TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 84, 6 October 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Just as keenly as the Premier, most New iZealariders disSupersensitive ? like to see their country misrepresented in the eyes of outsiders, especially by people who have their bread and raiment furnished for thorn by tho land which they malign. We have repeatedly indicated that lugubrious wailings about a temporary financial stringency may delay the return to buoyancy, but v.'c do not believe that restrictive legislation, calculated to seal the lips of alleged libellers of the country, would have tho. effect desired. Sir Joseph Ward threw out a hint yesterday that it might bts profitable for New Zealand to keep an oye on Canada's law, which, he inferred, was designed to protect the big Dominion against the manufacturers of "unkind, ungenerous, malicious statements." Interference -with free speech, such froo speecja as is permitted in New Zealand, might accomplish a little good in " some directions, but the benefits might bo greatly counterbalanced by the harm. The people may expect to pay a little for their blessings. Elaborate precautions to gag tho prevaricator and the political perverter of facts might easily arouse suspicion abroad, and this last state could be worse than the first. From tlits earliest, tinw.s these islands have not lacked misrepresented, some anonymous, somo not — some malicious, others misguided by their own defective powers of observation or by biassed opinions pressed upon them bj people with a grievance— but the country has survived. Sir Joseph himself confessed yesterday that New Zealand stood out prominently before the ,world, and he has just iwinounced his million loan, at 3^ per cent., with 'the promise of more at tho same prioe. la iJiafc not solid evidence that New Zealand continuee to ha.ye a good nam« abroad i ' The Premier appears to be too sensitive in this matter, and he is inclined: at times to attribute unpatriotism, in effect, if not always in intention, to political opponents who criticise his financial administration. This "misrepresentation," as decried from day to day by various Ministers of the Grown, tends to become a bogey. Mr. Massey has a similar one. Is it to be a battle of bogeys? How is it, we sometimes wonder, that Adam Clarke's eanditi and A Broken fascinating "Lives of the Seal. Wesley Family" is an almost unknown book? — that in these days of attractive shilling and sixpenny reprints it has bean passed over? It has inspired at least one admirable novel, Quiller Couch's "Hetty Wesley," and would supply material for others as good. The perverse Hetty's rash vow m a moment of pique, and her obstinate fatheVs closing of the one door she had provided for escape, resulted in a cruel life tragedy, but John Wesley's love affairs were no less interesting, and a cable message to-day can not fail to bring them into prominence. The editor of the Methodist Recorder, we are toldj has found, tho lcey to certain private passages in cipher in Wesley's diary bearing on the subject, which have hitherto defied the curiosity of enquirers. Briefly, it may be mentioned that Wesley and a young lady wero deeply attached and engaged to be married, but the pride of the Wesley family was touched at an alliance with one they deemed of inferior social rank. Charles, as, the accepted version runs, during one of his brother's long missionary journeys, misled the young lady as to the feelings of her lover, and contrived to bring aboufj a match between her and a local preacher. John Wesley, on his return, was nearly broken-heart-ed, and it was long before he forgave his brother for his treachery. Years afterwards he married a widow, an unmitigated shrew, of whom terrible tales are tokl — who, in fact, disputes the supremacy in shrewdom with the historic Xantippe. John Wesley, in his days of disappointment, wrote much, as was his way, of his personal thoughts and feelings, and these recordVare accessible to those who choose to read. It is no unworthy feeling that interests itself in such personal memoirs — elsewhere, we have referred to the strong desire existing for some such records of Shakespeare. But surely there is a limit j where the line should be drawn. To violate the cipher of a private diary in- j tended for no other oye but the writer's — to publish intimate details of a discreditable family quarrel — is it fair or even decent? We arc inclined to think the reverend gentleman's four years' toil ill spent, and are reminded of Tennyson's lines: — Proclaim the faults he would not show : Break lock and seal ; betraj the trust : Keep nothing pacred ; 'tis but just The many-headed beast should know. My Shakespeare's iurse on clown and knava Who will not let his ashes rest! Meat experts may be able to read mucli between the lines of a Extremes brief cable message from Meet. America to-day, it is reported that the armies of j Europe were never so short of war ! rations as they are now, and if war was declared to-morrow America would not be able to assist very much with food. There has been, of late, a very heavy glut of meat on the British market, but time may be making a clearance. Some opinions, in London a few weeks ago were to the effect that tho Argentine, which largely contributed to last season's overstocking, would not send so much mejit this season across the Atlantic. It was believed that the Argentine might find a more attractive market in the northern half of North America. Discussing the whole question of the meat trade on Monday, Mr. P. Wayr mouth, a well-known _ authority of Christchurch, gave an opinion that the coincidence of extraordinary supplies and a weakened market might not occur again for twenty years. Hence he was not_ inclined to favour an .elaborate tiL'heme of preparations to meet a contingency which might be very remote. The Hon. T. Mackenzie has favoured a representative conference to review the situation,, and has even urged that New Zealand should form a sort of combine with Australia, to make a southern union to fight the northern, American ] union or any other alliance. So many conflicting theories have been expounded — members or even the inner circle have differed so widely in their views — that one is ready to concede much, in favou* of the plea for a conference. Some of New Zealand's very numerous local bodies seem to In the Interests think that the AuOf the District ? ditor-General's chief delight in life is to attach "tags" to their accounts. They have a vision of this zealous officer, keen, wide-awake, "in a desperate endeavour, now, now, or never" to put i< "tag" on a beloved balance-sheet. The latest cxpostuiator against the dreaded "tag" is the Mackenzie County Council, which has risen at the AuditorGeneral, and challenged him, and invited him to a round or two, wi^b a Stipendiary magistrate or a. judge o'J the Supreme Court as referee. The council had three items held up. They were accounts for entertaining the Premier, a giant for the South Canterbury Jubilee celebrations, and a gift of money to the Mackenzie Agricultural and Pastoral Association. The Auditor-General's opinion was that tho council was not legally entitled to expend these sums, because they were "not for tho service rind in tr^intfU-esU of tbe inhabitants

of the district." Naturally, the County Council indignantly has a different opinion. Coldly, the Auditor-General decides that the Premier was not entertained "for the service" of the district. In his official view the Premier was not v there in any political capacity, but in the council's view the entertainment might have had another aspect. So long as statesmen and politicians remain human — they are mostly very human, the world over — good cheer can work out "for the service and in the interests of the inhabitants of the district." ft has done so very frequently in New Zealand and other countries, and will do so again, on and on till parties cease. In the meantime the Mackenzie County Council may consider itself more and more aggrieved by those "tags," and denounce the Auditor-General as an obstacle to county council progress, but that officer holds his position to protect the interests of the general public. His vigilance serves well as a check on the waste of funds. He has been fearless with his. "tags"; he has admirably had the courage to persist in disapproving municipal financial procedure which has not been according to the provisions of the law.