MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD POHANGINA GAZETTE. THURSDAY, MAY 7TH, 1903. CAPTAIN SEDDON PROVIDED FOR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7534, 7 May 1903, Page 4

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD POHANGINA GAZETTE. THURSDAY, MAY 7TH, 1903. CAPTAIN SEDDON PROVIDED FOR.

We knew it would come, but always wondered- what shape it would take. It was not likely that the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon wouldjneglect the interests of his eldest son while he had the the power to bestow largess on all and sundry. But the trouble has been to find something that would not occasion distress and disappointment to any of his supporters. Ie was all very well to provide his brother with a billet as Inspector of Noxious Weeds at a co?t to the colony ot £300 a year, to make provision for one of his daughters at the same rate and to foist innumerable nephews and eousms on the colony as messengers, extra clerks, and little trifles of that sort; but the eldest hone of the house of Seddon expected something better. The proposal to appoint him commander of the forces at Auckland aroused so much opposition that that was promptly abandoned, and now it is announced that he has been appointed to disentangle the accounts of the Imperial contingents sent from this colony! As the work is paid for by the Home Government and there is no audit of such payments iv the colony, the salary may be as large as tho Captain's papa chooses, and those who know the economical in" stiucts of that gentleman (when it comes to expenditure) will understand that Captain Seddon may form pleasureable anticipations of his income, for some little time to come at least. We know that the accounts aro in a hopeless muddle, for it has cost the colony at ieast £30,000 in payments disallowed by the Imperial Government, but it is scandalous that instead of appointing an expert accountant to square matters up. the work should be given, to an inexperienced youth whose only qualification is that he is the sou ot the Premier.