THE COURSE OF POLITICAL EVENTS.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 31, 5 August 1895, Page 4

THE COURSE OF POLITICAL EVENTS.

TO THI IDITOE. Sib— A copy of the Eleotive Exeoutive Bill having ooma into my possession, I made myßelf acquainted with, its main features. I am aware that you do not approve of the measure, but one thing strnok me aa being admirable— it limits the power of the head of a Ministry. This is undoubtedly the head and front of the evil at present in onr government. The letters in Tuesday night's issue of yonr paper may seem severe on Mr. Seddon, to my mind they are not severe -enough. The exercise of power over one's fellow-creatures is noble when used to lead them in the yiaths of virtue, but < when used to cover up deceit and mako men partisans in patriotic lios, no language oau be too Ecvere in describing such abase of power. It is instructive, however, to watch the course of events in political life, and see how a powerful leader oan mould men to his will. The Feildine episode oame first. There was some kicking against the pricks over it, but by judicionß means peace was restored, if not with honour, jot peaoe outwardly. Episode second, the Sergeant -at - Arms. This required muoh oiling of machinery and a general lubricating process all round. To have a Sergeant-at-Arms orammed down one's throat requires an effort in swallowing that wonld moke the fortune of a 'Wizard of the North. But the Premier is aware that one swallow does not make a summer, and so to usher in the sunßhine of onr future prosperity he presents his devoted adherents with a Colonial Treasurer sweetened with a loan and a company. I did not see the dose administered, but am told it went down at one gulp— like castor oil and brandy. The old stagers took it for the brandy, and the younger ones because—well, because they had to. Nothing but a knowledge that his followers were constructed on the boa constrictor plan could justify a leader in administering snob, heroic remedies for the London fiateo. It is also instructive to hear Mr. Seddon (who poses as the friend of the working man), in speaking on the Bating on Unimproved Value Bill, say that he hoped to see the trumpery shops and small dwelling-houses in Molesworth-street swept away or the ooonpants made to pay double taxation. He forgets that the bone and sinew of a nation are often to be found in these trumpery shops and small dwellinghousea, when their occupants lead honest lives.and earn their bread not by subterfuge and Hob but by the sweat of their brow. Mr. Allen very properly took him to task on thiß oooasion. It is not by such a display of heartlessness and oontempt for thoße who are left behind in the raoe for wealth that he will commend himself to the goodwill of the women in the galleries. Let me remind him of a delightful bull perpetrated by one of 'his friends, a " wearer of the green" — "Women are not snob, fools as they look." A loud voice and a pompous manner has not always the effeot intended, as a Scotch anecdote will show. A very loud-voiced clergyman was preaching to a strange audinnoe, and was gratified to see an o?d woman wiping her eyeß often during the eormon. He spoke to her, and hoped as she was so affected it would be for her good. " I was muokle affeoted," she said, "for ye put me sac in mind o oor Shoozie. To see, it was a ouddie we had, and she deed, and we sair missed h«r, an' when I heard ye [ thooht it was her roarin'." I often think of Shoozie when I am in the Gallery. I am, &0., . , . DioG»ras. k 3rd August.