5POILING FOR A FIGHT. Mr. Fowlds Whirls the Claymore.

Free Lance, Volume VII, Issue 360, 25 May 1907, Page 6

SPOILING FOR A FIGHT. Mr. Fowlds Whirls the Claymore.

THE Hon. George Fowldis. 'is a member of the New Zealand Government, but lie oan't forget that he is also an out-and-out Free Trader and' hates Joe Chamberlain and, all has ■h ai k-j like poison. The "Times," by the way, makes him speak of the hiiigh priest of preference and Imperial fed'eiatK>n as "Sn Joseph Ohamberlain/' but we can't suppose the Manasiteir of Education to be so ill-unformed as to make suoh a bloomer. Another sort of bloomei, however, of a more serious kind he certainly has committed in cuutioi^mg with very strong language the action of Austialua's t^o representative^ at the ieoent ImperiaJ Oonfeience. * • • He regrets that he cannot express himself strongly enough, but very many people will think he has put up a remarkably pungent performance m getting out on the housetops to throw brickbats at the returning Australian delegates. According to Mi . Fowlds, they have been "breaking the china" at the Conference. The tone of their speeches has been "powitively distressing " They attempted to "dictate a pokey to the Mother-land.' Sir William Lyne showed 1 "execrable taste" and was an "uninvited guest." T'uib is pretty warm work in the scolding line. It 2eoaLs the stump, but is hardJy tbe kind' of diplomatic language the responsible Ministers of ncaghbourmg States are accustomed to use in referring to one another. * ♦ ♦ It 1% not surp rising to find that it has provoked an indignant reply from the Federal Attorney-General. And, when Plain Bill Lyne gets into earshot we shall be quite prepared l to hear a much angiuer retort. Periiaps, a still 1 larger crate of china will then go to eternal smash. Mr. Fowlds holds strong views, but he ought to know that, as a Cabinet Minister, he

oan't let himself go on all oocasioms just 'as a private member would do. It is hardly becoming for a New Zealand Minister to get up on tine fence and taunt the Ministers who went Home to repiesenrt the Ooanmonweialth with having only a following of seventeen members in a House of seventy-five. If thus sort of thing is to go on, very bad blood may soon be stu-ied up between Australia and New Zealand. Mi. Fowlds has a good heart and the coinage of his .convictions, but the way m which he goes for the Premier of Australia and Sir William Lyne and the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain would not lead one to suppose that he was a oannie Scot, but rather a 'hotheaded Irishman j ui»t broken loose from Donnybiook Fair. What shall one say of thus twirl of the shillelagh : "Mr. Ohambeilam has encouraged the Premiers to ask for impossible timings simply to his own purposes." Doesn J t it look rather like a slap at Sir Joseph Wand himself P Preference, of oouise, is one of the 'impossible things" in Mi. Fowldis' estimation, and Sir Joe — his own leadler — has been asking for it. • • • Would it not have been better to have scolded Sir Joseph in private? as for Mr. Deafcm and Sir Wiluam Lyne — well, we are not defending them, and Mr. Fowlds' criticism may be apt enough — but is it the province of a New Zealand Minister to take them to task? Certainly not, and, even if it were a decorous thing, why not wait till they oome within range, andl have a chance to defend themselves? All things considered, it have been better for Mi . Fowldis to have bottled up his Free Trade wrath. He must really resist the inclination to whip out his tiusty claymore every time the name of Joe Chamberlain is mentioned. Also, Australia can keel-haul her own Mmisteis if she feels so disposed.