The Dominion. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1910. A REMARKABLE SPEECH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 988, 1 December 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1910. A REMARKABLE SPEECH.

_ A very remarkable speech was delivered in the House of Bepresentatives yesterday afternoon, and one which we venture to think will bo read with mixed feelings by the public. During the debate on the findings of the Hine Committee, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mr. T. E. Taylor unhappily referred to a, pamphlet in circulation containing a bitter personal attack on.Sir Joseph Ward. Mr. Taylor, in the course of his remarks, appears to have attempted to convey the impression that this pamphlet was inspired by the Opposition press. There is not the slightest shadow of truth in this aspersion. The writer of tho pamphlet, as the Prime Minister himself statedj is a Russian or Rumanian, and a Lab-our-Socialist. Mr. Taylor is a Lab-our-Socialist himself, and while we do not suggest that he had anything at all to do with this man or the publication of the pamphlet, the attack made by him on the press comes in the circumstances with a peculiarly bad grace. The reference to the pamphlet by Mr. Taylor induced the Prime Minister to indulge in a review of his private life and business affairs, the necessity for which every member of the House must have deplored. We are not prepared to say that Sis. Joseph Ward acted unwisely in the course he pursued. Tho attack made on him in the pamphlet referred to included references to his family and to his private affairs which everyone, whether friend or opponent, could only regard as contemptibly mean and cowardly. No rightthinking person, howover much he might disagree with the Prime Minister s political actions, could possibly approve such a publication wnether issued for profit or to ; gratify personal or political spleen. ;In his condemnation of the person I responsible for the issuing of the pamphlet, therefore, Sir Joseph Ward had tho sympathy and support of every, member of the House. Probably he was not called on to discuss his personal affairs in the detail that he evidently thought the occasion demanded. His business success since his bankruptcy is no doubt very well known to-everyone, and he could have permitted it to be taken for granted that his business was a flourishing one without going' into details as to the number of thousands per annum that it returned him. He is to be congratulated on being in the happy position of possessing such a business. But while everyone could sympathise with him in the personal attack from which he has suffered, it is to bo regretted that in answering tliat'aix tack ho should have by innuendo and inference cast reflections on his political opponents of a naturo that called forth the strongest protests. While a good deal' can be excused m such circumstances as provoked the Prime Minister's, speech, ■it is just as well to bear in mind that injustice suffered from one quarter is no justification for inflicting, or attempting .to inflict, injury in another, and Sir Joseph Ward would have strengthened his own position had he placed some restraint on himself and refrained from casting aspersions on his opponents which he could not substantiate. While we do not wish to press that point further, it would be unjust to those attacked hy him to pass it over altogether without comment. No doubt, however, the public will be able to form a very good estimate of tho frame of mind in which Sir Joseph Ward approached the matter from his references to the Almighty in relation to himself. We doubt whether any more astounding statement has ever been made in Parliament. Hit. Seddon, in moments of exaltation, was fond of styling New Zealand as "God's Own Country"; but he never in his wildest flights of fancy pictured himself as specially singled out by the Deity for protection and support against his opponents. Those who will sympathise with Sir Joseph Waed in the attacks made by the writer of the pamphlet must at the same time feel that the Prime Minister overstepped the boundary of good taste in his reference to the fate which, ho says, has overtaken those who in the past have attacked him. We do not think he meant to be irreverent, but his 'reference at least lays him open to ridicule.