"STRAIGHT OUT SOCIALISM."

WrilJisßi -ttomjjet Reeves, Minister (or Labah (as the defeated H. S. Fish called him) and also Minister for Education, has become a social pest! He, along with a relative, has speculated in' 5140 acres of native hind in the Awafino district near Mokan. The land is leased with a pur chasing clause, and as £3000 has been paid. for the good- will' it is pretty certain to be mopped up. Thus do the mighty '' ■trcight ont socialists " fall, and thus, do .the heroes of the three, acres, and a cow doctrine show their appreciation of the great and .glorious nostrum they have preached by acquiring, as. much land as will provide three acres and a cow for all the Reeveses to the third and fourth generation. If " straight-out social ism" is going to sacrifice itself on the altar of selfishness in this fashion, where shall we torn to find the true disciplea of the doctrine that there should be a " fair divide " every Saturday night, and a fresh start every Mon day morning? We admit that we would have done exactly the same thing as Mr Reeves has done, but we have invariably preached a different doctrine to the now lamented "Straight-oat Socialist." Human nature is feaman nature, whether it is grafted on William Pember Reeves or a Bellamy (of "Looking ßackward" fame), and the desire to acquire a " bit of land " is as •trongin one as ia the other; bat we never expected' to seethe Minister for Education the lessee or owner of a larger piece of land than woujd form a. decent stand for an apple barrow of a migratory coffee-stall. Our con ception of what " straight-out socialism " is has been rudely shattered, and we are left to cogitate on the possibility of Mr John M'Kenjsie's acquiring before lo^g the freehold of Bpshy Park or Totara, or of Mr Seddon hob-nobbing with the nobility and gentry of the colony. "Are things what they, seem, or is visions about ?" might be asked, and is the working man to be ridden no longer, to. the polling booths with promises of bursting np everything that is ripe for explosion. If the Hon. 