The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, MAT 15, 1908. JEREMIAH AGAIN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 114, 15 May 1908, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, MAT 15, 1908. JEREMIAH AGAIN.

The recent tour of the Prime Minister throughout New Zealand has been described by an Opposition journal as ! the travels of "Sir Optimist," who has been'talking his way . through the Dominion since Parliament closed. North and South have,' it is said, shared impartially in the "visitation. Hardly a town of any consequence has escaped, while many of no confidence at all have suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the Ministerial gramophone. Such is the pleasant fashion in which are described the Prime Minister's well-intentioned efforts to place himself en rapport^ with every phase of our industrial life. The Prime Minister's exposition of the Dominion's magnificent position is referred to as a "financial fiction," his claims, with regard to land reform are v spurious," and the Treasurer is a pretentious claimer of miracle-work-ing ' with borrowed money. 'ibis ,sf>rt of destructive criticism may be followed indefinitely with comparative safety," so long as the critic refrains from'dealing with statistics to'proVe his case, or disprove that of the Minister. And in this instance the Writef goes serenely on, carefully avoiding these pitfalls, and heaping contumely' upon contumely in his laboured effort to "make the worse appear the better cause." Fortunately, however, ior the optimistic view of, the situation, facts are stubborn things which caiinot be got over by even the mosti vivid imagination, and a detailed statement which we publish in this issue, showing the remarkable advance which the Dominion has made, and is making, in every department of industry, is a' sufficient answer to all the croakings and forebodings of those who appear to be so anxious to decry the credit of the country.. At every material point there has been remarkable develop^ ment, and an optimistic view is justified by all the surroundings of the case. Our pessimistic friend makes one sound eomnionsense remark, which is as the solitary grain of good wholesome wheat amidst a bushel of chaff. He says:—"A thing has only to be repeated often enough and people will give a certain measure of credence to it." Quite true, but the axiom is capable of a different application from that intended. The humble vendor of piscatorial merchandise may, in a mistaken sense of humour, cry "stinking fish" so often that people will begin to believe it is true, and will cease to buy. So also with the "stinking fish " party in press and country. In face of all the evidences to the contrary a most determined effort is being made just now to manufacture a scare. Everything is wrong, the lean years are approaching, caution is needed, sail should be shortened, and a host of other platitudes are being trotted out. And presently iS it is not checked people will really begin to believe it.l .It is only necessary to repeatedly tell a healthy mantnafhe looks ill, and he will soon take to his bed and send for his doctor. The pessimists, the scaremongers of the community, are doing the very best thing possible to bring about the evil which they affect to see approaching, and nothing but the most hopeful optimism is the antidote for the baneful effects of their mistaken outpourings.