LIBERALISM & EXTREMISM.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3362, 15 December 1919, Page 4

LIBERALISM & EXTREMISM.

(From Wellington Evening Post.) COII.\’CI‘V2ItiVC critics of the Liheraili Party are persisting with tlieir iictlon. tl;:at_tllisMpar‘cy is Willing to mid ofiicla» at the mercy of a handful of extremeSocialists. This cry is merely an echo». of an old “canard.” As far back as 19.14 the Refofim Party was .ser3illg' so. much Red in all kinds cf r.npx3oncnts that it was rebuked by the “l:‘.\'cuing‘ Post” in :1 leading article, w‘-Jiéh cuntained the«‘,following con-.m<-2nt:—— V “The Reds worlied for “Refo~rln” »_ and now ‘Reform’ is Warkizlg for the " Reds. It is on the p“rinc'.ple of ‘ ‘noblesse oblige’, or merely the com-

mon rc-ciprocity——-‘one good -turn vieservos another’? The .'n:r.llod by‘ which the Millisteralis'r.s, illc.'.urling' Mr Massey, are résllscit?H;ing thesol'ol_V smitten Red body is With’ political patent: medicine. It is alléged that the public genemlly is, or“ will be, clivlded into two sections»"RefOrm’ Libel-a.ls~ and "?.:‘d Fed." Liberals. ' The Govel'nln.~nb’s -‘object is to suggest, hint, or insinuate that streaks” patches, or ulotches of ‘Red-Fedness’ can bé su:spcc‘:-1:1 in all persons who oppose the present “Administration.”

“There are m‘a’ny thousands.;. of Lib-‘~' ‘erals throughout the cotlnfvv whose ’la.bcl is neither ‘Reform’ nor ‘Red ;F‘ed.”=' the "?Dst”’ article continued. ;“’l‘llose thousands are against raw re--1 dress in politiéal or social life, but this" ‘fact certainly does not lead them toaaccept the “Reform” policy hamsbolus, including the land section, which may send the party into exile at the next election after this yeal-’.-. battle.” (1914). “Same Liiberals, not Red-Fcd.L~.'ber-als”, concluded the ‘Posf,’.“wi]l De the‘ chief workers against fie Government_. if the rate of closer settlement of the land, by the ‘partition of huge estates, is not quickcned.” _ ‘ True to its traditionse, dating back to the Liberal-Labou’r Feder-I‘.ion,tl_le» Liberal Party offers a helping hand to» those many'£h_ousands of Wo!'k€r3 who wish to-do ‘their part mamfuiiy in as-

suring a éafe and pvrosperi-nus peace for New Zealand, a good fellowship of‘ a.l]"‘class:es; but the Liberal Party is solidly against disruptive extremists whose creed is “the class war.."_ In proof of the Liberal Pa.rt§r‘s practice of its precept. it need only be repoateét that is has cand'ida.tesr, against I\.’I'.‘C~TSI‘S P. Fraser and Harry El=3ll;u:<i. A2l

‘independent anti-extremist, Lieut=:ll- - Mitchell. is O7_JpO.~‘§llg Mr R. Semple. The Lilb-eral Party's natural statement of consistent policy‘, which has been .a-lwafs favourable to the reason-x ableg, needs of labour, has been ma."iciously misrepresented as an attempt to win the support of R:—evollltionary Socialists. Such a. charge is surely a slut on thejpatriotism of many thousands of young worlrjng men who‘ helped to save New Zealami from Gerdnan domination and also :1 slur on the pa.tl'iotism of those. :sold':el-s‘ relatives. It is certain that the ‘V4SI: majority of New Ze-aland’s wtirkez-s are not Wreckers, not revolutiorlist<, not supporters of I.W;W. destrilctiven<=ss_. find that New Zealand’s workers, in the mass, do not wish to be misrepresented by Wreckers in Parliament. ‘There is no possibility‘ that Parliament will‘ permit itself to‘ be dominaf-ed by‘ tWO~01' three extremists who ,-.ia.y ulana.§z,e~ to slip into the House 'l‘llere‘:‘mre,% all the noise of the Reform Party about .-'3, very thin little red tail w:i:;'.g~ing a. big dog is an offence‘ against Cfinmlrni sense._ (Published By Axrangr-m-311t.)