THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1911. THE WARD RECORD.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10489, 28 November 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1911. THE WARD RECORD.

have been looking anxiously (during ithe last dew weeks far some definite information conieeirning the khi'maiiitan'uan legislation of the Ward Administration, some record which would: justify them in extending the' power of that Adniinu'isfeitioai for another period. A policy for the future is out of the question, and so we have orily the past, as a guide. And what is that past? How does, it appeal to JJie average efeotor—the worker, tlw ibusiness nviuv, the sett•lei"? A Wangainud paper enumerateswhat it calls the "progressive" legiisSation of the Ward Government. First and foremost it cites the National endowment. That certainly, progresses some distance- towards' B'aaid nationaJlization, hut as a piece (of 'sound istatesmiaaisbip it is as hoJ L low as a pumpkin. Thein. we are told that the Government has reduced tho taxation through the Customs l on aM the necessaries of life. This is absolutely contrary to fact. The Customs' duties, per capita, were never higher than at the present time. The Wanigamii apologist further states that the Government has* redueedl the hours' and increa,sed the wages of railway- employees. Yes, at the point of the bayonet, and to

such, an extent that the employees regard it as ia .shiam .and aimockery: It 'Unas jpassed a Hospital and Charitable .Aid Act which is on© of the most advanced pieces of legislation on nJiio Statute Book of any country." True, it ipassed' this mease ure, with the assistance of the Opposition, and after a severe struggle with members, of its own party. But it ha® done more. It has* done many things for -wihfioh neither the Wanganui paper nor amy other Government paper gives, it credit. It has (increased (the (national debt by nearly twenty miUions, an. achievement cannot 'bo boasted by any other 'setllf-govea-ning British possessiom. It (has. passed a Harbour Board Bill which not even a PMadelphia' lawyer cowlld improve. It lias turned a complete somersault on the gambling question;, and eventually wiped many innocent country racing olubs out of existence. It has temporised wfith the (No-flfcenso party in a Bihame- : less ■manner, and then isought to propitiate it by employing one of its I prominent memibers,; to. draft a Bill j which should have been by [the Law Officers of .the Grown. It has introduced iand legiisliatioln. in;, it slipshod manner, and then, been alfiraidi to go on. with it.; It has enabled a large .slice of Native (lands to fail into the hands of speculators. It has iset up a .titled aristocracy in the Dominion. It has givem away a Dreadnought without cousuillting the | representatives of the people. It las. imitroduced a defence iscbeme m oine (session and amendied it out of existence in the next. It has trifled with tQue question of local government reform. It has made appointments to tile (Legislative Council wihidh are little ishort of scandalous.. It has made .monetary payments! to Supreme Court Judges to do work -which does> not come within rfhie-jr jurisdiction. It ha'S run* the railways' almost to a dtanidistil in .some di'stfaucts. It hasi squendered money on. useless, public ■works. It ha®, ini fact, made a mess of tiungs generally. And, if it is allowed to go oirin thliis "progressive" way, the (time i& not far distant, when) the name of "Liberailisim," as it is interpreted, by the knighted Ministry, , will.be. a by-woa-d and a reproach.