The Press. FRIDAY, MAY 22. 1891.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7870, 22 May 1891, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, MAY 22. 1891.

There is sometimes great virtue in mere juxtaposition. The mere printing of two statements aide by side is often more eloquent to those who know how to interpret them, than the comments of tbe most luoid of exponents. For this reason we would draw the attention of our readers to the following items of news whioh appeared iv our issue of yesterday:—

Napier, May 20. May 21. Ite Hon. Mr Seddon The Takapuna left bsft Auckland on Sun- Onehunga at 4 p.m. on day by special train, the 18th, Taranaki at 7 came on to Napier a.m. on the 19th, Weifrom Oxfo-d by special lisgtoa at 11 pJa. on coaohas. and left for [Tuesday night). Wellington this evening by ftpeolal train.

From a careful perusal of one of the above paragraphs it will be evident even to the most pui blind supporter of the present Government, that the

Takapuna left on Monday, aud got to Wellington on Tuesday night. Hs would probably admit also, altar raiding tho other paragraph, that tha Hon. Mr. Seddon left Auckland on Sunday, and got to Wellington probably early on Thursday morning. And if he were pressed, ho might allow that unless the telegrams bad lied, the Hon. Mr. Skddon took more than one day longer travelling to Wellington by special trains and coaches than the less " honorable," but at least equally respectable, publip, who travelled in a humble way by the Takapuna. Travelling by special train and special coach has its pleasures, especially to people who are not accustomed to it. It must be owned tbat it is rather tempting to a man who cau boast (when convenient) of having " humped bis swag for fifty miles in search of work !" It is even more heavenly when a man has not got to pay for it. When a digger gets a fortune suddenly left to him tbe first thing he does is to drive about in a hansom cab all day to see what it feels like. Therefore, we cannot affect to be altogether surprised that the Honourable Mr. Seddon succumbed to the temptation. Set a beggar ca horseback, and we all know that his nowlv aroused

passion for this unaccustomed style of locomotion will carry him to a proverbial and even dangerous distance. It was possible for the member of Kumara (honest man) to make a lordly progress through the North Island, froni Auckland even uuto Wellington, at tho expense of the toiling taxpayer. It might cost a hundred pounds or thereabouts ; but what of that ? After all, who is the taxpayer 1 or rather, who is the taxpayer going to be ? Why, a single year's taxes ou the unimproved acres of a few struggling farmers would more than pay for the Honorable Mr. Sbddon's '* progress." Besides, if the worst came to the worst, it only meant the retrenchment and ruin of one more miserable middle-aged Civil servant who had served the country faithfully for years in hope of a pension. Moreover, there was tbe chance of giving tbe go-by to tbe Governor's party somewhere on the road and showing tiiuiu a little condescension, it certainly was a great temptation, aud the Honorable __*__•_-_ S3 __:_-* x>o2* succ'Tib^t. £_c ixriehfe nave l_u.uAfc»lv. fcMit tioaora.i?iy-, — H- * 31 fli

taaea a passage by the Takapuua, have arrived in Wellington sooner, and saved the taxpayers a large Burn of money. But this aid not suit the

dignity of a tribune of the people who models his actions on those of the great - pro-Consul. The great proConsul travelled by special trains, and shall the Honorable Mr. SbddoN travel with tbe general public on an ordinary steamer? Why ia it, by-tbe-bye, that the members of Governments that profess to be so anxious to relieve taxation, who are so / jealous of the rights of tbe unborn millions to the third and fourth- generation, always find it necessary to employ the most costly means of travelling at the publio expense ? And not only so, but their duties invariably lead them into districts where there is a seat or two vacant. In this way they manage to combine a little publio business with a good deal of party electioneering, and the unhappy country pays for both. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. It is simply this; The Honorable Mr. Seddon bas kept the whole of Westland and Canterbury in needless suspense by delaying his decision concerning the Midland Railway. There were contracts involving tbe expenditure of thousands and thousands of pounds awaiting his arrival in Wellington. And what was he doing meantime? He was spending his time in compassing sea and land to make one proselyte for the Government by securing the Te Aroha seat. He was making a useless and costly journey of four days, costing a, large sum of the taxpayers' money, when he might equally well have performed tbe journey in less time aud for less than as many shillings. He has thus wasted probably nearly a hundred pounds. . And this man who orders special trains ou Sunday has been taking the lead iv preachiug retrenchment aud in advocating the cause of the hard worked railway employes against tho Railway Commissioners. Truly bur version of the beggar on hoi'iebauk proverb for the future must be, " Make a mining representative a Minister and he will travel from Auckland to Wellington by special train and coach at your expense."

Therb seems to be a good deal of sympathy abroad for the New Orleans lynchers. The facts of the case so far as we know them at present are these. A number of Sicilians were indicted for the murder of an American inspector of police. An American jury acquitted them The jury was said tp have been bribed. Thereupon some thousands of brave American citizens stormed the gaol and murdered tbe Sicilians. Those who, sympathise with this murder are of course prepared to justify mob law and abide by it in all ca_es. The administration of justice is so notoriously corrupt in America that if any unpopular criminal were acquitted nothing would be easier than to make the populace believe the jury and the judge had been bribed. Of course no American born criminal is equally unpopular in America. Criminality in his case is only a natural vindication of the right of the individual to " do aa he dern pleases " except in the case of horsestealing. They hang horae-thievea promptly in the West, but the reason for this probably is that such a simple crime is looked upon a sort of treasonable reflection, upon the 'outeness of the American people generally. When it is so easy to swindle a man out of a horse, or to shoot him. first and annex his horse afterwards, it isa stupid oldworld trick to steal the horse without either of these perfect legal preliminaries. A man may do as he pleases, but he must not make such a fool of himself as all that, for "I tell you, eiree, America is a free country, and the majority won't allow it." But if any foreigner should kill an American oitizen, even in self-defence, and any American jury should be unpatnotio enough to acquit him, such a proceeding would be unpopular in the highest degree. It would not be difficult to assemble a few thousand patriots of the style of those that believe in " Eour kentry, right or wrong," and correct such a glaring miscarriage of justice by the aid of ahot-guna. Those

who sympathise with the man who murdered the licilians would do wall to remember tharafore that what ii sauce for the Sicilian goose may be sauce for the English gander some day. The faot, if it ia a faot, that the jury was bribed does not make the action of tiie murderers one whit leas lawless and tyrannical. The Sicilians may have been guilty, but they were not yet condemned, and the cowardly multitude who shot down these shrinking wretches possessed quite sufficient force to seize them and detain them until they oould be tried again. The law of Anierioa must surely provide legal means of proceeding in case of a jury or a judge being bribed. It ought to, for such cases are notorious enough. And in any case, Americans have no right to visit upon aliens the defects iv their own system for the administration of injustice. They may lynch as many Americans as they like, but if they wish it to be understood that they cannot protect foreigners aud cannot insure them a fair trial for any offence, however great aud however unpopular, they have only to say so, aud it will be necessary for the European Powers to combine with Italy iv urgiug upon Congress some stringent reform. If, ou the other hand, they intend to ouforce respect for law aud jurtice the American Foreign Minister should have assured the Italian Ambassador at once that the murderers would be brought to trial at any cost. It is nob fair to say that the Italians are clamouring for blood. They know, everybody knows, that their countrymen were unlawfully murdered by certain citizens of New Orleans. They demand punishment for this past oii'ence aud a fair trial for foreigners in the future. If the Federal (jovernment cannot euforce this in any and every State of the Uniou the sooner they take power to do so the better. It would seem that there are some advantages in living in benighted England still. Englishmen would not be allowed to lynch O'Donovan Rossa himself if he ahot the Irish Seoretary and was acquitted by a patriotic Irish jury. (Aud tbe Americans would be the firbC to demand satisfaction for Kossa's murder iv stioii a ciw, And Mr. Hr.ATi-gjs -wotrld fc>a.oic t-.fci.ex__- vtp for- fear* of loei-t-gj the X_.~i»i_- "_Cr3'eit:__t.or L do ou.r m; iiiii i ii .1 jll J Trade Unionists vindicate the rights of labor by pouring vicrioi over employers' babies as yet. But one lives and i learns: la the meaacims Italy has ourLarLy sympathy. 1 _u.il My 1 _*fl 11, member of the Mafia, ~ic worse ; but '• a man's a man for a' that," and the keystone not only of democracy but of all civilised society is that) one man has as much righo as another to a fair trial.