The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1887. PARTY POLITICS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1662, 19 November 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1887. PARTY POLITICS.

During the last election the cr y of the “ Continuous Ministry ” party was “ Measures, not mennow they have changed it to “ Men, not measures.” Major Atkinson holds office because he is the lesser of two evils. The greater evil —and undoubtedly the greater man —is Sir Julius Vogel. Sooner than witness Sir Julius Vogel installed in office many of those pledged to a policy of Protection have thrown their principles overboard, because, they say, they were elected to keep Sir Julius Vogel out of office. Now the question is, Who were they to put in his place ? Certainly not Major Atkinson, for of all the candidates who offered themselves for election only two or three of them had the courage to declare themselves followers of Major Atkinson. The fact is, he was repudiated as a leader by the great majority of them, who gulled the public by promising that new men would start up and form a new party altogether, and make such sweeping changes as never were heard of before. But the new men have not started up—yet these members who were opposed to the late Government now feel themselves bound to support Major Atkinson and his policy of “ leave it to me and wait till next year.” These members are the mere creatures of prejudice. “ When the judgment’s weak The prejudice is strong” fully explains the actions of many of ; those now in Parliament. There are 58 Protectionists in the House, yet we are to have no Protection, because Major Atkinson is afraid he would lose his office if he were to undertake it, and the poor weaklings who follow him prefer to do without Protection than "reinstate in power Sir Julius Vogel. Now, what has Sir J ulius done to deserve this ? Has he borrowed more money than Major Atkinson ? Has he spent more money than Major Atkinson ? Has he been more extravagant than Major Atkinson ? Has he proposed to borrow more money than Major Atkinson ? He has not. In the wildest dreams of the late Ministry they proposed to borrow only £2,000,000 in ten years, but Major Atkinson proposes to borrow nearly two and a-half millions right off, and says he will nob require any more for the next three years. If these members fear further borrowing they must see they have nothing to gain by the change they have made. Major Atkinson is worse than Sir Julius Vogel in that respect. Why, then, should they allow their prejudices to annihilate their principles ? They cannot give any reason for doing so, and, unless we make a great mistake, they will find it difficult to explain it to their constituents. There is nothing in the Ministerial policy to recommend it, except retrenchment, and that must increase the distress of the poor. It would, therefore, bo wise to take the interests of the working classes into consideration when carrying out retrenchment, and this could only be done by stimulating local production. Some think that it would take several years before we should begin to feel the benefit of Protection, but this is a mistaken notion. The immediate result of Protection would be that local industries at present established would make a great many of the articles which we now import, and consequently would at once require new hands, "it would, besides, give manufacturers heart to go to work, and increased activity in trade would be the result. New factories would have to be built, and work would at once become more plentiful—and thus, as retrenchment narrowed the field of labor, Protection would expand it in another direction. But this is not to be. Several Protectionists have decided to support the Government sooner than run the risk of Sir J ulius Vogel getting back into office, and in this way will.inflict terrible hardships on the working classes during the coming year. Besides, Protection would help to lighten taxation. Every factory built would be so much created wealth, and would be taxable under the property tax. This and the general expansion of trade would yield a larger revenue under the property tax, and thus the property tax could be reduced and taxation would be made lighter. It is pot, therefore, working classes alone would be benefited, but the whole community at large. Yet, although the majority of the members are in favor of this policy, it is not to be carried out. Major Atkinson will not do it because the majority of his supporters are Freetraders, but promises that next year he will revise the tariff in a maimer that will satisfy Freetraders and Protectionists. That he certainly cannot do, hue we shall again refer to the point. In the meantime we shall only say that Party Government has once more destroyed our chances of having a policy that would do some good caiT'ed, Rod well might the people «ay,'“ A piagu? <» both your THE VOGEL TROUBLE. A storm in a teapot has been raging for the last few days in the General As-embly of the colony. It began iu a very small way, but it gamed strength as it went along, and at one time rose to hurricane pitch. It is nob necessary to reiterate the facts of i

the case, as they are still fresh in the memory of our readers. It is admitted now on all sides that Mr Thompson—the cause of all the trouble—acted in very bad taste, and was guilty of pettifogging, smallminded, contemptible conduct. Such trifles as be made the subject of a questions are too paltry to waste the time of Parliament upon. Unless the Ministers can. look after such miserable details as these they are not fit to hold office. It is to attend to them they are appointed, and it is no business of a representative to go smelling into every nook and corner to see where he can fish out some twopenny-halfpenny bit of dirty work. But it is exactly this which some representatives do. They have not the brains to grasp the weightier questions, and they try to get up their names in this way The explanation given by the Premier shows that there was nothing wrong. Sir Julius Yogel paid the orderly, and the messenger could be taken away by the Q-overnment any moment they desired. The Colonial Secretary asked Sir Julius Yogel would he retain the services of the messenger, and Sir Julius Yogel replied he would not. Mr Thompson might easily have found out all this before he put his question, and saved himself all the trouble, but he doubtless thought he would administer a crushing snub to Sir Julius Yogel and shine as the great purifier of the political atmosphere. As it happened he comes out of it second best —and serve him right, for had he anything of the instincts of manhood in him he would not have noticed the matter. Sir Julius Yogel’s infirmity | ought to have disarmed him if nothing else would. The next blunder was made by the Speaker. He evidently allowed his feeling of enmity to Sir Julius Yogel to outrun his discretion, and, colloquially speaking, picked him up before he had fallen. He was altogether too hasty, and, considering that he had frequently on previous occasions interfered in the sama way with Sir Julius Yogel, it was only natural that Sir Julius Yogel should have retorted angrily. He did, and it was at this point Sir Julius Yogel erred. To say that a certain high official had to sign the pledge before being elected, and that his tenure of office depended upon his sobriety, was too pointed. Anyone could at once see that he meant the Speaker of the House, He also referred to the risk of the place being set on fire owing to the drunken habits of some members. This, of course, referred to a fire which occurred in the Speaker’s room some time ago, and was an unpleasant thing to bring up. Sir Julius Vogel certainly was, and has for a long time been, very much illused, but even this could not justify him in descending to such a level as ho did in this matter. His conduct was an outrageous breach of the discipline of the House, and the only excuse for him—and an insufficient one it is—is that the provocation he received was great. The Speaker got it the worst of all—and it served him right. If Mr Thompson’s question referred to any member with whom the Speaker was on friendly terms he would never have allowed it to go on the Order Paper. Even now he admits that it was offensive, and that it had no right to go on—and excuses himself on the ground that it was the duty of the Clerk of the House to have called his attention to it. He allowed it to go on the Order Paper so that Sir Julius Yogel might be humiliated by it, but the weight of the whole affair falls on bis own shoulders, and he certainly comes out of it besmeared from head to foot. The whole affair is disgraceful—not only to the parties concerned, but to the whole House, In a matter like this members ought to rise above party feelings and party struggles, but they did not, It was a party question and a party squabble from beginning to end. It was party feeling that prompted Mr Thompson in asking the question; it was party feeling that blinded the Speaker’s judgment, and party feeling has been exhibited by the members and the Press of the colony. Two days have been spent over it, and more expense incurred than would pay the salaries of the two public servants ten times over—and all because a Northern noodle, who could not grasp any weightier questions, wanted to get his name up as a great economist.