The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9. KEIR HARDIE'S VISIT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 312, 9 January 1908, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9. KEIR HARDIE'S VISIT.

Air Keir liuidi*, a member ol the House oi Comiiiuit», *o lar Ills representative I capacity i* cixicerned, has jKtid -New | Ze..htud the honor ui h 'lnere^ are gtouuds tor l>elieving that the tree pas**? granted to members of the I»»v ti>h legislature do not extend to the "doiniir.ons beyond the nea," t»ut there can hinreely be any doubt that it wouul prove very beneficial if they d»d. Ihe legislatures of the colonies contain very many meH who are well acquainted with the conditions th.t prevail in tat* Motherland; there are not many men jin legislature of the Motlierlaad who know much about the colonics. In the colonies there are many men who have hppnt tiie Farger portion of their lives in the Motherland. It is more | thin doubtful whether a hurried visit ! of a month'* duration will enable any | man. possessed o' even more than Mr I Hardfe's ability, to form any conception (/ the resources, the opinions, nnd the sentiments of the people of the young poirtrv he visits. As there are few who do not eordiallv hope that ine l*>nds whMi unite the Empire should be mere-tightly drawn, and. if possible, »»'«• Imnils fa g hi"ned, it is to be hoped that larger facilities will speedily be afforded to enable members of the British legislature to make frequent and more lengthy visits to the Empire's outlying Dominions.

II is amusing to rend the efforts which have Uvn put forward l>v the New Zealand Times to commend Mr Har<}i<i to the people of New Zealand. The Times «iy: "Mr Merlev (Secretary of State for India) accused him (Mr Hardie) of smoking hie pipe over a liarrel of gimpowder, l»ut he ilidn't mean that Mr Hardie win aware of the highly combustible nature of the materlil beside him, or that he intended a spark from hi" pipe to ignite the gunpowder and cause an explosion." It savors of presumption for a paper to assert what Mr Jlorlev meant or did not mean when he deseribftd Mr Hardie us a man coolly smoking bin pipe on a barrel of gunpowder. It is true tVt it is tjuite possible a man may sit and smoke his pijic oh a barrel of gunpowder in the fond Miff that the barrel contained nails, but If Mr Hardie, when he smoked his pipe on the lufr?) of India did not Übuu that tlio contents were gunpowder, then it wys »ery little for his intelligence. The attempt made to wriggle Mr Hardie out of tie difficulties of the position by setting Mm down as Ignorant or iierfectlf Btupld is like taking liiin off from tha gunpowder aflij homing him into a pit.

"1 hate Imperialism!" shrieks Mr Hardie, and no one suddenly dies. Without nn Empire existing there cin scarcely lie Imperialism; there can be no Imperialism without an Empire. Probably i* is bet-an* of a knowledge of this' *inipl» element iry truth that the people nf X< w Zealand are still enabled to lire-the. For a moment, accepting Mr Hardie a* an authority, it would be in-t.Tr-vfinc to know whether, when a man liewme a Socialist it is necessary for him to almndon "patriotism" and repudiate the "Umpire" under the (lag of which he had all his life deemed it ■'n honor to have been born. Mr Hardie {-'iiitates himself on the possession of "the knack of describing things as he saw them" And everybody Is defiehted. When, however, a public man comes fo a new country and seeks to influence the people with his views, it becomes a matter of importance thit he should not be sufferine from a decided •nulnt and that tlip brain his eyes serve should ;:t least be equal to the average.

This journal is not disposed to quarrel with Mr Hardie In reference to his advocacy at co-operation, but it may hj« pointed out that If the co-operation t« to he universal then it must l>e based on love—and low of a very high character indeed—otherwise Bill Smith, whose frame is weik and whose health is indifferent, will probably be found asking himself why he should toil hard whilst that big, hulking, strong .Tack Jones goes fooling about, doing nothing. The love requires to be very exalted to stand such a strain «iicces<fnlly. .After referring in a half-pitying, half-contemp-tuous, sort of way to the reforms wrought in this coionv. Mr Hardie got on to the subject of "tigers"—numerous and riving loo^e—in the Dominion. I-.verv tiotder of bank, insurance, mining or dairying shares, Is a "tiger." Ev»rv freeholder and leaseholder, nnd Parliament and Government, IB sedulously trying to increase his or its number "very day—every shopkeeper, everybody, In short, who has the temerity to own anything, is a "tiger." "By-and-bye." predict* Air Hardie eheerfnllv. "the people having got to he sufficiently 'tired' will arise nnd shoot, the 'tiger/'" That is to say. everybody w i|l start shootins at everyliodv—anvbodv—and the only nuestion will be, who is to be the surviving, the verv last, "tiger"T <Vi!te too delightfully funnv this is. hut there are heaps more of funnv thinss about Mr Hardie which re-'ders of the "Xews" must be left to discover for themselves. One word. The man "ho call tlnia ridirnlou«lv talk of "shootinn timers" iti Zealand is quite capable of sifting on liarrels of gunpowder any- I where.