not be invited to enter the political monkey-house stands to reason, for his presence there would be a menace to the majority of antiquated fogies who have, made their incompetence so obvious .during the; last halfdecade. So distasteful is the game of politics that the man of university education, of learning or ability, leaves ( it well alone. The atmosphere is unsavory. This being the case, the Government rests, m the main, at the mercy of a coterie of baldpates, greybeards, adipose antiquities and hidebound meddlers, who are nothing more than procrastinating time-servers.. A DOUBLE ANOMALY' This ancient company, to judge from the evidence 04 fact, has not the intellectual vigor to tackle problems outside the range of pawky pump-polltlos, and, being blindly guided to party rather than by common- sense ana the interests of the State/ they drift along from one session to another, placing on the statutes petty-fQgglhg, sops . of legislation, too many^of v wfcich are aim-. Ed at the individual frbedbm of the masses, or, worse still, menace to , legitimate private enterprise. State and local body yventures are sanctioned regardless-©?' the 'fact that they are engaged upon "with money filched from the pockets of the electors, such enterprises invariably proving unprofitable and non-taxpaylng. A double/ anomaly. Is it possible to refute these statements? Can it be argued that the outlook for New Zealand appears rosy? Yet no country is more m need of wise, sound statesmanship to-day than this little and remote land of vast possibilities. The necessary statesmanship is not manifest. No great concentration is needed to grasp th.c patent fact; that whatever Gordon Coates may say •.: about this country haying turned the corner, the more important problems are still ahead. The spoon-feeding of the past must have an end, or, at least, be curtailed. The time is coming . when New Zealand will be compelled to realize that she is remote from European markets; that other countries with the great advantage of closer proximity to the world's important markets are speeding up their export trade m our chief primary products— butter, wool and meat. Competition being the spice of commerce rather than sentiment, it is not to be expected that any business benevolence will be bestowed upon this Only her efficiency, and wise government, can enable her to retain her nroud place m the running with other countries and colonies, but if our present Parliament is the criterion of our intelligence the prospect is the reverse of cheering. ■