ow Premier, to supply the physical fighting force lacking in
their chief. Mr. Cadman, another colleague, was an administrator of
exceptional assiduity. But none of these had held office before,
and outside his cabinet Ballance had to consolidate a party made up
largely of raw material. Amongst it was a novel and hardly calculable
element, the Labour Members. At the elections, however, no attempt
had been made to reserve the Labour vote for candidates belonging
exclusively to Trades Unions, or who were workmen. Of some score of
Members who owed their return chiefly to the Labour vote, and who had
accepted the chief points of the Labour policy, six only were working
mechanics. Moreover, though the six were new to Parliament, several of
their closest allies had been there before, and were old members of
the Ballance Party. Not only, therefore, was a distinct Labour Party
not formed, but there was no attempt to form one. For the rest, any
feeling of nervous curiosity with which the artisan parliamentarians
were at first regarded soon wore off. They were without exception men
of character, intelligence, and common-sense. They behaved as though
their only ambition was to be sensible Members of Parliament. As such,
they were soon classed, and lookers-on were only occasionally reminded
that they held a special brief.

Anything like a detailed history of the struggles which followed would
be out of place here. Nor is it possible yet to sum up the results of
changes, none of which are eight years old. A mere enumeration of them
would take some space: a succinct description would require a fairly
thick pamphlet. Some were carried after hot debate; some after very
little. Some were resolutely contested in the popular chamber, and
were assented to rather easily in the Upper House; others went through
the Lower House without much difficulty, but failed again and again to
run the gauntlet of the nominated chamber. The voting of some was on
strict party lines: in other instances leading Opposition Members like
Captain Russell frankly accepted the principle of measures. Some were
closely canvassed in the newspapers and country; others were hardly
examined outside Parliament. But, roughly speaking, the chief
experiments of the last eight years not already dealt with many
be divided into three sections. These relate to (1) Finance; (2)
Constitutional Reform; (3) Labour. One of the first and--to a New
Zealander's eyes--boldest strokes deli