THE GENERAL ELECTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8018, 3 January 1906, Page 3

THE GENERAL ELECTIONS.

Writing of the late general election, the Bulletin says:—As to Seddon's party triumph, there is no shadow of a doubt. Tho Opposition has been almost wiped out, and King Dick left as despotic, monarch of the new Parliament. Evidently the country thoroughly endorses the Socialistic legislatiou by which he has abolished the sweater and (lie land monopolist, and made Maoriland the Paradise of the " small man." In only one point is Seddon's policy weak—finance ; and that is a point on which, judging by recent ovents, the " Bulletin " almost despairs of rousing an enlightened public opinion. A great many of the blessings which the Scddon Administration showers on Maoriland are bought with borrowed money. They represent the extra rasher of bacon for breakfast : ;h is gotbypawning the axe, and ' . plum pudding paid out of the iuon«y Cohen lent on the ilrivwingroom piano. Side by side with a progressive policy of High Protection, adequate anti-sweating laws, and fairly stiff land taxation which is probably unmatched in the world for its scientific encouragement of industry, Seddon carries on an. extravagant borrowing system, which must in time canker all those benefits. The rule of Seddon is benevolent. Mortgagee rule would be a very different matter ; under it the era of high wages and easily accessible land- would soon bo Swept away. And to the rule by the mortgagee Muoriland is steadily drifting. Its borrowing rate is sheer • madness: wlu«h rnrst," if pers's ed in, bring disaster. But the disas cr will not have to be faced by Richard Seddon, and so lie does not Nor will it have to be faced by the majority of' the voters of the present generation; and so thej', seemingly, do not care. They aro content to luve a good time for themselves, and to leave it to their children to face Cohen and the foreclosure,