The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1883. TRUE DEMOCRACY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1563, 19 December 1883, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1883. TRUE DEMOCRACY.

Mk Stout recently delivered a lecture at Napier on " Trim Democracy." Mr Stout is mi advanced radical, and though our sympathies do not, as a rule, run with ultri-radicalism, we have always had a groat respect for this exponent of an extreme creed. He is an honest, earnest man, who seeks to do and say lliut which in his soul ho believe:; to be right, We arc not afraid of .such a man being in the Legislature or in the Cabinet. Personal integrity is a better recommendation than either liberalism or conservatism, and there are few men in the colony with a larger measure of it than Robert Stout. The lecture to which we refer was intended to show in what True Democracy consists. Mr Stout contends that the science of government must develop with the advance of time, and that the political wisdom of a hundred years ago is unsuited for the present day. Curiously enough he extended his illustrations to America, where a century of rapid progress has only confirmed the political sagacity of a period which, according to Mr Stout, should be effete. Mr Stout declares that the mission of true democracy is to perfect the race by raising the individual members of it. The elevation of the individual, in his opinion, can only be accomplished by some form of democracy. He insists upon equality of condition as the basis of democracy, and argues that the possession of land by individuals is fatal to this equality, While, however, lie would deprive individuals of the right to hold or accumulate land he would respect capital. It is a very difficult position to maintain that the equality of condition desired ; by Mr Stout is consistent with the possession of unlimited capital and inconsistent with the possession of land. Mr Stout showed a considerable amount of honesty by declaring that the true democrat must be always warring against the drinking customs of the colony. This limitation must bo a disqualification to numberless radicals throughout New Zoalond who might otherwise have enrolled themselves under Mr Stout's banner. Another condition of true democracy was that it must cultivate loyalty lo the State and enthusiasm for government. In our educational system Mr Stout recognises a valuable aid to true democracy, and pleads nobly for our common schools to be kept from the influence of bias, whether of race, creed, wealth, or position. If we were askodwho is the true democrat, we could only give one' answer, and that would be, Mr Stout. The impression the lecture makes on the mind is that true democracy would bo a grand thing if the colony were composed of men like Robert Stout. With such men, women, and children as aro now living in tho colony the true democracy of Mr Stout is simply a dream, Step by step, as time advances, we may in New Zealand approach his ideal, but we can make no sudden transition towards it, nor can we with safety embody it in Acts of Parliament as a possible or practicable measure of reform. W e

thank Mr Stout for his definition of " true democracy," as judging by it nine-tenths of the radicals of this district must be struck off the roll and pronounced to be altogether too short for Mr Stout's standard.