AN AFTER-DINNER EXHIBITION.

Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 44, 23 February 1886, Page 2

AN AFTER-DINNER EXHIBITION.

Mr. J. D. Lance, who is the representative of the Cheviot district in Parliament, recently aooompanied his Excellenoy the Governor on bis visit to Westland, and at Westport he made a epoech remarkable for bad taste, coarse language, reckless extravagance of statement, and remarkable economy of truth. His text was the desirability of constructing the Eaat and West Coaßt Railway. The proposer of the toast of the " Parliament of New Zealand," to whioh Mr. Lance was replying, had ventured to throw some doubt on the propriety of constructing that work. Mr. Lanoe apparently booame furious at the idea that Westport was not in favour of the sohemo. Ho promised the railway should oome to their doors, that they should have another half-million of money for their harbour also if they wanted it, but, he asked, " were they asses enough, were they idiots enough, were they blind enough to say that beoause they hod a market for their ooal one way they would not have one another P" He then went on to declare his ability to talk to them for a week, to convert them to the railway, and unblnahingly he added that " he had no personal interest to serve : he hal no shares ; the only shares he ever held in his life were in the Wellington Woollen Fftotory : an infernal scoundrel had got him to take them, and anybody oould have them now at half-price." This statement, the report cays, was received with shrieks of lauvhter. Tho idea of Mr. Lance saying he had no poraonal interest to serve in this croat railway job wan enough to make anyone langh, and the idea that any of the shareholders in the railway company expeoted a profit from their shares waa ridonlous. Mr. Lanoe is quite shrewd enough not to inveat his money in the railway. He wants the colony to make it in order to improve the valno of his property in Canterbury, and yet he had the audaoity to talk of no personal interest, and to implore the people of Westport to "abandon their selfish notions." The reference to the Wellington Woollen Company and the language* used wore of a. oharacter whioh requires no comment, but the marvellous hypoorisy of a man who conld stand np to advocate a railway job on the ploa of its onoouraging local industries, while at the came time boasting that, rioh man as he was, he had never taken shares in any of the innumerable oompaniea formed to develop snoh industries savo one, whioh he was doing his best to deprocato, was astounding. There were, Mr. Lance said, 23 tolid fellows going in for that railway, he was thoir chairman, and they meant to go through thick and thin for it ; and ho conoluded in this fashion : ",Go in for this railway. Tell Mr. O' Conor to come to me and Bupport it, and if he won't do so, Bend some olse who will ! " Surely tho electors of Cheviot will blush at tho discreditable exhibition their representative mado of himself at this Westport banquet.