The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1908. THE ISSUE ON TUESDAY NEXT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2347, 13 November 1908, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1908. THE ISSUE ON TUESDAY NEXT.

Within four days tho people of New Zealand will be given tlio only opportunity that will be* available for another three years to directly affect the legislation of this country. The importance of the occasion-cannot be over-estimated, and it- is to bo hoped that the inhabitants of tins fair land will go to the polls‘with a keen sense of the privilege and duty that are involved in tlicir power to vote. No country within the ken of modern or ancient history has ever started under brighter auspices than those which favor the new Britain of the Pacific; and it is on occasions such as this that we do right to pause a moment and reflect in what manner our actions will make or mar the future of a rising nation. A people can well be judged by tlicir laws; and every man and woman possessing a vote, should consider it a sacrod duty to go to tho poll on Tuesday and register that vote honestly for the welfare of the Dominion. If tho voter before entering the. polling booth will leave behind all sordid considerations, tall selfish interests, all purely personal predilections, and cast a vote wholly and solely for tho State, we do not fear, for the result. It is of course natural and inevitable that there should have been during the past few weeks vigorous contentions and disputes amongst various classes of partisans; and in this respect we have not hesito declare which of the Dominion parties _ and which of tho ' local candidates' appeared to us to be most worthy of support. But when aIL is said that can be said, the fact remains that the person who is voting for a righteous principle ami 1 -for an honest, capable, and patriotic representative is reaching for an ideal very much higher than' thp interosts of any

political party. Fifty or a hundred years hence it Avill matter little whe-ther-Sir Joseph Ward or Mr. Massey was head of the Parliament elected in November, 1908, but it will matter very much Avliother the vote of the people as a whole was successful in electing a Parliament anxious 'to give, and capable of giving, legislative effect to the highest ideals of the community. Certainly the election of a number of men who will bo satisfied to act for the most part as voting machines will not achiove this desirable result; and it may be added that the experience of the last loav years goes to Show that it is urgently necessary to elect a Parliament in which the opportunities for individual action shall be A r ery much greater than have existed in the past. Our strongest objection to the present Government is not so much in regard to its political platform—though this is easily open to adverse criticism—as to the extraordinary dominance it lias over the legislative and administrative affairs of the country. So long as human nature is unaltered, it is extremely undesirable that any political party should have tho poAver that is at the present time exercised by tho Ward Ministry. This power is so great as to very largely defeat the aims of democracy. During the regime of the late Mr. Seddon, NeAV Zealand provided tho strange anomaly of a country, in which democracy Avas the political god of the people, being ruled by an absolute autocrat. Granted that many of Mr. Seddon’s actions Avere for the welfare of the State, it cannot be gainsaid that his. position Avas that of an autocrat, inasmuch as lie held almost complete control of the Parliamentary machine. Since Sir Joseph Ward assumed the Premiership, the only alteration lias been the distribution ol the same, power amongst the chief members of the Cabinet. Tlio aA-e----rage member is just as helpless as before, and the numerical. Aveakness of the Opposition enables the Ministry to completely dominate the situation. It is evident that the GoA’criiment AA'ill again secure a majority at this election, but it is .as avcll to point out that every vote registered for tlie Opposition or for an Independent candidate Avill make for an abolition of the autocracy Avliicli is the worst feature in our public affairs to-day. For oursclA'cs avc should not bo at all dismayed to see an entiro change of Government, but as this is not likely to be brought about, tho next best

thing is to so strengthen tlie-Opposition that it Avill be able to effectively criticise and check tho legislation of the Government. Such a state of affairs Avill bo no less in the time interests of tlio party at present in poAver than if aa'lll be for tlie welfare of the country as a Avliole.