THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 March 1918, Page 2

THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION.

SIR JOSEPH WARD'S VIEWS. (Special Correspondent). Wellington, March 8. '•The Liberal elcctur.s of Wellington North arc not being asked 10 endorse Mr. Luke's polities nor to accept Mr. Luke personally. I do not endorse Mr. Luke's polities myself. But party polities and personal prejudices must be set aside during the great crisis through which we are passing and 1 am asking the loyal men and women of Wellington North to join with me in holding fast io the compact suspending party warfare which has been honorably observed by the parly leaders. After the war, I see as well as .you do, there will be a great political revolution the whole world over, changes I believe, all making for the betterment of humanity, but in the meantime it is our duty., our sacred, imperative duty, to resist by every means in our power divisions that would weaken in any way 'the assistance we are able to give the Empire in the hour of its sorest need." These are the stirring words in which Sir Joseph Ward at the great meeting in the Wellington Town Hall on the eve of the by-election for Wellington North ap* pealed to the Liberals of the constituency to stand by th- National.Government, in a contest which had resolved itself into a trial of strength between the supporters of the country's war policy and its unfriendly critics. How effective they wore may be judged from the results of tho polling and from the chivalrous acknowledgments of Me speaker's former political opponents. The purpose of a representative of the News'.in waiting upon the Liberal leader this afternoon was to induce him to speak more in detail of the "great political revolution" he saw ahe,id—of the worlds wide changes that were going to bring about, as it were, "a new heaven and a new earth.-" The busy Minister was not very encouraging. "How am Ito talk .in detail of after-war problems and conditions without suggesting party politics, the very thing I have been deprecating all along," was his pertinent inquiry—at once a challenge and an objection. Generalities in the broadest sense were permissible, and so Sir Joseph compromised, speaking rapidly, eloquently, shrewdly, of what the future might hoid for the nations, in general, and for New Zealand in particular. ~ The Liberal leader would not venture upon prophecy in regard to the duration of the war. "I was an optimist at the beginning, with very little knowledge," he said, "and I am optimist still, with fuller information; but the most any of us can say now is that the more earnestly and the more determinedly we apply ourselves to the task we have' in hand tho sooner we shall reach our goal and I the brighter peace will dawn. There iimist be no fainting by the way, no resting, no hesitation, if we are to accomplish all wc set out to achieve." But whether the end came soon or late, Sir Joseph went on to say. New Zealand like every other part of the Empire, would be confronted with gigantic problems which would require all the courage and energy of a. united people to solve. The financial burden, thouili not heavier than this country with its endless resources could bear, would be enormous and production and trade and commerce would have to be doubled anil redoubled to meet the need and the demands of the new position. Sir Joseph had no fear that New Zealanders would fail in the task that lay before them. Stagnation would be the last thing a young virile nation in such circumstances would contemplate. As they had fought the war so would they repair the ravages of the war. The uncalled natural resources of the country would develop apace, industries would Tie pushed ahead, commerce would be extended, capital would be turned to its legitimate purposes and labor v.-onld be .liven its full reward. And so would be born the political revolution—a bloodless, peaceful readjustment of social conceptions, economio conditions and national ideals. There were questions bordering too closely upon party politics to be discussed at the present stage, at any rate by one pledged to the maintenance of the party truee both in letter and in spirit; but it was obvious to everyone with eyes to see that many of the old social distinctions were disappearing and that all the old political privileges would follow. Personal worth and achievement more and more were determining a man's place in the community; birth and influence less and less. The result of the inevitable levelling up could not fail to be of immense advantage to the country. Fresh, alerr minds would be brought to bear upon public affairs, the lessons of the war «'ould be honestly interpreted, its burden would be equitably distributed and all j tlie narrow obstructive traditions that had dwarfted the hearts and souls of the individual and the party would be revised. The social and political milleriiums might not come to-morrow nor the day after, but an educated, earnest, self-dis-ciplined democracy would be contending for the right with growing knowledge and gathering experience and with the ideals of equality of opportunity and equality of sacrifices, in the true meaning of those much misused phrases, as the basic principles of their political anenational aspirations. Finance, land settlement, legislative reform, representation, industrial legislation, social betterment and national efficiency, Sir Joseph Ward said in conclusion, all were great questions that would divide tho country again into parties after the war, arid there were scores of minor ones; but meanwhile the biggest problem in tho whole historv of the Empire was up for solution and' till that was satisfactorily solved patriotic men and women would have no time for party quarrels and no 1 bought for party advantages. In politics, as in everything else, their every effort would be devoted towards bringing about the one desired end.