live Wailuto Stww AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDA Y, MARCH 15, 1892.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3068, 15 March 1892, Page 2

live Wailuto Stww AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDA Y, MARCH 15, 1892.

'l;''l;'The Wellington of our morning contemporary gives currency to rumours that active steps are being taken by the Opposition to organise their forces and decide upon a plan of campaign for next session. That Sir lloorge Grey and Mr Eolleston should be found working together, than the former with Mr Ballance, is certainly more natural. Sir George is a liberal, as liberalism was understood before the new meaning was given to the term by Mr Ballance and his followers. Mr Eolleston can certainly lay claim to rank under the same old historical banner, what more natural therefore than t that the two should be found side by side resisting the inroads on individual liberty threatened by the new school. As true liberals they must be opposed to the pandering to trades' unions, which has been so disgracefully characteristic of Mr Ballance. The Ministerial party and the suiall section of the press which supports them are in the habit of characterising the Opposition as Tories, as being the most injurious epithet they can apply to them. They know perfectly well that even in the Old Country the genus Tory has become extinct. The term has however acquired a new significance in New Zealand, unless it is used simply as a term of abuse, with as little meaning as attaches to the unpleasant words with which the conversation of a certain class of the people is so copiously interlarded. Mr Eolleston and Sir George are fully alive to the fact that one of the principal duties of Government is to get the people upon the land, and that on the terms best calculated to induce them to stay upon it. and aid in the great work of developing the resources of the country. Thev are both of the opinion that they should have the greatest facility of acquiring on the easiest of terms the right to the land they settle upon. Neither of them talks of Land Nationalisation as do Mr Ballance and his followers of the trades' unions, which means and means only the consfication of that which has been legally acquired and paid for on the State's guarantee. They both agree with the principal of a land tax, but neither believes in the ascending scale. Sir George's proposal frequently put forth from the platform is that a uniform tax should be imposed upon all land held in blocks beyond a certain area or value, holders of smaller extent or value to go free, and all improvements to be exempt. He has never tired of pointing out to the people thai", their future and the future of the colony depends upon the laud policy. It is in his eyes the vital question. The measures and announced policy of Mr Ballance are so antagonistic to those of Sir George that it is simply impossible that the two men can live together in the same political camp, unless one or the other bends to the, stronger will and force of character of the other. In the case in question there is no doubt wliieh would have to yield, and that ono has so far committed himself that retreat means political extinction. The Premier's indiscretion of speech has tickled the ears and gratified the passions of certain of his audiences, but unfortunately for him his utterances are not so likely to be forgotten by the thinking and stable portion of the population as

he cannot fail to wish. Hβ is silent now, to the disgust of his principal supporters, but opinions deliberately expressed by the Premier of a country cannot easily be buried and orgotten. His simply ceasing o reiterate them will certainly not have tire effect, and to formally renounce them would at once stamp him ;i shifty and unsafe man for a position entailing grave political responsibility. We are quite of our Wellington contemporary's opinion that Sir George will be found working with Mr Rolleston, to believe so is logical. It is natural that he should attach himself to the party which is led by a man whose opinions, on what he considers the most vital question, are much more consonant with his own than are those of Mr Ballance. [u the event of a dissolution there can be no doubt as to which of the two men, Sir George and Mr Ballance. the voters would choose. The latter can no longer rely upon the support of the land nationalizes and the single taxers, they look upon themselves as the proverbial ladder, rejected after the top of the tree had been attained. Men have a habit, which is inconvenient for rash and talkative politicians— they expect them to make an effort to ful6l their pledges and are very vindictive if they fail them.