THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1912. A MEMORABLE WEEK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10557, 12 February 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1912. A MEMORABLE WEEK.

The present week will be, from a political point of view, one of the most memorable in the history of the Dominion, ft will see the termination for all time of the power and domination of a Party which has sacrifice! every political principle to considera tions of office; which has pander A to every class, clique and sect for the purpose of catching votes, and which has lowered the standard of public life by a system of patronage and corruption without parallel in any part of the British Empire. For years past the system of Government >n this country has been one of expediency, pure and simple. The mos* during and reckless appeals have been made to the lower instincts of the masses; individuality and ambition have been destroyed by the rao'« despicable forms of collectivism; constituencies have been corrupted in a wholesale manner iby the extravagant expenditure of public moneys; ' reitrictive laws have been multiplied to such an alarming extent that trade and industry have been paralysed; the efficiency of the Public Service has been weakened by the most glaring instances of patronage and partisanship; the whole'paraphernalia of Government has, in. fact, been steeped in iniquity. Is there any .wondv: that the people, driven almost to desperation, have cried, "Hold! 'Enough ?" Is jt surprising that those constituencies which are the most intimately acquainted with the depth i of degradation to which politics have passed have been the first to revolt? One is compelled to shudder at the contemplation of the condition in which the Dominion would be at the i present moment were it not for the illimitable resources of the State, the buoyancy of the markets, and the stubborn determination and virility of tho people. At length, after a period of gravo anxiety on the part of those possessing tho better and truer i.u-

■stincts of citizenship, thero is hop* for the dawn of a new era. The po\'s in December last sealed the fate of the party of patronage once and for all, and although the most de&pera:-'> attempts have been made to thwar:, the will of the electors, there is no', the shadow of doubt that the first division in the new Parliament wi.l give the final despatch to the remnant of a discredited Party. What an imimense responsibility .the Massey Government will assume when 't occum-.-s the Treasury benches, only those who know the state of financial rottenness into which the country has fallw land the chaos which reigns in almo-i (every Department of State, can ap- ' preciato. There are pessimists who will assert that the policy of the Reform Party will be so violently reactionary as to produce calamitous results. ' That these will be doomed to disappointment is almost as sure a; that night follows day. The firdt business of the new Government will be to put the Departmental house in order, and to reform the legislative 'system under which a body of than useless dummies are permittej to masquerade as legislators. Then the industrial problem will have to be faced in a firm and decided, man o. er. The whole of the humbug which, in the name of arbitration and coneif. atioti, has turned the trade and commerce of the country upsido down, will require to be swept from the Statute Book, and something like freedom of contract as between ma*j and man will have to be restore! Parliament, in the name of all that is right and just, must insist that thero is no room in the social hive for tho drone who sets class against class and precipitates strikes without regard to consequences. The agitat-."-:' must be told plainly that he must go to work, or work will be found for Mm under proper supervision. Sifti nltaneous with the industrial legislation must be legislation to throw op n n the waste areas of the country to settlement, so that men and women who are at present being huddled together in the cities may be allowed to breathe the fresh air of contentmen" and work out their own destinies for the good of themselves and the Dominion at large. These are two or three oi the responsible undertaking; which will devolve upon the Massey Government when it comes to power Although its majority in Parliam&.it may be 'small, it will have the satisfaction of knowing that behind it ; is the great force of public opinion—a force that is daily becoming strong' |er, and which will endorse every | movement which makes for the>Test r )- j ration of confidence and the ultimata good of the people as a whole. ■ ■ I ■