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Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2012, 22 February 1907, Page 1

IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND. | BY J. RAMSAY MACDONALD I M.l\ I “The King is dead I” There the herald stopped, ami no new king has boon proclaimed. Sir Joseph Ward sits on the throne —but as yet his tenure is like that of Richard Cromwell. The immediate future of New Zealand politics still lie's' on the lap of tlie gods. One feels the sorrow of Mr Soddon’s departure yet, and yet hears the wail of tho people. New •Zealand is moving about uncomfortably,* not knowing exactly what to do—or what anyone is to do for her. Her dilemma is all tho more complete that her late Premier's personality so thoroughly overshadowed her. Mr Seddon ruled like an absolute monarch —not a constitutional one- — not a democratic servant of the people. His Cabinets, saving for one man perhaps, were composed of men whoso utility to tho State was that they were obedient to their master. He himself introduced all the important Bills irrespective of tho department to which tlioy belonged; he held no fower than live portfolios, including those of Colonial Treasurer, Minister of Defenco, Minister of Education, and Minister of Labor ; he smashed the Opposition, and the irresistible tide of his authority compelled men who had* no real sympathy with his politics to announce themselves as his followers. AN OVERSHADOWING PERSONALITY.

I have heard of corruption since 1 came hero; a pamphlet by one of the ablest of New Zealand’s journalists lias been put in my hands, which accuses tho Seddon unumvirate of a spoils system; a more prodigious typewritten book accusing it of worse has been given to me. Hut when one gets in touch witli the subordinates of the late monarch of these islands and hears of the tremendous working capacity which he possessed —the long days of toil for the State unbroken very often by anV pause for food, the long nights when the morning came to find that he had been up through the. silent hours working for New Zealand: and, above all, when one gets upon the personal side of the dead man with these old subordinates and hears their voices break and their words become slow and sad as they tell you personal things of him —well, tho pamphlet may be true and the worst may bo true, but it is till more true that there was a" great personality ruling New Zealand, one of these mountainous masses which drew unto it the smaller things of the State. I came here when this regime ended. Now men were in authority. The mind of the colony was in suspense. A Land Bill—absolutely necessary if New Zealand is oven to pretend to keep her face to the social problems which confront her—had just made havoc in the dominant party; a Labor party, which had been tossed like a rag on the borne of a bull at the recent election, was beginning to find its legs again ; a Radical wing was showing signs of a movement to pitch its own camp and to give or withhold its support as a more or less independent contingent, the impeded stream of politics threatened to divide into a country and a town party —the former corresponding to our landed and Conservative Party, the latter partly Kadicill and partly Labor .

CONFUSED VOICES. But the long dominance of one man makes it specially difficult to forecast what is to happen. There is no real political organisation here; there is no well-defined public opinion and party standpoint as we understand the expressions at Home. There is the country party pacified hitherto by the magnificent services done to it by the State in the shape of cheap capital, road and railway development, and access to land. A multitude of men who desired "to own land have been pitted hitherto against a handful of men who held land, and- tho multitude has won. That was the Scduon and the Mackenzie regime. Now, a multitude of men in the towns who do not want to own land, bi|t who do want to pnjoy some of the benefits of the land, have come into conflict with the system of multiple landlordism which New /iealand land legislation has created, and that is the problem which Sir Joseph Ward has to face.

To the country party the richer men ami the manufacturers’ associations will rally in all probability. This party will not undo anything that has been done. It will make freeholds secure, it will continue the policy of public works, it will retain existing labor laws, bat it will slacken file efficiency of administration, anil' use the Law Courts to weaken the Statute Book, For some time it will have little trouble with Protection, for though the fiscal interests of its two sections are opposed, the manufacturers would be able to inaugurate a regime of high tariff walls. FORCES OF LABOR. Away at the extreme of the Progressive party stands Labor, inspired by our own recent successes, and determined to copy the Australian organisations. Hampered as a political force by the Arbitration Acts, pacified by tiie labor legislation of the late regime, weakened by the civil service and other political appointments which its leaders of capacity always received, the trade union and labor movement in general is as yet totally unequipped for politicul fighting. " But in 1004 the annual conference of New Zealand Trades Councils resolved that an Independent Labor Political party should be formed, and, though it has done little except suffer an overwhelming defeat, one must not dismiss it until it is tried under the new and far more favorable circumstances.

Sir Joseph AVard’s problem, therefore, is: Can lie maintain a Liberal party with a centre of gravity to the right of this Labor movement, or is he doomed, like tlie Liberal leaders on the Continent and in some of the Australian States, to be crushed beween Labor and reaction ? Sir Joseph appears to be fully aware of the nature of his task. He has included Mr Millar, late secretary of the Seamen’s Union, in his Cabinet, and for the time being has retained the sympathy of the Liberal-Labor section in the trade councils of the country. Some men, like the Hon. John Rigg, the leader of the Independent Labor movement, who were drifting into conflict with Mr Sedon, think that the new Government may be more sympathetic than the old, and are “holding a watching brief.” But at any moment a- serious split may come. Several members of Parliament, like Mr Barclay and Mr Arnold, two of the Dunedin representatives, are now on the frontiers of the Independent Labor movement, and little would make them cross the Rubicon. Thus the old order vanishes here. Sir Joseph AVaid will ho tempted to carry it on and to keep intact the old Seddon party. That will he the mest fatal blunder which he can make. Mr Seddon took his. party and his time to his grave with him.

There were many jarring notes at the annual labor conference in Sydney. On the Ist instant this was noticeable from the start. There was a new chairman, Mr. F. Bryant, Presdent of the Sydney- Labor Council. Aseetion of the delegates had determined on a change in'the presiding officer. On the previous night the chairman, it was asserted, did not secure a “grip” of the meeting, and accordingly Mr. Bryant was put forward to control the conference, delegates accepting the change. Later on, in dealing with a perplexing mass of proposed amendments, the discussion became so frivolous as to cause irritation. Mr. Lundie said the mooting was simply wasting time and moved that all unfinished business be struck off the paper. The motion was readily seconded, and then amendments were moved in various quarters. “This is the position,” the chairman said, in an attempt to elucidate the tangle of proposals: “If you carry the motion the conference ends, if you carry the amendment all matters appertaining to the platform will be discharged, except early closing and arbitration.” A Woman Delegate: What' about all the resolutions from the Women's League, will they be swept away? The Chairman: Yes if tliev refer t othe platform. Only formal motions expressing opinions' will he taken. Voices from the women’s quarter: “That is not fair.” The conference eventually directed that) all questions affecting the platform should be struck off. A Boast.—Bragging Tommy : “Our hen laid three eggs yesterday.” Harry: “Yah, that’s nothing. My grandpa laid a foundation-stone yesterday.”