THE HON. J. C. RICHMOND AND THE THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 873, 31 August 1866, Page 5

THE HON. J. C. RICHMOND AND THE THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT.

Ix our leading article of yesterdaj', we alluded to the fact that one of the members of the now Ministry had heaped personal abuse 011 Mr. Stafford, even to the extent of designating him as an ape. Curiously enough, the Colonist of the 28th, a copy of which we received by the Kgmont yesterday, refers fully to the occasion of this uncalled-for and inexcusable iusult offered by Mr. Richmond to the present head of the Government of which he is ncv himself a member. " There is an animal" says the Colonist, " belonging to tha genu* Itomi, who now fills the honourable office of Commissioner of Customs in and for Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand. Standing erect on the floor of the Legislative Council, this living creature, whose name, among men, is the Honorable James C. Richmond, did, on Tuesday, the 21th day of October, in the Year of Grace, 18G5, deliver himself of a speech, in which the following sentences occurred:"— There is an aitimaltrhich walks on its hind legs, and strongly resembles man in for id. It has great powers of imitation, with feoble capacity of reasoning. We have Been such animals in a domesticated state seizing, perhaps, the shawl of some passing lady, playing with it, and tearing it to shreds, in eompleto unconsciousness of tbe value of the material and tho amount of labor implied in that which its mischievous instinct was in a moment destroying. lam a firm believer in tho Darwinian theory of animal development. I see in the conduct of the honorable gentleman \ noio at the head of the Government [Mr. E. W. Stafford] j strong evidence of the near relationship of humanity to the anthropomorphous apes. ' Mr. James C. Richmond, when he spoke this speech, had just been ousted from office by Mr. Stafford's action in connection with the Weld estimates. Scarcc ten months are allowed to elapse when we find Mr. Richmond readily taking office under the person whom, last year, lie .saw fit to caricature in mauncr above set down. "We have a question for philosophers who are masters in the Darwinian and Monboddo theory of development of species. Here it is —If Mr. Stafford (under whom Mr. Richmond now serves, and draws a salary of £1000 a year,) was then, in the opinion of Mr. Richmond, related to the class of " anthropomorphous apes," to what species or genus or family does Mr. Richmond now belong ? and what can Mr. Stafford think of his colleague ?