Hawke's Bay Herald TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1870. THE OPPOSITION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1147, 26 April 1870, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1870. THE OPPOSITION.

In a recent article we called atleiifcidii; to the communications of a contributor to the Otago Daily .Times, who wrote under the name of " 3S[apiet correSpbd^ dpnt," and exposed the wanton mis- . statements which the writer in question had been permitted to promulgate through the columns of that journal. An examination of our Souther*! files ; shews us that we have not been- sijti£ regular in expressing our opinion of the manifestly wilful misrepresentations of correspondent." We re-pub-lished in our last issue a very able article fvomthe Lyttelton. T^mes; which; \yas especially happy in exposing aud : puuishing ;the wxiter in question ; and this comeft the more heavily from the Tim&Sj -because ihe whole pack of opl>psition papers lately joined :in.^0a0. ... jdbilant cry of delight, because ttat" v -Jourhat criticjsed : some. acts of the pre- f s'ent'i&oy'eTrnmeiit of 'which' it disaj»>i proved. Great capital was^ endeavored' :, td be made out of this expression of dissatisfaction, and due aud proper stress was' laid upon the,- high position and character that journal eujoys. "It must) therefore} have been especially galling 'to the opboVifcioil agitafdrS, feb. find thfe§ identical journal ebndemnihg its olago ~ contemporary in strong and Vigorous terms, fdr permitting ita columns to be Used as, the vehicle for publishing such grossly untruthful statements. as those., furnished by its "Napier Correspond dent." After dealing with, that part of the subject, the ; article ably reviews whiifc, ,- lias been effected by .the present. 0o- } vernment as compared with their pre-;. decessors, and proceeds to express disgust at the manifestly personal foundation of the whimperings df the opposition- — expressing . regret that persons desiring Government employment, and; i smarting under the regret; at losing it, _" should fancy their hopes and grievances are matters of interest to the colony at - large. ■ The Lyttelton Times has evidently? determined as readily as ourselves the" identity of "Napier correspondent," who, we understand, is now more generally known in the South as . the "industrious flea," and we may add that, now he is recognised, his power of mischief is ended, and that the eiiergetic jumps he is taking about the co- * lony will only leave him more dissatis* fled at their termination. But to return to the Otago Daily Times, we are glad to > notice that in the issue of the 16th inst., that journal apologises for the incorrect statements it had published. Of, course it would uot it|d, at once to admit the whole ex- ; tent to which it had been misled ; but; it does as much as could reasonably be expected, and furnishes a " corrected estimate" of the forces formerly stated to have been employed. When we say that the corrected estimate (though still most hlcorrect) names 2,41)0 men, in place of the 3,700 men of the original statement, we shall sufficiently in- : dicate that the Daily Times is heartily/ ashamed of its. correspondent, and that, after the lapse of a decent interval, it will probably avail itself of still further corrections, and adopt a truthful statement in place of the inaccurate one it was led into publishing. The, Otago article we now have under notice" is amusing in the exhibition of entire ignorance it shows of the subject it.is treating upon. For instance, Ropata and tlie Ngatiporou are stated to have been on pay for the last eight or nine months, whereas everybody in the North Island knows' that Ropata only entered upon his work some eight weeks ago, . But we need not go further j the Otago Times is evidently ashamed of the position it has been led into, aud only seeks a decent excuse for: withdrawing from an untenable position. A study of the tone ok the Southern Press shews that in spite of continued attempts at misrepresentation, the present Government is exceedingly popular ; this is convincingly . shown wherever elections are taking place to fill vacancies in the House of Representatives. As an illustration, wo have before us the speech of Mr. Cutteu, a candidate for the representatisn of the district of Caversham, Otago ; judging from whose remarks it would appear that he was labouring under the disadvantage of being a supposed supporter of Mr. Stafford's; This was to. his chances of sue-. ... •cess, aud he emphatically repudiates ? the connection. When its own reputed friends disclaim connection with a cause, that cause is hopeless indeed.