POLITICAL POWDER AND SHOT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1265, 28 May 1896, Page 20

POLITICAL POWDER AND SHOT.

BY IGNOTUS. Thasma.lt had] of members mho shjle themcel res the Opposition, and who tit the het/iniiimj of the session went through the form <f electin'] Captain Hassell ns leader, do not deserve the name of a Part a. lhc>j ace anile:! h>j no slroio/er ties than were the denizens of the Care of A hdlnm —discontent

,(•///1 thiir/s ns then it re and nntipallvj to those ie poircr. The'j lire sue pi >j it ferl nitons coiieoursii oj political aliens, without cohesion in police or principle. Let no such men be trusted.”— IVellimihn Evening Post. __ Air Alex. Stuart, Napier, sends me the following smart verses : “THE WRITING OX THE WALL.” (From a Tory point of view.) Wli -it happy words are these we hear Which Tory statesmen loudly cheer f Our gallant Captain’s chief refrain, Hark to their joyful sound again ! How pleasantly their accents fall, “ Behold the writing on the wall T Now blessings oil that timely wheeze, It puts us Tories at our ease. It’s quite a Godsend to the cause Of Government by Tory laws. The Ass of National renown For years has had its pecker down. Likewise its cars, and even its bray You’d scarcely hear a chain away. But now its pecker's up and high, Its cars erect point to the sky ! Its voice is hoard resounding far And echoing with har-ass-ing jar These words, Seddonians to appal, “ Behold the writing on the wall 1” Oh, yes, this Government must go, Their doom is written—well they know For Captain Russell and .Sir Stout Have said they must, and shall, go out I Whilo Diithie, John, and Dr Newni-.n Have sworn the same, and moan it, too, man 1 The billets held by Seddon, Wan! And Co., you see, however hard They try to stick to them, belong By right to ns; and it is wrong And wicked, yea and sinful too, For them to fill them as they do! But soon the Government must fall, BY: sec “ the writing on the wall.” On every wall of brick or stone Or wood, with Tory goggles on, This noble saying wo behold, 'Writ largo in characters of gold, Inspiring hopes of future power For us, and at no distant hour, When wo shall turn the tables on Dick Seddon and McKenzie, John! These Democrats will then sing small We see “the writing on the wall.” Oh, yes, it’s grand that little wheeze, It puis ns Tories at our ease, And ho who gave the same to us Deserves a medal and a purse, Likewise his statoo sitiwateil Astride the National Quadruped, Where all may sen him and recall His famous “writing on the wall.” * * * * Air Duthie, who spoko at Ilawera last week, seems to liavo devoted the whole ol his address to tho usual carping and backbiting at Mr Ward. The speech, I hear, full very Hat, and is not calculated to improve the chances of the Opposition in the Egmont electorate at the general election.

Commenting upon Air Duthic’s oration the Ilawera Morning Post, remarks;—Air Duthie has given what he calls “ a reply" to the address of the Colonial Treasurer, but it is very doubtful whether Air Duthie has made even as good a case as Sir Robert Stout did, and which, on consideration, has proved to lie so harmless. There are various means to ail end, even us there are many sauces to a goose, vinegar entering into the composition of several. It seems that the annoying of what Air Duthie calls the “now Liberals" |iu contradistinction probibly to the order to which ho belongs —the “ true Liberals") have been somewhat of a revelation, so much so, that his politics, like his opinions, have become very much mixed and unreliable. However, he lias most effectually demonstrated the weakness of the arguments of those who oppose the present administration, and he has fairly established a claim on the Liberal party to tho distinguished title of “ good, old c irrective Duthie."

Air Ward had a big meeting at Wanganui last week, and created a most favourable impression by his genial manner and straightforward explanations on matters political, and especially financial. Referring to the ridiculous charge brought against the Government by the Opposition of “ driving away capital," the Colonial Treasurer asked : —Had they done so ? If they had driven it away, ho could only hope they would go on as successfully as they had been doing the last few years. What was tho true position ? The private wealth of the Colony had increased by Y 12,500,000 since tho Government came into ol'lice. That was his answer to tho question as to whether capital had been driven away. Sheep had increased by no less than four millions, and the imports had increased by £2,385,000. Bankruptcies had decreased from 052 in 1890 to 477 last year. Then with regard to the population, the arrivals had exceeded the departures by 15,000, as against a loss of 13,990 during the corresponding period while their opponents were in office. The gross indebtedness per bead had fallen from £63 in 1890 to A'sß in 1895, and the l net indebtedness from tho same period from £6O to £57, Now Zealand enjoyed

at present the proud and prominent position of having the highest average income per head of the population of any country in tho world —T4l. (Applause.) That was the way in which they had driven capital out of tire Colony ; that was the way the Government was sending the country to the dogs. (Laughter and applause.) That is tho Government thatcaused so much money to bo put into the country that investment cannot be found for it. At first the cry was the money would be all driven out of the place, and now the cry was altered that there was too much money. Alien, in Heavens name, would they bo satisfied ?

The Dunedin Evening Star, an Opposition journal, says : —“ From the beginning we supported Parliament and the Government in their action when dealing with what is now known ns the Bank question, and agree with the Hon John AlcKonzic when'lie said in a recent speech at Palmerston South that what had been done was in the best interests of the Colony."

The Mount Ida Chronicle, a journal which, from the nature of its ownership, is naturally a bitter opponent of the Government and everything connected with it, still has tho following tribute to pay to tho Hon John AlcKenzioWe have great pleasure, finally, in congtatulating Air McKenzie onliis references to matters coming more immediately within the scope of Ins own department. We believe Air McKenzie to be on tho whole sincerely interested in the advancement of settlement and sincerely anxious to do his best for it, and the continuous improvement in the tone and substance of his reference to the land question is good evidence that lie has bent his mind upon it in tho desire to help it along. It is no small praise to accord to a Minister to acknowledge his active desire to make a success of his own department, and to characterise that desire as progressive, but this praise we can unhesitatingly accord, and wo believe that in this we should ho supported by the general opinion of tho Opposition.

At Captain Russell's Auckland meeting an old man kept bringing in Atkinson’s name. “ For heaven's sake, leave a dead man alone," indignantly retorted the Captain, and then went on to quote Beaconsfield. 11 Why, that fellow’s dead, too," shouted the interrupter, and tho audience laughed.

Air Ward’s speech, says the Wanganui Herald was by far the best that has been heard in Wanganui for somo time, and had the effect of gaining over a large number of those who had been misled by the Conservative speakers and journals into the belief that the Colonial Treasurer was a financial trickster, whose word was not to be taken, and whose bungling of the Colony’s monetary affairs had brought New Zealand to the verge of national bankruptcy. Wo venture to say, continues the Herald, that with tho exception of a few verjuiced disappointed politicians not one unbiassed person left the hall with any ether feeling than that they had listened to a plain, straightforward and complete refutation of those illnatured and foundationless charges. But the Opposition is like certain branches of the animal kingdom, a low organism very hard to render incapable of evil ; cut off one head or half a dozen tentacles and a new crop spring up to take their places and to still poison the public mind. However, there is one comfort, and that is the solid good souse of the vast m ij iritv of the electors, who know by bitter experience the utter incompetence and callous selfishness of the Conservatives when in office. Captain Bussell and his supporters may talk as much as they like, but they will never convince tho bulk of the people of New Zealand that tho Colony ever uid anything but retrograde under a Tory rule, or that it has over boon so prosperous as of lato years under tho care and guidance of tho Liberal Party, who have made this country an object lesson for' its Australasian neighbours to copy and emulate.

Referring to the Bible in Schools agitation, the Marlborough Press in tho course of a long and ably written article says : As for the Irish School text-book, so much talked about, wo are positive throefourths of tiin-e who are clamouring for it, have never rend it, and if they had lin y would eease clamouring, for it is anything but a model book. It should be possible, and without much trouble cither, to produce something better than that in tho Colony, if need were. However, we rest calm in the assurance that the electors of New Zealand realise pretty clearly that it is not the function of the State to teach religion at all; that it has discharged its duty in tire matter when it has placed, as it has done, reasonable facilities in the way of teaching it; that religious teaching is emphatically the business of the churches; that they have sorely neglected it, and are now trying to shift tho burden of their proper responsibility on to the shoulders of others already overweighted with responsibilities of other kinds. And this being the general view of tho matter, the clergy will have to clamour a long time before they get Parliament to pull down, or undermine, tho educational system that by dint of great effort has been established and maintained some seventeen years, and has produced results of a character comparing most favourably with educational systems elsewhere,

Air Hogg, AI.TI.IL, speaking at Alasterton last week, made a stirring defence of the Advances to Settlors scheme, which he said had protected the struggling settlers against the extortion of tho usurers, the land sharks and the monopolists. (Applause.) The large landowners had not required cheap money, as they could get it from abroad. As far as he himself was concerned, he had helped settlers as far as possible to procure money from the Lending Board, and he said, without a desire to unduly laud his own virtues, that he had not charged a penny for what he had done. His colleague, Air Buchanan, had recently stated that through the inlluenco of a member of Parliament an applicant for money had been offered twice as much as he applied for. This matter had been brought up in Parliament, and it was hinted that lie (the speaker) was tho member who used the inlluenco. lie gave this an emphatic denial. He had never made an unreasonable demand to the Lending Board, and ho had never used undue inlluence upon tho Board. lie did not believe that there was a scintilla of truth in the statement of Mr Buchanan. If there was, let him como forward and support it. (Applause.)

Pomohaka is a “ failure,” according to the Conservative speakers and press. But is it a failure ? I read in the Otago DoiUj Tunes that at a meeting of the settlers at Pomohaka it was stated that tiro schools would bo required. And this on an eslato which formerly supported two men and several thousand sheep.

Air Tt. C. Bruce has been selected by tho liangitikei Political Association (founded by Mr John Bryco somo five years ago) as the Conservative candidate for the liangitikei. What will Air Lothbridge's friends say ?

There is a good deal of tho “ hole and corner ” business about tho lvangitikoi Political Association, for I notice that only ion persons were present at tho mooting which selected Air Bruce. Air Bruce is fairly popular up in the Paraeharetu, but at the Fielding end of the electorate Air Lethbridge's friends are numerous, and these latter won't like Air Bruce being foisted upon them.

New South Wales continues to copy New Zealand precedents. One 'of tho important measures passed by the last Parliament, says a leading Sydney paper, was tho Agricultural Lands Purchase Act. This was primarily made law for the purpose of enabling the Government to acquire estates on the Darling Downs, and throw them open for selection. It was urged very strongly at tho time that farmers’ sons were unable to obtain holdings on the Downs, while thousands of acres of rich land wero being used merely as sheep walks. The Government stepped into tho breach, and, by purchasing largo areas of choice land, opened tho door to eloso settlement. From recent particulars made public, it would soem that the demand for land has not anything like risen to tho supply. On the Westbrook, North Toolburra and Glengallon runs, some 26,080 acres wore thrown open to selection, but so far only 12,043 acres have been taken up.

Air R. A. Fyke, proprietor of the Brace Herald, and son of tho late Vincent Pyke, denies that it is his intention to oppose Air Allen for Bruce. * # * *

A Dunedin rumour runs to tho effect that Air Seobie Alackenzio will contest a Dunedin se.it at tho general election. With all his boasted pluck “ Scuwbio " is not likely to taclde tho Alinister for Lands again.