The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. REFORM NEMESIS.

Taihape Daily Times, 29 August 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. REFORM NEMESIS.

With. which its incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.”

j A mighty fear has seized upon some political factions with respect to what will be the next move of the Liberals who now constitute the Opposition in Parliament, judging from the most obvious “fishing,” verbiage that is being I telegraphed over the country, from I Wellington by some alleged newsmon- | ger. “If is,” that shallow-intellected ! person says, “suggested now that in--1 stead of moving a no-confidence motion Sir Joseph Ward may announce hi& intention to help the Government to get through the necessary legislation, and postpone active hostilities . until candidates are at the hustings.” How delightfully uncertain and indefinite the mind of this troubled writer is; he desires someone to put him into a more tangible avenue of thought but is not ,clever enough to hide his intentions. A more contemptible begging of the question is rarely met with and one wonders why the purveyors of news prostitute the telegraph to the sending of such miserable stuff, for it is nothing but a mass of the most obvious insincerity and subterfuge < It is a tissue of suggestion and “maybe” of the most nauseating type, coming from a self-assumed superior intellect which thinks it is quite capable of hoodwinking, cozening and cajoling the working-classes, who, he will discover, are quite able to correctly estimate his objects, and intentions. The curse of politics is a want of frankness and honesty, too long have long-suffering constituencies submitted to the subtlety of dishonest politicians, while others thought they were bound hand and foot by loyaltjy to a compact that should, in the country’s best interests, have ended long ago_ This would-be clever apostle of the sparty of profiteering and land aggregation doubts whether Sir Joseph Ward could win a no-confidence moI ticn without Labour’s assistance, but why this assumption? Sir Joseph Ward has made it quite clear that this little country must bo saved from two disasters, one ij that of Reform Drift, the other is Bolshevism. Sir Joseph Ward has not sought assistance from either, why suggest that he wnuld do anything of the kind? A gratuitous piece of humbug of the most detestable, low type character lurks behind the suggestion that if a no-confidcncc motion wore carried Sir Joseph Ward would not be sent for; is this intended as a scare, the meanest way of dishonestly saying that Sir Joseph Ward docs not lead the strongest party in the House? One statement is definite and stands out noticeable amongst the tissue of innuendo, that is, “some members of the Liberal party are not reliable just, now,’,’ and this is followed by the suggestion that these imaginary Liberals would not go over to 'Mr Massey, but they might he opposed to party warfare, and might absent themselves from the critical division. Yes, they might, but that is not the concern of this parlous-soulled Reformer, who is consumed with chagrin in the knowledge that the political tide in the ‘ critical division ” will drift overwhelmingly ,in the opposite dircc-

tion; that it will leave Mr Massey high, and dry, to be carried away by the political winds of the general election that is long overdue. After leaving Liberals in a chaos of uncertainty, they are again resurrected by the mortal fear and funk of this “daisy" of a newsmonger. There is a “but” that is troubling his Reform soul, and he warn s the people that Sir Joseph Ward and his Liberals will be guilty of much time-wasting by moving a noconfidence motion. Most people are of opinion that time will be admirably well-spent in any motion that will operate towards putting that policy in action that is essential to the avoidance of social and political disaster, a policy that will for ever render landaggregation and profiteering impracticable. Reform is fearfully anxious tc know what course Sir Joseph Ward will follow when Parliament meets, but as he has a Cabinet experience extending over some quarter of a century, it is not very likely that he is going to be drawn by such Reform fledglings as that who concocted the •half columns of ifs, buts, maybes and suggesteds, which appeared in our issue of yesterday. A greater and more obvious exhibition of political party fear it would be very difficult to find, but the labour people are neither such fools or so ignorant as this obvious prospector thinks they are. The schoolmaster has been abroad, with the result that Labour is as able to take care of itself as is the champion of Reform. It is not safe to attempt anything that may be regarded as an insult to the intelligence of Labour in these days, as may be plainly seen in the reports of deputations and conferences. We may be quite certain that whatever road tne cause of the masses dictates, that will be the road Liberalism will take. profiteers and land-aggregators have had their day, and now the people are going to have theirs_ Ruin faces the country from several directions, revolution is in the air, but the long drift towards that terrifying extreme will shortly be ended by the people themselves. Selfappointtd rulers are to, he replaced by the will of the people expressed through the ballot-box; this expression of the public will has been correctly fore-casted by . those hanging to power, and a mighty fear has overtaken them, just because they are not ready, not prepared for the imperative notice to quit that they know is coming. This country would without doubt be disappointed with any leader or party who permitted an administration of derelicts and drift to draw Ministerial pay one day longer than was necessary. Going back over our political history wo find that when a party in power has not had the confidence of the House, and of the country, it has been removed as expeditiously as possible. No leniency has been shown in such a connection, and why the present hangers-on to governing reins should hope for any such consideration it is not easy to see. The party who followed so dangerous and unprecedented a course would be regarded as traitors to the people, hut there are elements in the House that both the larger parties have to take into their reckoning. That section will jbe determined in tbeir efforts to oust any presuming minority; in any case 1 the usages and procedure of Parliament can be depended upon to deal with minority rule in the well-estab-lished parliamentary way.