The Press. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1905. A WEAKLING AT THE CHORAL HALL.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12353, 17 November 1905, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1905. A WEAKLING AT THE CHORAL HALL.

.One of the greatest surprises of the election of 1903 was the return of Mr T. H. Davey for Christchurch. That surprise wSI be increased rather than lemoned by a perusal of the speech which he delivered to the electors of Chmtchurch East on Wednesday evening. It has been our hard fortune to have to w»de through many publio deliverances during tho present election campaign, but nothing weaker than. Mr ' Pavey's has yet come from any candidate actually holding a seat .in the House. Mr Davey complains of tha :'• weaklings" in the Cabinet, and says that'at is not right that Mr Seddon ■hould have the power to confer Ministerial, offioe on sach feeiblo folk. But - ku Mr Davey ever considered that a MiniaUj ia a rofleotioi- of tho party, «nd thai it'isonly a party of weaklings •that would tolerate aMinistry of woak- .■;'■*'■■■ :■':[■■ ■"' ■' 7pp.p " ,;

'lings? Whatever else may be said of the so-called "Conservative" Ministries of tho past, no one could with any justice apply tho term "weakling" to tho individual members. Indeed, speaking generally, and Vot confining ourselves to any particular school of politics, it may be said that prior to the Premiership of Mr Seddon it waa necessary for a man to show possession of somo ability and some force of character before he -ajtttaiined • Ministeri-aP. rank. On the 1 other hand, no previous Premier ever presumed to ride rough-shod over his colleagues in matters affecting their own departments. Men like Sir Harry Atkinson, Sir John Hall, Sir Robert Stout, and Mr Ballance, had some knowledge of constitutional propriety, and a feeling of what was rightly due to tbeir colleagues. On the other hand the subordinate members of the Ministries we havo mentioned were men who would never have brooked euch interference as that which is tamely swallowed every day by Mr Hall-Jones, Mr Mills, and Mr Duncan. But in each case the Ministers were the natural product of their Party. So long as electors can be found to return a majority to Parliament largoly composed of such feeble folk as Mr* E. M. Smith, Mr H. G. Ell, and Mr T. H. Davey, we must expect to find a C. H. Mills and a Thomas Duncan in the Cabinet, and bo thankful it is no worse. An Elective Executive will not mend matters; what is wanted is a higher type of representative.

Having no views of his own in particular to put beforo his audience, Mr Davey devoted a considerable portion of his addresses to the speeches recently delivered in Christchurch by Messrs James Allen, Herdman, and Pirani, under the auspices of the Keform League. Mr Davey has a peculiar notion as to tho correct method of carrying on a. political discussion. Instead of answering Mr Allen's arguments and refuting his statements, Mr Davey tells that honourablo gentleman that "ho ought to be "ashamed of -himself far what he told "the Christchurch people—that he is " prostttbutfcng public life"—together with other choice remarks of the some kind. His, as our police Court annals witness, is a style of controversy affected try ladias with arms akimbo in . back streets, but it as hardly calculated to advance the cause of truth, or raise the tone of public life to a higher plane. To do Mr Davey justice, we think he must have felt his own disadvantages in dealing with a man like Mr Allen, since ho "hoped that the Premier would "come down to Christchurch end ex- " plain to tho people tho real position "of affairs, and prove that tho state- " ments made by tho three Opposition-

"ists respecting the finances of " the oolony were absolutely in- " correct." Mr 'Seddon is at present busily ' occupied in Mr Massey's electorate with, the avowed object of keeping him, if -possible, from visiting Christchurch again. Mr Seddon evidently thinks it is easier and better from his pomt of view to keep Mr Maasey from speaking here than to attempt to answer him on the spot. But in any caso if he is to fight {ho battles of all the weaklings in his flock, even Mr S-ddon's indomitable energy will give out. Mr Davey, we fancy, will have to struggle on as test- he may. If he is unequal to the task of answering Opposition speakers, he should at least to- [ frain from abusing them.