and that there would be a reconciliation between capital and labour on an equitable basis. There was a hope, he said, that the toilers themselves would be able to maintain and vindicate their position, and that they would adopt such measures as would entitle them to a fair reward for their labour. These remarks of Mr. Ballance early in 1890 are well worth quoting, as, consciously or unconsciously, they represented the views of the party he led, of the greater party he was to lead in twelve months, and of a large portion of New Zealand a few years later.
His speech on the Address-in-Reply all through was a very strong one. He dealt with every point raised by the Government, criticised its land administration with the utmost severity, and fell upon the object of his bitterest hatred, the obnoxious property tax.
He was followed in the debate by Sir George Grey, whose only object was to see the people play with the new toy he had given them, the one-man-one-vote principle. The impatient old man testily told the House that the electors were waiting to take possession of the privilege. He was irritated at the delay, and every fresh speech made his irritation become more apparent. He was incensed at the spectacle of a dead Parliament governing a living nation. He could not imagine how the people with a great privilege in their grasp could brook the delay of a minute, much less of a whole session. He was eager that the people should exercise the privilege, so that they could show what they were capable of doing. He was waiting to see the electors step forth as absolutely free men, exercising the right of voting fairly and equally.
Even he, with his strange prophecies and his almost supernatural insight into the future, had no conception of the changes that would be brought about when the masses realised the power he had placed in their hands. He saw happiness and contentment in New Zealand, and he saw the country rising into a great nation; but he did not see the long list of legislative reforms that has been placed on the Statute Book since those days of 1889 and 1890.
