The Evening Post. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1896. THE PREMIER AT THE SKATING RINK.

Evening Post, Volume LII, Issue 163, 1 December 1896, Page 4

The Evening Post. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1896. THE PREMIER AT THE SKATING RINK.

The magnificent ovation the Premier received upon his appearance before the immense audience at the Skating Rink last night must have been very grateful to him, and was a thing to witness. Yet, though his subsequent speech only occupied thirtyfive minutes, it was long enough to allow of complete evaporation of all the enthusiasm that signalised his appearance. Perusal of his speech will readily account for this. Mr. Seddon did not pay his hearers any compliment to their reasoning powers, but relied wholly upon bald reiteration of the tawdry claptrap with which the public have become so wearily familiar during his provincial progress. With a fine bathos, he asked if the men and women of New Zealand were to be dragged through the mire and made the victims of the wicked legislation of his opponents. There was, he said again, an unholy combination between Sir Robert Stout and Captain Russell, which we take this oppor tunity of saying we not only do not believe, but do not believe it to be true in any sense. The statement is but & transparent device to capture voices. Scurrilous pamphlets of the most filthy nature, Mr. Seddon declare?, have been circulated by those opposed to him. Again, we say we do not believe it "We know of no such publication that, by any stretch of even the Premier's vivid imagination, could be so described. If he can send us a copy of such a document we will heartily join with him in its denunciation. Then, because Mr. Scobie Mackenzie paid a gracious tribute to his personal character, Mr. Seddon would have his audience believe that the some-time member for Mount Ida had endorsed the acts of Seddonism. We point to the reports of Mr. Mackenzie's speeches as proof that he declared the precise opposite. As an outcome of the Premier's rule, we are told that the value of city property has increased, taxes diminished, exports increased, while the outlook had aev«r been brighter for the

past twenty years. The effrontery of suoh statements is simply amazing. Mr. Seddon with as much truth might aver that he is the author the world over of the abundance of cheap money, and the shortage of the wheat crop, both of which are reacting so favourably at the present time upon the agricultural interest of this country. Such assumption of ignorant credulity on the part of his hearers was an affront, and the diminished warmth of the audience testified to its realisation. This was the first time, he declared, that theY had real Government of the people by the people, and yet the truth is that it is personal Govi eminent that has armed itself with powers, the mere existence of which are inimical to liberty. This we have demonstrated again and again during the recent weeks, and there has been no refutation. The women of the country, tie said, knew what the Government had done for them. We have shown elsewhere what Mr. Seddon would have left undone for them. Compelled by the force of public opinion, he now favours a University College, and would capture the unthinking of the crowd by telling them that "the children of the people have the same brains as those born in the purple." For the rest, it was an undignified appear to class feeling of a most unworthy ■kind— a pandering to the worst passions of what he esteems the greater number. He would array those who have not against those who have. He is not for equal rights to all, but demands that a majority shall arm him with a dictator's power to govern for them first, and the minority after. That the reason of the people will on Friday next triumph over the passions he has aroused is our hope and our belief.