WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3586, 23 September 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE LIBERAL PARTY. ITS NEW LEADER. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Sept .22 1 Even among his personal friends j there is a disposition <ro take Mr. T. jm. Wilford, the new leader of the i Liberal Opposition, not quite seriously ias a politician. They recognise his 1 ability, his virility and* his readiness, j but they doubt his tenacity and his i devotion to public affairs. Their

scepticism is not altogether unnatural, j Mr. Wilford, though still a young man i as politicians go, having iturned fifty | only just the other day, has been in 1 Parliament for twenty-four years, and j during that time he has had to fight | his way in an arduous and exacting I profession which reserves its big prizes for the men who give it their undivi-

ded attention. The member for Hutt has not conformed to this condition, having served a large suburban constituency assiduously and occupied a

seat for a term in the National Cabinet, but until now he has no pretended to make his service to the

State the first call upon his time and energy. CONGENIAL WOEK. Now, however, circumstances, which are his own private concern, are enabling Mr. Wilford to devote himselfto politics more closely than he ever lias done before. He is in dai' y at- • tendance at the room allotted to the leader of the Opposition in Parliament Buildings, busying himself with visitors and correspondence and attending to the hundred and one details that’require the attention of a parity leader. Here he is in his element. An indefatigable worker, quick and methodical, he covers an enormous amount of ground with little apparent effbrt, his professional training as well as his personal bent contributing towards this end. Since the days of Mr. Ballance there has been no leader on either side of politics quite so business like-in his methods. Mr. Wilford ' believes in .-.let' ing each day bear . i.ts own burdens, co-morrow, and in practice this philosophy appears to work opt uncommonly wetll..__ IN THE HOUSE' . .. In the House Mr, Wilford .already has earned some kudos as a tactician. The surprises he sprang upon the Government last week when the Kailway estimates were under discussion were cleverly conceived and very admirably executed. To tie on a division with a party that came back from the’constituencies only eight or nine months ago boasting of an unassailable ffiajority was a very papal- T e hit indeed and has done more to draw the scattered elements of the Opposition- together than has anything else ; that has happened since the general election.' The Prime Minister attempted to make light of the incident, being himself a good fighter and a very excellent tactician, but the oven zealous party newspapers have betrayed what \hcy thought and felt about it by belittling the loader of the Opposition to the length of whittling his political following down to -balf-a-dozen and his personal influence to the vanishing point. HIS POLICY. ' ■His long parliamentary experience, while giving him knowledge and confidence, has purged Mr. Wilford of the vices of political youth. He still dreams dreams and sees visions, but he does not expect to realise them by the moans that may have appealed to him a quarter of a century ago He is above all things intensely practical 1 He does not talk of the equality of opportunity lo'r- the equality of sacificc, though he'stands firmly t.o the principles expressed by .thesephrases, but ho epi omises the whole range of practical reform in a broad application of the demand for a reduction in the cost of living. He is looking beyond the prices of sugar and butter -and the scarcity of coal. He wants the elimination of waste from the public service, the insistence upon efficiency, the placing of 'the big burdens upon the broad shoulders, and the relief of the “bottom dog,” not only by lessening the cost of living, but also by making living itself more hopeful, more'inspiring and more of a service to humanity at large.