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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 6313, 25 November 1891, Page 2

Mr Ballance out in falsifying , personal his

tory. During the debate on the third reading of the Appropriation Bill, the Hon. John Ballance, referring to the resignation

of the Hon. John Bryce, leader of the Op

position, made a statement which, to put it mildly, he must have known was utterly incorrect. Hki said that it had been affirmed

that he had entered political life through the assistance of Mr Bryce, but that as a matter of fact, the boot was on the other

foot, for he had been one of the chic: means of putting: Mr Bryce into Parliamen in 1871, and if hon. members desired cor

roboration of tb.it statement, they had only to refer to the files of the Wanganui newspapers. In making this statement, the Premier must either have suffered from

The Wellington Evening Press has bowled

such a lapse of memory as seems incredible, or else he must have known that he was

stating what was the very antithesis of truth. B9 that as it may, ho had most

convenient evidence to back him up in his false position. In 1890 a motion was carried that a return be laid before the House of the dates on which the various members had been first elected. This roturn was prepared by an officer of Parliament new to the work, and it mentioned the date of Mr Bryce's entering Parliament as 1871. Mr Bryce was in the House when this return was laid on the table. He noted the error, but, of course, it would have been quite alien to his character to call attention to it, because it affected himself, more especially as the official who was resoonsible for the return had been only recently appointed. As a mattnr of fact, Mr Bryce entered Parliament in 18GG, a year before Mr Ballanco blessed the colony with his presence. Mr Eryoo had, moreover, previously been a member of the Wellington Provincial Council for his district, in fact, he was a well-known public man before Mr Ballance first set foot in New Zealand, and Mr John Ballance knows it. The statement made by the Premier in tho House has, we under-

stand, been since repeated by him at public meetings during the recess. Did we not know the history of the man's

career, we could hardly credit thatjhe would be guilty of such brazen-faced effrontery. But we, of our own knowledge, are aware

that when standing against Sir William Fox for Wanganui, he claimed credit for having got roads, bridges, and other public works done that had actually been done

through the instrumentality of his opponent. He well knew that Sir William Fox was too high-minded to take credit for what he had accomplished; that he had made it a fixed rule throughont his public life to let his deeds speak for themselves, and never to descend to the degradation of blowing his own trumpet. Another thing that we know absolutely of our own knowledge is that but for the assistance of Mr Bryce and Mr John Duthie, Mr Ballance would never

have been elected in the first instance for Eangitikei, and subsequently for Wanga-

nni. Yet this man has now the hardihood to stand up in Parliament and on the platform and pose as the patron of " honest John Bryce," a man whoso shoe-strings he is not worthy to tie !