The Lyttelton Times TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1890.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 9090, 29 April 1890, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1890.

There is an old proverb that you (cannot make a silken receptacle for coin out of the cartilaginous ap--1 pondage of a certain animal. Readying the speech of the Hon Mr Hislop •,l;o his constituents at Oamaru, the l.xuth of the old adage is strikingly Iwrought before us. Mr Hislop is not a statesman. He is at best about a fourth-rate politician, whose special foxte is a kind of venomous carping. Iu the House he is far from popular. His morose disposition and nasty wa'.y of saying impolite things has made him known as one who cannot influence hia fellows. How he got to be Minister would furnish an interavuting chapter of the political history of the Colony, but we do not know if the incident is worth recording. Sir Harry Atkinson had to select'; someone, and Mr Hislop had become a sudden convert to the new party., He could not, however, be called an Atkinsonian. On the contrary, he was more emphatic than polite in stating that Sir Harry was not fit; to be Premier. Who the coming l man was to be we do not know. According to the Hon Mr Hislop it was not to be then Major Atkinson nor Sir John Hall. The hitter bad “a black mark” against him, so said the present Minister for Education. Who the leader was to be will perhaps never be knoWm. However. Sir Harry chow Mr Hislp p; Mr Hislop did not take long to hesitate or think over the offer. His ambition had at last been satisfied andl bis “ratting” suitably rewarded'.

However, that is past, and the disgraceful Ward episode is also in oblivion. Mr Hislop has talked to his constituents. The cause for the speech wai? the criticism on the land policy of the Government by Sir Robert Stout. The ex-Premier had dealt gently with Mr Hislop, had even apologised for him, and said his colleagues had treated him ungenerously, As a reward for this gentle treatment the elected of Oamaru spent two hours in a tirade of abuse against Sir Robert Stout. We hope this will be a lesson to the ex-Premier. He has in the past allowed his personal likings for men and his good temper to overlook many political peccadilloes. Instead of opposing, as he should have done, Mr Hislop at the last election, he addressed a meeting at Oamaru, in which he novel! even faintly criticised the vagaries of his quondam eup-

porter. And, again, when Mr Dunn contested the seat last year, Sir Robert Stout took no part in the election, and gave no aid to Mr Hislop’s opponent. Now, party government is differently understood in England. If a Grladstonian Liberal became a Conservative Mr Gladstone would not hesitate to state what candidate he supported. And we do not see why the rules followed by party politicians in England should bo ignored here. However, we hope Sir Robert Stout has learned a useful lesson. If bo is to help his party ha must not be f afraid or loth to attack even former friends, if they desert his political camp and join that of his enemies.

To show, however, how differently we are situated in New Zealand from what our fellow-subjects are in England, a perusal of Mr Hislop’s speech is enough. It is usual before a session for Ministers to speak, and to give some hint of the policy to be followed in the coming session, and to make a defence of the policy of the Government. Mr Hislop has done neither. This does not surprise us, for we know Mr Hislop. His chief would not permit him. There was, some time ago, a flourish in the southern papers that the Hon Mr Fergus was to expound the new policy of tho Ministry to the wondering Cromwellians whom be represents. That did not come off—we knew the Premier and his colleagues. Sir Harry Atkinson is not the man to trust either Mr Fergus or Mr Hislop to speak about Ministexial designs. They are not fit to do so. And half of his ill-health has, no doubt, been occasioned through their utter inability to help him with the work of the House. “ When the cat’s away tho mice will play,” and the play is such that upsets the best laid schemes of even an able tactician. Poor Sir Harry, to be plagued with such colleagues, and colleagues, too, that, like Mr Hislop, did not taka tho bint given after his election, that his services were not required. Mr Hislop’a speech was simply a criticism of Sir Robert Stout. He dealt in no way with the pressing political problems or the Colony. He bad even nothing to say of his own subject, education; nothing of charitable aid, nothing of more loans, and not even much—save vague and ambiguous generalities—about the land question. His defence of his colleague, Mr Richardson, considering the bitter and often almost personal discussions that have taken place between them in Cabinet, was just what might have been expected. Why small runs were to be stopped he did not say. Nay, reading bis speech, he seems to condemn Sir Robert Stout for having done his colleague, Mr Richardson, is now doing. If the selling of land was wrong in 1878, it is wrong now. The peculiarity is that Mr Hislop was a supporter of the Ministry—the Grey Ministry—in which Sir Robert Stout was Minister for Lands, and from 1878 to 1890 is a long time to take to discover that the Grey Ministry acted wrongly in land administration. We can imagine how the Premier feels at such a faux pas of his colleagues. We feel sure that he will take care to keep them under more control in future, if his health permits. The speech is really not worth criticising. It is simply a string of spiteful remarks, mostly exaggerated and untrue, about a gentleman that he may criticise but can neither emulate nor imitate. It is, however, sad for the Colony that such a man as Mr Hislop should have the responsible position of Minister for Education. For this and other appointments Sir Harry has much to answer. If he had been in more robust health one might have criticised him, hut considering his physical state he may be excused, and must not be held answerable for the indiscretions of his colleagues. He no doubt sees, as the leading supporters of his party see, that if his party is to exist there must be a weeding out of useless and injudicious colleagues; and when that process begins, the Hon Mr Hislop will be relegated to that obscurity from which he should never have emerged.