CANDID OPINION OF THE PREMIER.

Evening Post, Volume XLVII, Issue 147, 23 June 1894, Page 4

CANDID OPINION OF THE PREMIER.

At the presentation mado to him by the electors of Waitemata the language of Mr. Monk in regard to the Premier was " frequent, and painful, and free." "Mr. Seddon had flung political virtue and purity to the winds, as he alternately bribed and menaced the electors of Waitemata, said Mr. Monk, and in the face of the Premier's attempt to debauch the constituency by promising assistance for roads and bridgoa if Mr. Palmer was elected, who Bhall *ay the charge waß an unjust one? Mr. Monk concluded his address in the following eloquent but scathing terms: — If tho ladies and gentlemen present that evening deemed his mind unfitted to form an impartial opinion, then ho asked them in tbeir own unbiassed judgment to tell him if tho Premier of the oolony had not degraded their democracy in the tyranny and the coarseness of his political behaviour— in the egotism and incorrectness with_ whioh, as some of tho natives informed him, he (Mr. Seddon) had reported his tour among the Maoris— in his treatment of the public press of the colony — in his dealings and treatment of Colonel Fox, in the frenzied fuming over the publication of hid letter, resultingin a Royal Commission and public derision —in his treatment of tho Civil Servants of the colony and the Parliamentary servants— in the duplicity of his administration—in the arts and cajolery he practised upon some of tho electorates during the late election ? If this country were inhabited by men and women who prized their freedom — if their hearts wore all aflame with the love of liberty and sense of self-respect, Buch conduct could have but one end. Did they not already Bee in the Premier symptoms of that fatal madness the gods inflicted •upon thoße whom they intended to destroy P Lot him now gaze with troubled thoughts upon the handwriting whioh the Bpirit of Waitemata had inscribed upon the walla for his (the Premier's) political warning. It was not that the people of the colony were fastidious in what they required in their Premier. Scholarly attainments could be diapensed with ; antecedents were feathersweight. He might be a Socialist in the laws of political economy— a tyro in the knowloHgo of thoso influences by which wealth is scored or regurgitated in banks. But if he read the signs aright there was ono quality that they demanded that should not be wanting in their Premier. It was not exacting, yet it was eminently fitting to a people who ought to jealously supervise tho history thoy wore now making. It was a quality upon which wealth could inflict no monopolising touch. It waa an adornment that tbo poorest might possess. Ho had seen and felt its beauty in tho comrade toiling by his side for 5s per day. Did they ask its name? It was simply the quality that commanded respect."