The Daily News. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5. 1914. THE LIBERAL POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 139, 5 November 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5. 1914. THE LIBERAL POLICY.

Tho policy set out in Wellington on Monday night by Sir Joseph Ward has been described by Government papers as a bid for vot.s, but is not the bidding for support at the polls the whole fulcrum of thi) party system? Unfortunately it is. Politicians are very much i like showmen: they like to make as fine a display of their goods as possible, with the idea ■of convincing the public that they will make more efficient and successful administrators tha» the other fellows. They do not always regard the interests of the country as of tho first importance, Mr. Massoy was one of tho most prodigious promised tho country has ever known, but as a performer he has been in many respects a sad failure. He was the man that said the country was being driven to tho ''demnition bow-wows" by the spendthrift Ward, yet as soon as ho got control of the public purse he embarked on a perfect orgy of borrowing, at which even the Liberal Leader stands aghast. The public have been educated to expect all sorts of good things from the rival political parties, or at least promises of good things, at election times, and would probably give no hearing to a leader who plainly intimated that if returned he would conduct the aiiairs oi the country on plain business lines, favoring no one and no district, and regarding the interests of the country as a

whole of paramount importance. It will bo recollected that at last election the Reformers vigorously condemned the policy of the Liberals in starting and building slowly nearly a couple of dozen railway lines all over the country. Why, they asked, not stop spending money on the unimportant lines and concentrate on the trunk lines? It was sound criticism, but unfortunately they have not acted upon it. Reformers once in the saddle started several other small lines. 'And so with other things, showing the gap between promises and practise. Sir Joseph Ward, in his speech, said he had been waiting in vain for the Prime Min-~ ister to declare his policy. But really it is of no consequence whether Mr. Masney does or not. The Government will bo judged at the coining elections not so much upon its professed policy as upon its achievements since in office. It will certainly not have a very easy row to hoc. On the naval question, Sir Joseph stands where he has always stood—for a Big Navy, as against a small navy. Our ideas in regard to naval and military protection will undergo complete revision as a result of the present war, Had meantime consideration of the subject may well be suspended. Sir Joseph Ward tool; credit for instituting the military training scheme which made it possible to equip and send away the contingents to Samoa and Europe. To ttlat credit he is entitled, though it must in fairness bo said that his opponents did everything they could to help to place the measure on the Statute Book and make the system a success. Sir Joseph is dissatisfied with the present electoral laws. So are others who have given the subject any thought. The second bal'ot was not by any means a perfect system, but it is infinitely fairer and better than the "first-past-thc-post" antiquated order ot things to which the Reformers have reverted after faithfully promising the. electors that they would provide a more efficient substitute. The Liberal leader favors the application of ihu proportional representation principle to the election of the Lower lloiiie. Sir Joseph Ward intimates that he would,

in bringing- iu stieli a system, preserve the country, quota, a very necessary t safeguard for the country districts, lie would, i.u order to indi;ee subdivision of large. estates, increase the graduated land tax. There is :\ distinct cleavage between the parties on this point. The Government will induce settlement by buying up and settling the large estates, an expediency which tlie Liberals) discarded, before they went out of oflice. It was never a success, and never can be, the general dl'ect being but to increase the. price of land. Taxation is a more -direct and efficacious way. Sir Joseph advocates the establishment of an Agricultural Bank. It should have bison started years ago, when Sir Joseph instituted the Advances to Scttlcra and other beueli'-ent financial 'Acts. The banking- system ,iu Xew Zealand is far from satisfactory, and this was never more manifest" than in the present crisis. An agricultural hank, worked on the lines of similar institutions in older countries, would prove ot great benefit to scores of struggling settlers, and make, for the more rapid development of our 1 rich agricultural resources. The improvement of hanking facilities is one. of the. greatest necessities of tlie Dominion, and the establishment of an agricultural bank the Liberal Party should put forward as one of its fore-1 most planks. .Sir Joseph -Ward favors the extension of the present State functions to combat monopolies, and he is prepared to submit a scheme of a practical nature for a cheap and more efficient pure milk supply in the cities, and later he would deal with bread and meat on the same lines. We think similar results could be attained by the establishment of a Board of Trade, on the lines suggested in Parliament a few weeks ago by tlie member for Egniont, which could regulate the prices of all foodstuffs and protect the public from ! exploitation of monopolies that abound in this young country. .Sir Joseph would j help the backblockers by appointing free State nurses l , a proposal which will meet with the ready endorsement of all who

know the conditions under which the brave women of the bacTfblocks struggle. Sir Joseph suggests the giving of a bonus for babies, but as a solution of the declining birth-rate problem it is, in our view, a very poor one. It is a matter that must rest with the people themselves. State interference is foolish. Tlie State should be satisfied to improve the lot of the fathers and mothers by

extending opportunities for "getting on" and keeping down the cost of living as far as it is possible. Sir Joseph is of opinion that we should borrow eight millions and build tho main lines inside of four years. He rightly says our present progress is 'too slow, and that it would pay the country to have them pushed on and completed. This would entail an expenditure of two millions a year. He • suggests that £300,000 anmiaily should be devoted to the construction of district lines. He would limit the amount to be borrowed for public works to three millions, the remaining '£700,000 to bo used for other public works. Money -required for advances to settlers, worker j and public bodies would bo additional. This is a sound proposition aud would do a great deal towards developing the country. Contrast this with the railway policy of the Government, which is to borrow three and a quarter millions for duplicating suburban lines, erecting costly station buildings,, and adding other frills to the railways, not a. penny going towards completing the present lines. Sir Joseph's proposal means adding at once to the material wealth of the country; the Government's scheme will add not a brass farthing, but become a further charge on a service that, since the advent of the new regime, ha 3 steadily drifted to leeward. On the whole, Sir Joseph's policy is sound and progressive, and merits the thoughtful consideration of electors.