The Taihape Daily Times MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th, 1916 A STARTLING STATEMENT.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 11 September 1916, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th, 1916 A STARTLING STATEMENT.

AND WAIMAEINO ADVOCATE (With which is incorporated The Tai hapo Post and Waimarino News.)

According to a Wellington contemporary, a political plot has been discovered in which, if true, chief members of the National Cabinet must be deeply involved, indeed, they are said to be the chief actors. True or untrue, thoughtful, honest people will feel considerable alarm, and now that so j much has been said it seems that the country is entitled to know more before it can be expected to regard the alleged plot very seriously. The hybrid administration the people have I magnanimously and bravely endured because the Empire is at war has been far from satisfactory in every quarter except the Cabinet room. The complaints of the people are observed to increase in proportion to the wrongs they have suffered; their submission ■hitherto has been taken for content; they have shouldered wrongs and have been buffetted into compliance with that which at ordinary times they would' have resented, but, although they have proved brave and patriotic under past extreme circumstances they will assuredly rise powerful in their re sentment at any political tomfoolery. The Constitution has already been bent and twisted to make it conformable to the extraordinary demands made upon it in the interests of the Empire, but no trusting people will submit to it being thrown aside by self-seeking individuals who may wish

to seize ,or snatch the reins of Government and the strings of the public purse from the people’s control. There is already discontent from one end of the land to the other; primary producers are being taxed almost equally with those in the old country, without any inducement being held out to them to continue producing, other than what the market temporarily provides. Taxation is imposed in a way that gives a maximum of trouble, so much so that many,,farmers among those who have least by the high proT>e for meat and wool, have had to employ costly labour to enable them to comply with the outrageous demands for returns and figures which it is next to impossible,

and in some instances quite impossible to supply. Labour is developing a resentment that appears to bo reading to a revolutionary spirit, and where can one look for the cause of such general discontent but to the incapacity of its Government’s administration 'find law’ making). The old game of encouraging strife between classes is less likely to prove effective in saving the life of an administration in the future than it has done in the past. Farmers and producers must now realise that they are being taxed to the limit of their ability to pay. Of course, there are exceptional cases which could hear heavier burdens, on the other hand there are those who can scarcely keep body and soul together. A medium has to be struck, and it is now very generally admitted that an extreme has been reached. ,What we desire to impress in this talk about political plots is the importance of producers seriously questioning themselves respecting the duration of war taxation; how long is the unprecedented load to be carried; what are the prospects for reduction of taxation as the high prices vanish; are the finances of this country being managed in such a way that what we regard as excess taxation will become unnecessary when the extraordinary demand for produce commences to disappearr It is apparent to the the most arrant foci in finance that there is almost complete stoppage of public works and internal. development even with the

huge demands now laid upon producers, and that for years there will continue a huge expenditure as the result of war. 1 There is talk of making military camps at Featherston and Trentham permanent institutions, pensions to soldiers and their dependents'* to an honourable and humane degree, must be provided for; the drift to leeward in our public works, such as roads, bridges and conveniences enabling production in the back-blocks — while ostentatious structures are rearing their heads at the seat of Govern- • ■ ment and other large cities-- will , have to be caught up or the proportionate voluihe of products for expoit cannot be maintained. The ferment in the labour world ought to vitally impress producers with the fact that' the days of low or reasonably priced labour ha's gone for ever, and that hi their future disbursements this labour item is going to be a significant item amongst their debits. The present is pregnant and seething with tbo possi bilities, perhaps probabilities, of hardship and calamity, which by wise law making and administration need have no existence. At a time when economy is urged throughout tne Empire, the National Government is guilty cf a profligacy that all honest people must condemn. It is not wonderful that the great cause hi w-ilcn, the Em-

pire is engaged shc'u'.d have roused ‘and engrossed the wnde attention oi the people. *Jne van not Vup aot.iing the generous spirit .T ■vliich rlu y have met the-demands made upon tit in, both by way of In cation and the loaning; of what they navr, i-f-; but if in addition to this there 's >a ’v; a violation of the Jons:ltirion by political highwaymen who, '.vs are told ai’e in a plot to garrote the body politic and force upon the country a control that is not in accordance with the w’sbes of the people as expressed in tlie constitutional Avay at the ballot box, public resentment will step in. The if untrue. The House iray he alive with political rats, but until something more definite and convincing about the existence of the outlined politics.! plot is forthcoming, ttnre is not likely to be any abatement of that confidence which can reason aoiy be repot cd in leaders. There is some incongruity in the suggestion that Sir Joseph Ward has become so plastic that he can now be moulded into an-' form and disposed of at the will cf Mr Massey. Whatever truth there may he in the political plot, there is convincing evid euce of the Jekyll and liytie nature of the present governing medley.