The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1909. A DISCREDITED GOVERNMENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2665, 22 November 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1909. A DISCREDITED GOVERNMENT.

As opponents of the present Government we occasionally find it necessary to use some hard words concerning a party which appears to lack almost entirely those great principles which should operate in the conduct of public affairs. This is not a pleasant duty } but it is one which force of circumstances compels us to take up at times. In this connection we are glad to note that public opinion as represented by the press of the Dominion is entirely with us, and even those Government organs which are disposed to gloss over many sins for the sake of party, refuse to condone any deterioration in the standard set for our public officials. Thus wo find the “Evening Star,” of Dunedin, administering a sliai-p rebuke to the Goveniment over its latest somersault on the land question. Our contemporary, which is a strong supporter of the leasehold tenure, says: The Government have annexed the reactionary “Freehold” policy of the Conservative party—neither more nor less; and when Mr. Massey “chortles in his glee,” and twits them upon an inconsistency almost unparalleled; _ in the annals of New Zealand politics, they must not expect to be defended bv anyone whose devotion to Liberal principles and good faith is more than nominal. Not only are the 999 years’ lease and the renewable least* to be sacrificed when the land is held under the ordinary land laws; in addition to tliis —and, having regard to past Ministerial utterances, the announcement is almost staggering—the Leasehold restrictions of the Land for .Settlements Act are to be quietly set aside. . . . Mr. Seddon and-Sir-John McKenzie are in their graves; they cannot protest against tliis wanton tergiversation. But what about Mr. Millar and Air. Fowlds and Dr. Findlay? The resignation of those Ministers has not been announced, but we could fill columns with reproductions of their assurances that the present Government would never consent to the alienation of the areas purchased,’ subdivided, and Jet under the provisions of the Land lor Settlements Act.’,. The nine .million acres set apart in 190 1 as a national endowment are to be preserved from the claws of the Freehold grabber—for the time being. For the time being, we say; for, in view of the present capitulation, what security is there that these endowments will not be thrown into the Freehold pot next year or the year after? . ■ . . The standard of public virtue is inevitably lowered when public men break their pledges for the sake of conciliating, their opponents.

Wo believe our contemporary is in the wrong over the question of tenure, but every syllable quoted in regard to the shameful betrayal of the leaseholders by the Government is justified. It is not pleasant to contemplate, but it is none the less a fact, that the Ward Government is entirely discredited as the upholder of the Liberal principles inherited from the late Air. Ballanee. Over and over again it has shown its willingness to abandon the most cherished convictions of the party in order to secure a continuance of office.