"FLESHPOTS."

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2551, 5 July 1871, Page 3

"FLESHPOTS."

[From the Nelson Examiner.~fThe Independent devotes a chara4rlstio article to the castigation of all wh dare :to differ from it, whether in New 2&land lor Australia. The Canterbury Pre'i and the Nelson Examiner represent thi NewZealand Opposition, arid are comared, with much originality, to Mrs Gam and Betsy Prig, likewise to " Independent, -with' unwonted candor confesses he nearly spelt it "scissors"Jwho presume to "fight' against the Stars ixtheir courses." The title* of " Stars " not 0 f Cook Strait, it will be observed, appo-s to be a complimentary term for Miriters. Condign punishment is dealt to us forcing unconvinced by the wondrous proa of Ministerial wisdom good; Which Ware •assured, are around: and about' us on tery side. > \

Let facts speak for themselves (he oris) • confidence has revived,#ad a sense of seciity of life and property-rwithout which il kjo. gress is impossible, 4s slowly hat Btkly gaining ground, j The.colony-awakenti its opiatic dreams is gradually reoveiog its rational sense, and developing itslafent strength. The spade and the, axe tsplace the sword and the rifle, and usefulpublic works are achieving, without sheoW of blood, and at-compwatiyely little c&, the permanent conquest ofneaoe, and prosperity of both races-Ti weWs-steamei have come, and wh^fc^^iM&erto:. been r%soai f have cpmQ with punctuality. i....

We were certainly Inot: aware that things in Wellington,jJready_wora-.this cheerful aspect. It is a pjtythat Mr Fitzherbert was not'made aware_of it before he addressed ,tke Wellington Provincial Council

in that doleful strain a few; weeks since.

The improvement has not unfortunately yet madei itself visible in Nelson, and from

the jonmals of other, provinces we are led to believe it is confined to "Wellington, if not to the office and imagination of the Independent.

j The article, however, is addressed to those whom the Independent mysteriously calls his " Transpontine Readers," and whom from the context, "we "gather, really to be. his readers in what elsewhere in the same article he courteously calls "felonious Australia.": Why they should be called ? Transpontine" we cannot presume to guess, except perhaps a bridge to Australia is among the projected, public works, and'is already discerned by the Independent with the same eye of faith which enabled him to-sec the fair vision, so ] poetically described above.

: In order that his "Transpontine readers" may know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, the Independent informs them, somewhat incoherently—since much of the same article is devoted to scolding our Opposition press—that "no local echo" "to complaints of Ministerial doings " can be found, and Australian paper's have to be hired to teach lis our wrongs, and to ronse us to vengeance." Of course the " Transpontine readers" will at once see the probability of the Argus, and their other leading papers, being " hired" for the pm- ; ' poses of an obscure party in New Zealand, which, is unable "to find aJocal echo." But astbe'Melbourne Argus, and. Hobart Town Mercury, and "that other portion of the Australian press which has -occasionally censured, and habitually laughs at the ants and policy of the existing Government, certainly do not stand lower in general estimation than the Wellington Independent, it is evident that the Independent considers that papers not less respectable than his own., have their price, and may be "hired." This theory of the wholesalein'ring of .the Australian press is evolved from the depths of the Independents own moral" consciousness. What horrible suspicions does it not suggest?

A curious passage in another article of the Independent throws some light upou this question.; He gracefully taunts the poor Post with, "sniffing hungrily at the ■ffeshpot's" enjoyed by the Ministerial press. What are these " fleshpots ?" The Independent, eminently veracious, with the best opportunities of knowing, tells us-that " fleshpots" do exist inaccessible to the Opposition. He licks his jaws in public,- behaves gratefully to those who banquet him at the public cost, and sneers at those whose stupid honesty stands between them and "fleshpots." We have had occasionally glimpses of these "fleshpots" before, but they had not- then been publicly exhibited by the leading Ministerial journal.