The Causes which have Led to the Adoption of State Socialism in New Zealand.

In referring to the views of the statesmen with whom I have been brought in contact in New Zealand I shall confine myself in the case of all now alive and engaged in political life to those expressions of opinion which have been made public, and are generally accessible; but I feel that I may refer rather more freely to the views expressed to me in private by those who are no longer engaged in party strife, and specially to the two able and conscientious statesmen who held the office of Prime Minister under the Crown while I was there. Those two men (Sir Harry Atkinson and Mr. Ballance) were of opposite parties and of opposite natures, but both were actuated by a deep-rooted feeling of patriotism to their Colony, of loyalty to their Sovereign, and of a determination to sacrifice their own wealth and their own lives in order to increase the well-being of their less-fortunate fellow-Colonists. Not only was Mr. Ballance, the leader of the Liberal party, a believer in State Socialism, but similar ideas actuated his political opponent, Sir Harry Atkinson, the leader of the less advanced party. Neither statesman looked forward to an immediate fulfilment of the prophecies of Mr. Bellamy: their Socialism was of the Fabian order, "advancing always but in spiral lines." It was founded on a conviction of the parity of administration of municipal and State institutions in the affairs hitherto conducted by individuals, and in the gradual shrinkage of the interest to be obtained on capital. Sir Harry Atkinson was a firm believer in the gradual assumption by the State and municipalities of all the institutions which minister to the every-day wants of the people. He believed that as a consequence the difficulty in the remunerative employment of capital would be an increasing one. He saw that 3 per cent. Consols had become 2¾ per cent. "Goschens," and expected the next generation to be acquainted with 2 per cent. "John Burns" if not with 1 per cent. "Sidney Webbs."

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, with the leaders of both parties in the State, convinced of the advantages of State Socialism, that we should be witnessing in New Zealand a series of experiments in that direction not to be found in any other part of the world.

Sir Robert Stout, once himself Prime Minister, and still undoubt- page 10 edly the ablest man in the Liberal ranks, though he does not hold; the reins of office, in consequence of absence from Parliament when the Ministry was formed, says of the policy of the Government party:—

"We have a noble opportunity. We stand in many ways in the front rank of nations, and for this reason, that we are not encumbered by privileges; we are not encumbered by prejudices; and we are therefore free to make experiments. I ask the House to make these experiments. I ask the House to believe that these experiments may be made. I ask the House to think that even if these experiments fail still it is our duty to make them."

This desire was greatly increased by the results of the lass election, adding as it did to the representatives of the people a number of men who were actually engaged in various handicrafts at the time of their election, and who came to the House imbued with a most conscientious desire to discharge their duty to constituents who had never before been in a sufficient majority to send men of their own class to represent them in Parliament.