TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1909, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

No doubt friends of Sir Joseph Ward, _„ . y eye-witnesses and earifie Premiers witnesses on the Departure. wharf yesterday, gen- ., _, . uinely believed that the Premier had a hearty send-off, and opponents, with equal sincerity, may have formed an opposite opinion. To unbiassed spectators it was plain that the vast majority of the concourse raised no hostile voice against the Premier. The crowd, in general, ,was respectful. This preponderating, well-behaved element included people opposed to the prorogation of Parliament, but they were above the meanness of petty spite,They remembered that Sir Joseph Waa-d was Prime Minister of New Zealand, and conducted themselves accordingly. The great dimensions of the assembly were, manifestly, largely due to the "crowd compelling" power of curiosity. Unhappily, efforts nad been made to stir np bitterness of feeling, but the promoters could not have gathered much satisfaction from the result of their campaigning. There was some hooting, but it was obviously vented by a minority of irresponsible youths, probably actuated more by a desire for "fun" than well-reasoned hostility to Sir Joseph Ward, and a small band of persons, such as "straight-out Socialists," who boohooed "on principle." There had been rumours that the engineers of dis-* order might, attempt something more than merely an output of hooting and jeering. The police, apparently, attached undue significance to the statements that circulated through the city, and -the commissioner mustered his men in force. The commander of the posse, no doubt, had his reasons for bringing a large number of constables on to the wharf, but these reasons were not clear, as the event happened, and we do hot assume that the presence of the police was responsible for a suppression of any lawlessness latent in the thoughtless section of the crowd. Of course, unfairly coloured reports of the scene may mislead people who had no opportunity to distinguish and classify "the comparatively small number of hooteis. Already other communities, through their press, have charged the pcpple of Wellington' with a_ tendency to develop towards unfairness in the mass, and the cit^ must be prepared to defend itself against further attacks. We have shown, however, that the great mainrity should nofc be branded for the offences of an irresponsible, misled minority.