THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1912. NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10565, 22 February 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1912. NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE.

•The one outstanding feature of the no-confidence debate which opened in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (was the remarkable speech of Sir Joseph Ward. Instead of.attempting a defence of his administration in the past, or an explanation of the extraordinary hotch-potch he calls a policy for the future, he contented himself with elaborating the many false and malicious statements which he imagined as having been made' against the personality of Sir Joseph Ward, with a view to driving that individual out of public life. Those who are possessed of a memory will recall an incident a few years back, when the same gentleman repudiated the base cahunnies which were alleged to have been littered against him with a similar show of righteous indignation. People, however, are not quite as verdant as.the Prime Minister supposes. They do not attach the slightest importance to the personal affairs of Sir Joseph Ward. All the talk" about religion, and company-mongering, and so forth, is mere subterfuge. The country has nothing in particular against Sir Joseph as a man. His capacity for work, his acquaintance with departmental detail, his ability as a politician, his ingenuity are all freely

admitted. What the electors _ have pronounced against is the Continuous Ministry, around ■which have developed abuses which border upon the scandalous. What they havo asked for, and what they arc determined to have at all costs, is a change in administration, so that the country will be run in a business-like fashion, instead of by expediency. What was the object of the Prime Minister in oilering to retire from the leadership? Was it not to endeavour to influence tlie votes of those who are pledged against his administration? Does he hope to .secure a continuation of power for his party by acting in this childish (manner P Can he not realise that the mandate has gone forth for a general cleaning-up? Why is he so determined that the Reform Party shall not gain access to the pigeonholes? Has he something to conceal? Tho public will form its own conclusions, ft will not be satisfied with a display of passionate resentment and squeamishness. Government by expediency has been dragging the* politics of i\ew Zealand into the glitter. And this policy is being pursued to the bitter end.