THE PREMIER'S WIT

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 148, 19 December 1902, Page 4

THE PREMIER'S WIT

Wit is a dangerous weapon to play with. Like the boomerang, it may recoil on the head of the unskilful user. Last night the Premier attended the social gathering to celebrate the return of the newly-elected member for Newtown, Mr. W. H. P. Barber, and tried to be facetious at the expense of political opponents. He referred to the success hfc had met with since he entered public life — "In fact," he condescendingly remarked, "I don't know how I should feel if I should be the other way." It was much better, he said, to be rejoicing at that gathering than attending those tangia that had been going on near Wellington and in their district during the last week or two. He had read somewhere that • there had been a tangi in Newtown, which had been attended by Mr. Aitken and Mr. Duthie, the members for Wellington. He should think both of them would feel very much at home at a ceremony of that sort. He believed they even invaded "Tom" Wilford's electorate, and only the other evening they held a tangi in Petone. Leaving aside the doubtful taste of such jeers at defeated foemen, we cannot but feel that such remarks were singularly out of place last night. Mr. Seddon apparently forgot that the next "tangi" to be held might be that of the Government candidate for the Newtown seat, who was stamped with the hall-mark of Seddonism and was consequently hopelessly out of the running : that the "Liberal" candidate at whose entertainment he was speaking beat his (Mr. Seddon's) own nominee "hands down" and only beat the Opposition candidate by less than two score votes ; that Mr. Aitken and Mr. Duthie were first and second on the poll for Wellington City, and the Government "ticket" was absolutely nowhere ; and that a remarkable and satisfactory feature of the late campaign was the fact that the out-and-out Seddonian candidates had in so many cases come to grief. If Mr. Seddon wants to talk about tangis let him go to Manawatu or Wairarapa or Wallace, for instance, where the reference would be appreciated.