The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1904. THE POLITICAL LABOUR LEAGUE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 252, 28 October 1904, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1904. THE POLITICAL LABOUR LEAGUE.

Those persons at Wellington and elsewhere who are responsible for the formation of the Political Labour League are doubtless to be credited with good intentions. We wish it were further possible to credit them with sound judgment and the adoption of sensible methods. It should bo obvious to all true Liberals that any movement tending to pixjmote disunion in their party is ellort sadly ill-judged and misdirected. Heretofore for mainy years there has existed a solidarity in the Liberal ranks which has rendered every forward impulse a precuraor of success. An enormous majority of the electors, acting together under wise leadership, have succeeded in placing on the statute book of this country laws So enlightened as to excite the admiration tf Liberalism throughout the world. Not only have good laws been passed, but these have lieen honestly and discreetly administered. That many of those measures are not quite perfect, and have not been everywhere received with full approval, argues notMng more tihan that complete legislative success is not to be l-eachod per saltuin. Aa ■ achievement of steady jyrogresß in better government is an undeniable fact, and In no direction is this progress more conspicuous than in mattcjs immediately concerning Lajbour. Hut, though the Labour section of ' the liberal party deserves a targe measure of credit for the good work done, its leaders in the past were never fatuous enough to fancy that > Labour spelled all Liberalism, or that they could hope for the success of imlep<mlnit action on a platform of their own. Since thajt memorable January of 1891, when Labour first threw its whole weight into the scale on the side of Liberalism, good and gieat results have been produced l>y the collaboration of men of many shades of opinion, working unh&m|>ered by ihard-ond-fast rules of any particular class or section of the party. And in any Just appraisement of ttfie benefits that have accrued from this sensible solidarity n't must be admitted that the Labour section of the community has, least of all, any ground for complaint. This Ixjimg so, wo cannot believe that any considerable portion of that section will permit itself to be misled into a mischievous schism, which can produce no good result, and which, if persisted in, may not only .retard funt'her progress, but also endanger the stability of the work already done. There are many points in the programme of the Political Labour Loaguc which are quite within the reasonable range of L bvral aspiration ; but there is also much that, for the present, is quite outside the sphere of practical politics. For ourselves, we have moro fault to find with the proposed" methods oi the new League than with its ultimate legislative designs. Chief among these object!onaMe proposals is the sotting up of a separate Labour Caucus. It is not necessary to seek far for a striking example of the practical evils of this plan. The present Commonwealth Parliament is a telling illustration of what is bound to recur wherever the separate Labour Caucus is ti'ied. There, the other day, we saw a Labour Ministry holding office for a few weeks im impotent isolation from many part sympathiser, who might, if met in gome respects, have given it a good working majority. At present we see an own weaker Coalition Ministry clinging tooth-and-iuri! to the Treasury benches, and kept there by Uie sufferance of one man. What is plainer than that no serious legislation and no stable administration can lie hoped for from a Parliament working, or rather wrangling, on like par- | ty formation* The fact is clear that so long a3 the present system of Parliamentary parties obtains there is neither room nor reason for, a third party. In this country, more so even tha* in Australia, we are " one people with one destiny," and it lis both bad politics) amd Ijfld policy for any section of 'tlve ruling majority to segregate itself from the sympathies of its natural' allies, and yet ho]M liy so doing to accomplish amy useful work- TheLaibonr section of the Liberal partv will do well, therefore, to consider it's circmnet a nces, and col- ■ loquially speaking, learn to know when it is well oft. What it has won | so far it holds by the grace of no , man,, but wholly by virtue of wise , collaboration with those who, while , not of it, were an<l are for -it. Jn th# , past no shibboleths were exacted on , oi tßer nart, and mo rigid lines of <ie- j marcalion were drawn. That was , good Policy heretofore, and there is c nothing whatever to iirdacaite that it i will be le#3 effective in the future. | jraoußajdjW S

his policy cliooSe to walk where the! Political La'li'our League uotiM like to leap, 'that in itself ulfords ti.!»mi-i limit evidence than leaping would loud to disaster. Labourisiu of the, unpractical character So largely ad-| virouted in countries where the party, having won nothing, lia-y no sense of impossibility, is not the! school of thought from which New Ziealanders can learn much, lie is no friend of the working inn-n who would foment discoid in the Liberal party, and possibly arouse hostility ;n t!ios« who are at present in sympathy with every reasonable Labour aspiration ; and those who are led by such s a dly deceive themselves il they expect any good to result from their misdirected and mischievous efforts. .NOTE AND COMMENT. r lhe London Times, commenting ou the New Zealand THE TIMES ON Budget, remarks N.Z. that, in New Zealand, as in the States 1 of the Commonwealth, the most pressing questions of the day appe a r to be financial questions. 'I he domestic policy which New Zealand has entered undeir Mi: Seddon's administration's still in the experimental stage, nind it is even now too early to predict its ultimate results. | All that can be said of it with cer-| tainty is that it has involved very considerable expenditure on the part of the State, and h a s burdened the population with a heavy public debt, which amounts now to £32 7s 9d per head. In a country which" possesses such admirable natural resources, and such an enterprising population as New Zealandi, there is nothing even ia this indebtedness that need cause serious alarm, if the policy responsible for it fulfils the. hopes of its authors. But it certainly requires the utmost exercise of financial • prudjnee. > Retrenchment is, therefore, the order of the day, and as, in spite of tlie proposed' economies, New asaliand will aigain be obliged to have recourse 'to the Lontlon money market for a l°an of three-quarters of a million during the course, of the year, the economies proposed are clearly none too drastic, even -when the transfer of a considerable sum to the Public Works Fund is takeji into account. Among the particular items of new expenditure, none, perhaps, is of more immediate interest to tlie metropolis than the Vote for the Salary of a High Commissioner, instead of an Agent-General, to represent j the colony in London—a change which will, doubtless, be generally welcomed in Great Britain as „ funUier proof of the desire felt in New Zealand to knit still more closely the tins which unite with the Mother Country the most remote, in a geographica.l sense, of hoc colonies. "Mi • Seddon's political opponents seem tc have at once drawn the eonclusiiori that the creation of this new post was intended to build a golden bridgt lor his withdrawal from the arenu of active, politics," continues th( ■ Times, "and the state of his hiaaltl: ' was adduced 'in support of the wist ' that was probably in this cuso father to the thought. We do not pretend for a moment to complete sympathy with Mr Seddon's views, but certainly no colonial; statesman would lit lietter iitted than Mr Seddon, eitta by his remarkable individuality oi by the services he has rendered tc the Empire, to occupy such a post should he desire, on personal or pub lie grounds, to become the lirste liigl Commissioner of New Zealand ii London. At the same time we cm fully appreciate his reasons for pre Sirring to remain where lie is, and foi Lelieviiiig that he can do more solii work there than in London, both foi the colony and lor 'ihe Empire. It is under his vigorous impulse thai New Ziealand has ventured to grap--1 pie, for better or for worse, with t ' number of s o cial problems from whicl ' the old world still shrinks, and, s< ' long as considerations of health di 1 not become absolutely imperative, " one can well understand that hi should not wish to abandon to others ' the prosecution of his fife's work."