The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. Tuesday, May 23, 1899. THE OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXI, Issue 3901, 23 May 1899, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published T uesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. Tuesday, May 23, 1899. THE OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN.

The flattering reception accorded to the Leader of the Opposition in the north has created dismay in the ranks of the Government and the Premier is frantically rushing all over the North Island delivering addresses and marshalling his forces—at the colony’s expense. Mr Seddon can read the writing on the wall; he realises the fact that the colony has grown tired of being ruled by one man, who lustily proclaims that he is a Democrat, but who is the greatest Autocrat the colony has ever seen. At last, the people of the colony have awakened from their long sleep. They now know that in spite of large annual surpluses their burdens have not been lessened, but increased ; that during tbe long Seddon reign the duties on the necessaries of life have steadily grown ; that in spite of glowing pictures of fictitious prosperity deftly painted by the Premier, employment is scarce and wages low. Many who acknowledge these facts and have felt the pinch of “ hard times ” have hesitated to sever their connection with the party in power because of Mr Seddon’s reiterated assertion that if the Opposition were to eject him from office they would repeal the whole of the advanced legislation of the last few years. Against the baseless denunciations of “ Liberal ” politicians we may (says the Post), confidently place Captain Russell’s own words—for even his political opponents admit that the Leader of the Opposition is an upright and honourable man. In connection with the Old Age Pensions Act, Captain Rus-

sell unhesitatingly declared at Stratford that the Opposition would not attempt to repeal it. “ W e have,” he rightly said, “ distinctly entered into a contract with the aged poor that must be maintained. Bat the scheme of finance is in a parlous state. Suppose they did not have a surplus, where was the money to come from ? The Opposition contended that the payment of pensions should be from a fund that was absolutely assured.” We fully agree with the Opposition, if for no other reason beoause the old age pension scheme will never be permanently secured until its finances are placed on a thoroughly sound basis. The land laws naturally formed the chief subject of Captain Russell’s address, in a country township like Stratford, and in respect of them he ar aured his audienoe that it was an

“ absolutely baseless assertion ” to accuse the Opposition of wishing to repeal them. “ What he wanted to impress upon them,” he laid, “ was that there wai no intention to repeal the land laws, especially the Land for Settlement Act, and if they (the Opposition) got into power they would administer the Acts in the true spirit.” These unreserved pledges should explode the fallacies now passing current about Captain Russell’s intentions with reference to the present land and social legislation. Another Ministerial bubble burst by the Stratford speech was the contention that the freehold, as advocated by the Opposition, was a sinister attempt to ereate land monopolies. The Leader of the Opposition disclaimed any such malicious purposes, and pointed out that tbe “ whole tendency nowadays was towards subdivision.” “ But,” he continued, “ to avoid the possibility of the creation of large estates, let provisions be made prohibiting any man from acquiring more than a specified area.” All that Captain Russell and his friends propose is to give lease holders the option of converting their properties into freeholds upon easy terms. Borne, as he asserted, will no doubt, from sentimental motives, be glad to have the opportunity but as the system becomes better understood it is probable that the tenants themselves will prefer the lease in perpetuity with periodical revaluations. The Leader of the Opposition very properly argues that settlers should have a prior right to employment on their local public works over the co-opera-tive workmen imported into back districts by the Government. So far as land administration is concerned, Captain Russell would give greater facilities of employment to settlers in new districts, and would give Crown ‘lessees the right to purchase their holdings in fee simple, but would use every means to prevent the aggregation of large estates, and to encourage settlement.

Two very urgent reforms are included in Captain Russell’s programme. He notes with regret the degeneracy of the Legislative Council, the rapidity with which it is being converted into a wheel of the Party machine. The seven year tenure, however good in theory, has proved disastrous in practice. It has sapped the independence of Councillors, who are fast becoming what the Leader of the Opposition terms them, the “vassals of the Premier.” If the Council is to regain its freedom to revise legislation upon its merits, the power of appointment must be removed from the Premier of the day, and Captain Russell agrees with us that the best way to accomplish this is by making the Council elective on the Hare system. The Lower House would then represent the Democracy in its local distribution, while the Upper House would represent it naturally on a per capita basis. The other reform is the removal of the Public Service from political control. There was a time when the Premier seemed inclined to carry out this necessary work, but the love of patronage ap pears to have proved too much for his better judgment. He dare not destroy the structure he has erected upon a foundation of personal rewards and punishment, and therefore his followers have been instructed to teach the people that a non-political Civil Service and purity of administration are among the errors of Toryism. The Democracy of New Zealand is hardly likely to follow its Premier in admitting that the system of “spoils to the victors ” is inseparably bound up with progress. Captain Russell, by his speech, has pledged himself to respect the existing land and social laws, to prevent the accumulation of large estates, to reform the Legislative Council, to make the Civil Service nonpolitical, and to introduce a pure administration.