The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1919. THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK.

Taihape Daily Times, 31 March 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1919. THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK.

(With vrtach is ineorpnrated The ?"ai" hape Peat «** WaiK«mo Newsv

There is nothing from a Ministerial source that the people of th ; - :i Dominion are more anxiously and earnestly looking for than statements in the Prass in connection with the political outlook. At the prei ent moment the population of this little country are divided into two very distinct cla>~'"<?s —the fleecers and the fleeced. The former, in a general way, if nothing more, are particularly solicitous that the prevailing fleecing conditions should continue, and, realising that any political change may interfere with the full exercise of their fleecing proelivites, some are endeavouring to increase the cost of the fi*-' ■* necessaries of life, despite a decrease in the raw material they use, whereas the latter are voraciously devouring every Ministerial utterance on the political outlook, hoping to find some tit-bit that is likely to rescue them from! the clutch and domination of the fleecers; to reduce in their souls the fear of want; to give , erne hope that they will be able to 'develop their children into the well-fed, well-educated citizen that the future of New Zealand so urgently needs. While fleecers and fleeced conditions prevail, this Dominion *.; obviously a house divided against itself; it is obvious that a house so divided cannot stand. We already have ample experience of the fact that the Government, instead of fulfilling the'legitimate portion of a. Government, lias shirked its. responsibilities shamefully. Instead of evolving and enacting laws for righteous government, it ho' appointed commissions and boards which have no power but to call evidence and tell their creators to go on with their old callous want of policy, whitewashing is still pos. ible by resorting to more and more ridiculous extremes of reasoning. The result is daily reports of industrial unrest and strikes. Fleecers with such a Government behind them are lengthen-

ing the lash and tightening the screw, and the fleeced are downing their tools in disg - ' + ill the forlorn hope of ever securing any real and lasting improvement. It has long been evident that the Ministry is by no means a happy family; in varying 'degrees its sympathies are spread over both the fleeced and the fleecers, unfortunately for the country the bulk stands strongly for the fleecers, and while the Government is raking in taxation just to tell the people how clever they have been to squeeze such huge sum' out of the taxpayers, the country is becoming less productive and is earning less for distribution anioirr t thnt "Vss that retailers depend upon chiefly for their income. Men with their families are drifting off the scenes of pre'duction to tho congested areas where only the labour and art of exchange is being practised; they are going from where riches gathered from the earth to where huge armies of men are conjuring with and riddling what the continuously decreasing number of gatherers are producing and it stands to reason that the more the Government take/ form the lessening pool of production the less there is for those who do the work. It is folly am —tins to imbecility to close ou.r <>v ... , !•-•'..

poning, because the crisis is not far J di» taut, and it is as certain to come ( as that the sun will Tisc to-morrow. Farmers find land, sheep, and labour and grow wool at fourteen pence a pound, it goes to men who manufacture it and then they buy it back at as much in some cases as five shillings ah ounce. Such thievery cannot continue, and i why allow this process of impoverishing our country to prevail at all? Our New Zealand wool business mcai* ■ bankkruptcy if persisted in; we are producing wool at fourteen pence and buying it back at twenty-eight shillings. How much can the massesj in this Dominion buy back for their own c? j A similar '.ituation obtains with hides, j skins and leather goods; our skins ' and hides are kept down in price, but the price .ticke i " on manufactured ) leather goods, particularly on boots, sends fear and trembling into the hearts

of thousands of New Zealand mother* j and yet there is no sign of relief in . Cabinet-room windows. From what, the , Hon. G. W. Russell told workers at ' the Otira Tunnel gathering, a ray of I hope for a better state of things was raised, but now another Minister, the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald, discounts all Mr Russell said. The Fulcrum of trouble is the scrapping of this country's constitution of government; the ■ constitution once overridden or cast aside the present Cabinet can legislate itself into power and into control of the country's destinies for as long as it considers the situation safe; but, meanwhile, we 'ee the revolutionary spirit spreading; we heat the angry rumblings from all industries; in fact there is not rest, nor satisfaction in any avenue of labour. Bolshevism '. becoming increasingly militant; it has already made alarming appearance in our legislation halls; it is working and organising, and >, • confident of laying hold of increased power' at the forthcoming local and general elections, and yet nothing is possible to combat it. , Huge bodies of labour are being driven into the arms.of Bolsh'cv'".-in by our legislative stagnation and there is division J

among icur rulers'that prevent anything being achieved that matters. The > Hon. Mr MacDonald has made himself apologist for the Government, but what he -ays is necessarily weak because there is nothing stronger or more convincing to be said. He accuses Parliament, Press and people of expecting magical performances, but we must say that there is nothing at all in Mr. MacDonald"s defence of the Government that is not self-convicting and self-condem-natory. He contends that no progressive work or increased settlement was possible owing to shortage of labour, and yet there is a continuous stream of humanity off the land where riches j are produced, to congested cities wlwo . riches are squandered. Houses are ! unoccupied and rotting in the country j whitle there are no houses in the i city for the ever increasing crowds moving thitherward off the laud. His says the Govcrmoittl has Ibwen purchasing land during the war, but he also says that these lands vill be roaded and prepared for settlement of soldiers when they return, whieii implies that these lands are not yps roaded or prepared, and that soldiers have not, returned; and who are the thousands of others soldier Settlement is going to find work for? He says no labour is available; does it mean that a system of wholesale immigration is to.be adopted before another general election, because we are of opinion that any body of legislator* will do well in the interests of the

whole body politic to consult the constituencies before effort is made to i place anything of the kind on tne Statute Book. There is the all-impor-tant question to consider whether it is greater competition in production or -whether it is greater competition for employment that is going to furnish the means for the complete emancipation of labour. Mr. MacDonald's remarks about double somersaults are scarcely applicable to the present situation, for the man whose political opinions have not been changed, and whose political vision has not been widened, as a result of the war, realty belongs to the stone age, or the mon- , key stage of man's evolution. The . one thing the people of this country i have to complain about is that they j are kept in absolute ignorance of j what Government intentions are for ! the future. It seems evident that j when the political leaders return their absence will be made the excuse for rushing the elections through, allowing the constituencies no time for consideration of life and death proposals. We are of opinion that Parliament and Government will meet ana j fix, and force, a general election with altogether undue and reprehensible haste. Such a course will drive a very considerable number of hesitating people and quite a lot of vacillating politicians to link up with Bolshevism, and the country's unrest will beeincalculably worse than it is to-day. We are thankful for any crumbs that fall from Ministerial tables at this stage, for, however meagre, they give some clue to Government intentions for the future. Mr MacDonald is straining his possession of an abnormal loyal faculty.