THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1908. LOYALTY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9057, 17 February 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1908. LOYALTY.

Last week the Premier, addressing a meeting at Te Aroha, raised the question of what constitutes loyalty to the country, and his definition of it is narrow enough to excite ironic laughter. It ha 3 done so in various directions, for a section of the Press is loudly guffawing at the idea. The interpretation is this in effect that criticism of the Administration or its laws by New Zealanders writing to papers abroad is disloyal, and that an act of disloyalty to the Government is an act of disloyalty to the country. Some persons have been writing from New Zealand to the American Press in condemnation of the management of our railways. No one outside the Government will aver that the conduct of our railways is beyond criticism, and Sir Joseph has not demonstrated but merely declared that the statements made are false. If even false, it does not follow that the writers are to be described as disloyal to their country, though they may be so to the Government if they happen to be professed supporters of it. The man who adversely criticises the actions of the Administration of his country may be actuated by the most genuine loyalty, though it may be hard to make Ministers recognise the fact. True national loyalty is above and beyond mere party considerations, and we should like to see more of it exhibited in this country. But, unfortunately, the spirit of national

loyalty is not inculcated as it should be, and example in high quarters does not tend to the spread of the sentiment. Governments and Parliaments alike have mouthed loyalty rather j than put it into operation. Self and party are too often the predominating keynotes, and the general well-being of the State has not seldom been a secondary consideration, when it has been a consideration at all. Under the circumstances it would not be surprising if occasionally some New Zealander "bettered the instruction" of those in office, and manifested an unloyal spirit. Ministers and politicians might well take a mental introspection, and endeavour to discover how far they themselves have inculcated loyalty before condemning those whom they declare to have been disloyal.