The Waikato Times, AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to aft men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, SEPT. 8, 1891.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2988, 8 September 1891, Page 2

The Waikato Times, AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to aft men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, SEPT. 8, 1891.

» The Marquis of Salisbury, speak ing at the dinner of the Union Club 0 • the 15th July, made some remarks in reference to the interference of government with the action of individuals which are well worthy of consideration in this country at the present juncture. He said : " I want to direct your attention to a movement for reviving the paternal action of (r >vernmeut upon the well-being of the people. It is well understood th.it in these days the paternal action of Governent is K"iierally supposed or intended to be influenced mainly by popular influence. There is no danger which we have to contend with which is so serious as an exaggeration of the power, the useful power, of tho interference of the StateL It is not that the State may not, or ought not to interfere when it can do no with advantage, but that the occasions on which it can so interfere are so lamentably few and the difficulties that lie in its way are so great. But 1 think that some of us are in danger of an opposite error. What we have to struggle against is the unnecessary interference ot the State, and still morn when that interfcr-

once involves nny injustice to any pnople, especially to any minority. All those who defend freedom an> bound ;is their first duty to he the champions of majority, which holds the power of the State, to interfere a'„ its will is that the interests of the minority will be disregarded and crushed out under the ompinotent force of a popular vote." How truly the great and far-seeing statesman has depicted our position at the present times. We have first of all the taxation measure which is to lie enforced for no other reason than that the majority have got it into their heads that men who have honestly paid the State for the land they own, if above a certain area, should, regardless of the first principles of good government, have this area practically confiscated. They are a minority and this fact, in the eyes of the new school of politicians, which is fattening on the ignorance of its victims, is quite sufficent reason to despoil them. There is no attempt at disguising the ultimate intention to apply the same sauce to those who own any land at all. This intention should not be lost sight of by those who have lulled themselves into a feeling of security because they only own small areas. The theory of Mr Ballanco and his followers is that tho land should bear the whole cost of Government and interest on debt, in the first place by crushing taxation, and when confiscation is completed by this means, by paid to the Government, in their eyes tho ouly legitimate landlord. If any man has the temerity to contest the seat for this district, as a supporter of the Governmeut, he will not put the case quite so plainly as we have done. TTe will talk about the righteousness of fairly proportioning the burdens, moaning increased taxation per & of value in proportion to the number of acres held. What a claptrap subterfuge is this, put forth to hide the sinister .'intentions of the party. To fairly proportion the burdens there should be no sliding scale. Tho man with fiffy acres has had their value increased per acre equally as much as he with ten thousand. The tax thereforo should be equal, This, however, would not be politic, the idea of the confiscation party is to use the small holders to crush the large, and continue the process downwards till the latter, in a figurative sense, will have had their shrouds partially prepared for them by the smaller men, and the smaller men will unknown to themselves have been paving the way to their own burial ground. Such is palpably the policy which it is hoped is to bring abouc the ideal of Stout, Ballance and Co.— Land Nationalization. We give the farmers of this country credit for possessing too much sense to allow themselves to be taken in by this latest phase of the oldfashioned "confidence trick." If the career of the confiscators is not checked however by every means, there will be danger that a combination of the Perpetual Leaseholders and the town Radical-Socialists may reduce ideal to fact. Tho former will either secure their freeholds or wreak vengeance on those who have them. Such is human nature. Every man who has aught to lose, or who takes a sincere interest in the welfare of his country, should keep the old fable of the spider and the fly in his memory, and, as did the fly, stoutly decline to put his foot within the fatal parlour, by voting against any man who does not declare himself an unqualified opponent of the present Ministry.