THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1913. WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 27 November 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1913. WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE.

The New Zealand Times, in its issue of yesterday, devoted "a column and a-Lalf of its space to exposing the alleged delinquencies of the Reform Party, and to proving in its own characteristic fashion that the Dominion, under Reform Administration, is drifting to tho eternal bow-wows. We are asked to 7 believe that colonisation is stagnant; that the purchasing power of the people is being restricted; that the small farmer is not nearly as well off as he was; thai; every Department of State is in an- 1 unsatisfactory condition; that railway construction has been abandoned; that there is no activity in land settlement; that the Minister of Native Affairs has been a rank and unmitigated failure; that the Government is prolonging the industrial strife to gain a party advantage; that the Public Service is a seething cauldron of discontent; and that the whole box and dice of Ministers have "proved themselves to be utter and dismal failures." We are seriously asked by the New Zealand Times to believe 'these things. And yet wo have the evidence of our own senses that the country, apart from the industrial crisis which is the whirlwind of "Liberal" misgovernment, was never in a more prosperous condition than it is tos-day. W r e have the evidence of the New Zealand Times itaelf that the public works expenditure during the past year was the greatest on record. We have the evidence of the same journal that there was an increase in tho Customs revenue of £IIO,OOO during the September quarter, compared with the previous year. We

have the evidence of tho Lands Department that settlement is proceeding at a greater pace than it lias for years past. We have the evidence of tho railways that their leturns are annually improving. Wo have the evidence of the .small farmers that they were never as prosperous and contented as they are to-dap. We have- tho evidence of tho Native Land Bill that Mi 6 Hon. \V. H. Hemes is keenly alive to the requirements of the Dominion. We have the evidence of tho New Zealand Times that the Government, instead of prolonging the industrial strife for party purposes, has exhausted, every means possible for bringing about a reconciliation between the contending parties. Wo have the evidence of our own observation that patronage in respect to the Public, Service has been absolutely destroyed, and that the Commissioners arc saving the country thousands of pounds annually. We ' hare the strongest evidence possible tljtat the assertion that Ministers have "proved themselves td be utter and dismal failures" ia an outrageous fabrication, and an insult to the intelligence of tho people. The New Zealand Times may screach as loudly and persistently as it will about the mistakes of the Reform Party. It may try its utmost to convince traders and small farmers that the Government exists for the sole purpose of protecting the interests of the "squatter." 'The intelligent public knows juat how much value to place upon the utterances of the monthpiece of a played-out and discredited party. It knows that if the Reform Party has nude mistakes —and admittedly it has —these aro but circumstances compared with the corrupt devices employed by the so-called "Liberals" to retain the patronage and the emoluments of office. It knows that if the Government has been able to win the support of large land-holders as well as small, it has been by its honest efforts to make tho rural conditions more satisfactory. It knows that its interests are far safer in tho hands of a party that will encourage the primary industries in all their phases, than in those of a combination which is closely allied with Syndicalists, Labour Federationists, Socialists:, and wreckers of society. The New Zealand Times and other Opposition journals are chagrined at the thought that the whole countryside has risen against a party that panders to revolutionaries and strikers, and hasi determined •that it will never again trust its destinies in the hands of political opportunists. The interests of the nation are far too important, the future of the. Dominion "is;; far too dear, to permit of a return to tla.ss' doinina-" t'ion. and political and chicanery. "If we Lavefcfiot the strongest possible Government in power, we have at least one that places the wel-. faro of the country before personal aggrandisement, place, and power. And for this reasdn, if for no other, the constituencies will renew their confidence in the Massoy Government when the first general appeal is made to them.