A SYNOPSIS 385 



country, for all that it's worth, and the height of folly and mad- 

 ness not to cultivate it, and any man who persuades the people 

 to abandon their land and buy their food supplies from foreign 

 countries simply deserves the punishment due to the committal 

 of a wrongful act. 



The Evils of an Insensate "Party" System 



There is perhaps not a man in the kingdom wlio objects to 

 the " Party " principle, 'per se, but it is doubtful if, outside the 

 narrow circle of that band of politicians who would sacrifice 

 every interest to party, there is a man in the Empire who does 

 not hold that, while the 'principle of party politics is right 

 enough, the flagrant and ever-growing abuse of the system has 

 wrought incalculable and irremediable wrong to national 

 interests. Few there are who would like to see the " Party " 

 system abolished altogether, because men recognise its sanity, 

 and its essentialities to public service ; but, practically, the 

 whole nation recognises the sore abuses that unbridled licence 

 has cast about it, so that to-day Public Good is, in most cases, 

 completely subordinated to Party Interests. 



This is a condition that all Englishmen deplore, and as they 

 realise that the situation has become strained and intolerable, 

 they therefore demand a cessation of that fatuous and insensate 

 strife which is the chief characteristic of parliamentary usage 

 to-day. The national arena at Westminster has been used far 

 too long as a bear garden for the " bears " and " bulls," but the 

 people have wearied of these i{\x\\ farceurs and require a change 

 from the ridiculous party farces to the real drama of national 

 life. 



To uproot a mighty tree, whose roots and fibres have taken 

 strong hold in the earth, is not an easy task, yet it is done every 

 day. To uproot a pernicious system, the roots of which have 

 struck deep down in the national life, is not done every day, 

 and is not so easy as the uprooting of a giant tree, yet it can 

 be done. Educate public opinion to the fact that the abuses of 

 the " Party " system in Parliament strangle eilbrt, check public 

 enterprise, retard national progress, and render useful and 

 necessary reform Impossible, and the contemptible sordid 

 strife and petty wrauglings that take place daily in the national 

 Legislative Assembly will soon give place to useful, practical 

 work of a nature that will serve national interests and promote 

 the welfare of the People. 



2 c 



