MR. HINE'S CHARGES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 952, 20 October 1910, Page 4

MR. HINE'S CHARGES.

■ ■ .. •' ' 1 In accordance with the general expectation- of the public the House of Representatives agreed last night, by 55 votes to 8, to reverse its earlier decision that Mr. Hike's charges should be referred to a Special Committee of tho House. Upon the whole we think that there is cause for satisfaction, with- the debate and with. .the decision. It is greatly to be regretted, as wo pointed out in a previous article,.! t-nat the House had to revoke'' its earlier judgment, but,we are not inclined to dwell too much, on that aspect of the position at the present moment. Although it is impossible for anybody, whether friend or opponent, to have anything but contempt for this entire' want of principle in the volte face now.. • accomplished, . we aro anxious to give the Government in full measure any credit that is their due/ With the knowledge : of the depths of'.ignominy to which their abject majority, will .descend they might easily have resisted the request that the order of reference for the Commission should be referred to Parliament. They might even have refused to take any steps ,to prevent the Commission from being later on declared incompetent,' under the law, to hold the inquiry committed to it.. That-they could have got a majority to support, them in either case is not open to question, and they deserve credit therefore for having, given assurances on both points that seem to bo satisfactory. As for the arguments with which the; Piume. Minister sought to justify his decision to take the inquiry out of the hands of . the tribunal whichon September 30 he defended with all his strength as the only tribunal to which, from whatever point of view might be taken, the charges could be referred, it is sufficient to say that they only serve to make his position- more untenable than over.He has three new excuses.' _ The first is the fact that a Legislative Councillor is involved in the charges, and that' this-'charge cannot bo_ investigated by the House. ' But_ it is obvious, as was pointed out in the debate, that that difficulty could bo got over by having a Committee of the Legislative Council set up, to deal with this case. His second excuse wa'sthat the London'! Nines has printed a telegram which may injuro the credit of the country. A gllanco at the message, which wc reproduce elsewhere, will show the specially indefensiblo charaetcr of this plea, and will show also that the facts of that message wore astonishingly misstated by But .Joseph Wam. His

third argument is that "the Opposition Press" objected to the Special Committee ! That Press will indeed be flattered at so valuable a tribute to its wisdom and such an exquisite solicitude for its feelings. An examination of"the division list shows that twenty-eight Ministerialists followed Sir Joseph Ward in his right-about-face. Nearly all of these contented themselves with performing their sole function of obeying orders, and with these we have no quarrel. Among them are Messrs. Field and Luke. The Hon. T. Mackenzie sought to justify his somersault, and for him we have less respect than for the others. ' Eight of the Government's _ supporters adhered ; to their opinions and voted against their chief. It was characteristic of Mr. Laukenson, one of the eight, that although he was noisiest and most violent in the debate on September 30, he voted yesterday in silence. He voted straight, at: any rate,. and_ he did not - publicly scourge hjmself as,-. Mr. Field scourged, himself on a famous occasion for having to vote against his leader. Messrs. Russell and Hogan not only maintained their former opinions, but let it be plainly seen that thero is still a little liberty of thought in the Ministerialist ranks. The member for Avon, indeed, was unusually outspoken, and 'the Prime Minister, if he is wise, will ponder upon the advice that "as he. expected the party to stand loyal to him he should stand loyal to them." The public will now watch with close attention the. future course, of the affair, and it will hot have any approval for anything that looks like delay on the part of .the Government in setting the Commission at work. ■