Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 1896.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXX, Issue 138, 12 June 1896, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 1896.

Anyone who has taken the trouble to wadfl through the unconscionably long-winded and peculiarly Seddonian speech from the Throne, put into the mouth of the Governor at the opening of Parliament yesterday, must admit that it ism?; etpreterea nihil — words, words, and nothing elso. Not one tangible fact is given, not a detail in figures to bear oub assertions is quoted. To tho journalist, as he was transcribing tho telegraphed verbatim report of tho Speech, there came the thought :, "Is it worth while to cumber the columns of a newspaper with such verbiage as this ?" The Address is not an exposition of policy, but a narrative mot very acciirato and with a distinct party colouring of certain occurrences of tho recess), the interest of which was long ago exhausted by full accounts in the newspapers. One can understand the Secretary of a Football Club laying himself out to record' in many sentences and paragraphs the doings of the members. Even managing directors and secretaries of companies and societies may bo excused if they dwoll lengthily on the events of the year. But surely a Governor's Speech should be something more than a report of viceregal tours, congratulatory references to past and gone Ministerial pleasure trips, and the commonplaces of half-forgotten industrial conferences. The ' people are breathlessly awaiting developments which shall decide whether the country's credit is to bo preserved or ruined, and Ministers tell them of last year's snows. Electors, with deep anxiety, desire information long withhold regarding public finances, and they aro regaled on "taradiddles" about the intense loyalty and enthusiasm of Maories who are afforded a peep-show at a Governor and members of the Cabinet. The whole colony, all Australia, and hundreds of creditors in England, await Ministerial action in relation to the aft'airs of the Colonial Treasurer of New Zealand, and they aro answered by a reforence to the banking legislation so vague as to be incomprehensible. Seeking the bread of good government,' the people are given tho stono of a gumdiggers' grievance ; asking for relief from tho over-burdons of taxation, they aro told that they will be relieved of the objectionable Chinaman ; and they are regaled on the .politics of Norfolk Island. The whole of this and tho adjoining provinco awaits with eagerness and anxiety the opening up of tho Midland Railway lands as tho outcome of the recent arbitration; and tho only "information" supplied is a narrativo of the arbitration itself, the facts of which aro as familiar as tho trees and houses amidst which wo' dwell.

The Premier of the colony (who may bo hold responsible for the schoolboy effort which is dignified by boing called ii Governor's Speech at the opening of Parliament) is known us a public speakor who cannot " turn himself round " in loss than three hours, and he has obviously calculated that His Excollency needed a similar period wherein to dischargo his function. Yet there is an object in all this verbiage. In nature there is a denizen of the sea known as the cuttle fish. It is a defenceless creature, but it is provided with a means of escape from attack, When approached by assailants, it emits a black fluid, and in the discolouration of the water thus caused it gets away unseen. The Government has resorted to the devico of the cuttle fish, and it is attempting to secure a little longer life by oluding the consequences of its own acts under cover of a cloud of ink. But escape is impossible, The Governor's Speech, for all its windy useless length, will be forgotten, is already forgotten as a tedious pointless tale

told and ended; and in the debate which will ensue next week its wordy nothingnesses .will be brushed aside without ceremony.. The sole interest in the opening of the session is centred in the relations of Ministors to their Treasurer, and the intentions of the Treasurer himself ; and till such relations and intentions are declared those members of Parliament who have still a spark of independence will decline to transact any business. While tho eyes of the British commercial world are turned on New Zealand, and tho credit of the country hangs in the balance no account can be taken of the long platitudes of a Governor's Speech such as the one published in part yesterday and reproduced in full today. Those platitudes are designed to obscure the real issue; but they will fail to secure their aim. The House of Kepresentatives has furnished Mr Seddon with a very complaisant majority. But the political lives of members are at stake, dependent on their attitude in the J. G. Ward affair; and the instinct of selfpreservation, if no other and higher impelling motivo, may force them into dissociating their interests from tho Ministry. Already, judged from a telegram published elsewhere, Mr Seddon finds it difficult to steer his ship with Mr Ward on board, and Jonah will probably be consigned to the deep next week.