THE PREMIER'S CRITICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12429, 19 February 1901, Page 4

THE PREMIER'S CRITICS.

The lesson which our Conservative friends received at the last General Election is already being forgotten, and some of the Opposition organs have entered upon a campaign of personal abuse and vilification against , the Premier. Misrepresentation is a mild word to apply to their latest methods. , We are told that Mr Seddon is “ losing his mental grasp ” and that “ his, mind is failing.” This is not a, new phase of our politics, because during their lengthy stay on the Opposition benches the Conservatives have tried every means, fair and unfair, of discrediting the Government and its members; but we hoped that they had at last recognised the futility of personal abuse. Why the tour of the Imperial troops through the colony should have been made a peg on which to hang articles ridiculing'Mr Seddon' it is impossible to say. In his capacity, as Premier it has been his duty to take part in the public functions at which the troops have been present, and if he had absented himself these journals would have been the first to complain. Their, latest exhibition of good taste in this respect concerns the return of the Primate from Napier to Auckland in order to be present at the reception of the Imperial representative corps. The original telegram from Napier stated that the Primate had been offered a passage “Home” in the Britannic as chaplain to the troops and that the Synod had given him leave of absence. The idea of the Premier granting Bishop Cowie a passage to England in an Imperial troopship and of the Primate leaving his diocese at such short notice was surely absurd enough to cause some doubt as to the accuracy of the telegram. The Premier himself would be'the first to laugh at so good a joke. A partial correction of the message on the following day, however,, gave us some idea of the real facts, but Mr Seddon’s political enemies could not resist the temptation to make a malicious attack upon him. He was.held up to ridicule as a would-be Bishop and we were asked to imagine him “superseding the Archbishop of Canterbury or appointing an extra clerk of the closet to the King.” All this was very puerile. The full explanation of the incident makes it clear that Mr Seddon’s action was neither absurd nor improper. He offered Bishop Cowie a passage in the Tntanekai front Napier to Auckland, and the Primate'was grateful for the opportunity thus afforded him of being at “home” when the troops reached there. The whole.

story is told by our Wellington correspondent this morning, and it shows how ready some of our friends are to distort facts and magnify trivialities in their efforts to discredit the head of the Government. Jf Mr Seddon’s enemies were as capable as he is of rising superior to slander and abuse they would have a better prospect of returning to the benches towards which they look so longingly. '