The Press. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1903. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.

The id<ea that the Legislative Council, as a revising Chamber, should be ________ from time to time with the best i___ligenoe of the oc-untay ia fast becoming extinct. Mr. Seddon evidently regards at first as a counter in the political game, and secondly es a means of providing tot some of his own personal cronies, ug» and incapacity in that case being usually- regarded ss strong points in their favour. Another qualification on which Mr. Seddon apparently sets great store, is that the ap* point** most have done nothing previously to distinguish himself—-in fact, the greater his obscurity the better. Nobody had heard of the last appointees from the West Coast until they were suddenly lifted into publio notice by the announcement that they had been called to the Upper House. Now, everybody is asking, who is Mr. Rakley, M.L.C.? By dint of careful enquiry in his own locality we have ascertained worn, about this unobtrusive gentleman. From the foot that he hails from Southland, and is a di___ar of the J. G. Ward Company, we may infer that it is Sir Joseph Ward, and not Mr. Seddon, who is most responsible for this particular appointment. If to, Sir Joseph Ward is clearly imbued with the same views on the subject «us Ids chief. They have evidently taken as their motto, "Omne ignotum pro magnifioo"—if yon want a really first-rate Legislative Councillor, mind you select a man who is utterly unknown.

To one of the batch of four appointments we do not take any exception. Mr W. C. Carncross did useful work in the House of Representatives, he retained the confidence of his constituents up to the last, and earned tbe respect and -esteem o_ both, sides of the House. We have no doubt he will be a capable addition to the Upper Chamber. The reason for the Hon. T. Thompson's appointment has been confessed by a Ministerial organ with a* cynical candour—we might almost say a brutal frankness—which we hardly expected from such a quarter. Mr Thompson, it will be remembered, was not altogether a success as a Minister. There is more than a suspicion that his retirement was not entirely spontaneous—that it wus at any rate the sequel to gentle pressure applied by his colleagues and his chief. The Ministerial journal hints that Mr Seddon has other colleague* at the present time whom he would like to get rid of, and this somewhat belated solatium is being offered to Mr Thompson to encourage certain members of the present Government to follow his example by performing the "happy despatch.*' This may be all right as regards the Ministry-T----wo con quite understand that Mr Seddon would like to lighten the Ministerial shipbet it strikes ss aa being _____< hard oa

—— ~i-m the Legislative Council, which _*t I* __t''¥§ aa a receptacle for "disjecta" of this kind. )-£ Concerning Mr T__ k, the' -vmainin.. " > member of the quartette, there is sot much X v to say. Ha is a prospanytia butcher at Kelson who occupfcd the poti tioo of Major - for several ytaxa, and exercised a lavish * ' hospitality to visitor, to ___ cbarming town while ho occupied that poet. He will • not add materially either to tho erudition ox the eloquence of the Legislative Couaefl. ' / He ia a dose personal friend of Mr Seddoa, and it will be ___embered that be and __ family shared the delights of tho famous yachting cruise in the Government steamer undertaken by the Premier, when tho tight honourable gentleman achieved such a re. cord in the matter of making long speeches > to ths natives about matters which he did not understand, and was more photo. ' graphed, it is believed, in the __!___ of a few weeks tluin any other man on earth "' in the same given time. Both the speeches *" and the photographs will be handed down ' to a wondering posterity, seeing that they . ' aro embalmed in a gorgeous red-bound ' Volume compiled and printed ut the public expense. One thing it* c_ar about appointments ol tho kind chiefly favoured by ibe present ' Government. They will immensely strengthen the demand for a xvform of ths Legia- - lative CouuciL Under tho present regime it is rapidly being converted into an aaaemblago of undistinguished persons, who cab safely be nelied upon to register the decrees of the Governments Any pretenos of being a revising Chamber, with power to materially amend Government measures and to put a check on hasty and ill-con- - sidered legislation, has long been abandoned. There is no attempt to collect in it tho flower of the colony's statesmanship, It is, we consider, a grave reflection on Mr Seddon that ho never saw the propriety of asking either Mr. Rolleston «_ '' the Hon. Sir John Ball to ao- ' oept a seat in ths Chamber! '■ which they would have dona so much tor adorn. Tho Government evidently ore not \- to be trusted to select ths best available " men for tho Upper Hon.*. The poww should, therefore, ho ____ out of t__r hands and placed in the hand* of th* ~, people.