Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1913. THE NEW CRITICISM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8645, 23 August 1913, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1913. THE NEW CRITICISM.

Honest critics of the present Government must have, been disv inayed at the somewhat inteiiiperate attacks that have recently been made upon its administration of public affairs and upon : the personal integrity of certain 1 members of the Cabinet. In the main, these attacks have been confined to the Opposition organ in "Wellington, which appears to have lost all sense of proportion in seeking for subjects upon, which to frame indictments .of members of 'the' (Cabinet." ;^This. descent to tliermost objectionable form of," yellow " journalism has been gradual. The pin-pricking of politicians on " trifles light as air", became the vogue during Sir Joseph Ward's term "as Premier, and, to a great extent, was in-. augurated by some of the newspapers which ' now find it so Vn-' palatable. It must, however, be conceded that never in their wildest flights of destructive imagery did the originators, of the art rise, to ithe height attained by the critics of today. Shen■stone has compared critics to asses, who, by gnawing vines, originally taught the, great virtue'of pruning them. ; The principle here outlined is an excellent oney Criticism, to be effective, must be stripped of. the venom of personality. It is worse than useless if it is merely destructive. In His admirable "Political Discourses'' Hume says that "those who either attack or defend a Minister always carry matters to an extreme, and exaggerate his merit or demerit with regard to the public. His enemies are sure to, charge him" with the greatest enormities, both in domestic^ ajnd foreign management, and there is no meanness or crime of whiclr, in their account, he is not capable. Every kind of mal-administration is ascribed to him. To aggravate the charge, his pernicious coil-' duct, it_ is said, will extend its baleful influence even to posterity . . . . disordering that .wise' system of laws, institutions, and customs by which our ancestors for so many centuries have been so happily governed. He is not only a wicked Minister in himself, but has removed every security provided against wicked Ministers for the future. ... Public affairs in such a constitution must necessarily go to confusion. . V . Tie, virtue and good intentions of Cato and Brutus, iare highly laudable, but to what purpose did their zeal-serve ? *■ To* nothing but; to hasten the fatal period of the Roman' government,'' Critics of the variety with which th^s, .article is concerned probably, will-con-sider Hume a "'back • number." He was nlbre concerned with constructive plnlosbphy than 'with the crudities' of "the bludgeon?ancf would have found himself woefully out of harmony with the school of thought which considers it right aiid reasonable to 'distract public attention, and pander to the public's love of scandal and sensationalism, by reference, to incidents, mostly imaginary, of no possible concern to minds not warped by prejudice. Not ' even its best friends can; say tliat the present Government has fulfilled its self-appointed mission. Its administration has, so far, lacked the initiative and achievement expected of it. But its honesty of purpose can be questioned only by those critics who flout the truth of the saying that "goodness is everywhere, and is every-

where to be found if we will only look for it." Is it too much to ask for a .higher conception of the purposes of criticism ? To pillory a public man because, for instance', he happened to slam the door as he left a room (this is one of the charges made against a i member of the Government | party) is surely a mis judgment of the public taste for sensationalism, though, .we admit,, that.;, an imaginative waiter could make an interesting story of so momentous a politicals incident. The public taste fattens' on what the Press feeds it with, and if the provender is from the trough the Press will have itself to blame if the resultant product has somewhat brutish inclinations. Even' under present conditions, many of the most capable men in the Dominion decline to enter public life because of the petty indignities which men in public positions have to put up with. If to these are to be added ,the latest variation of political defamation the constituencies will find a difficulty in ''gettmg representatives of the right kind., .