THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1896. A UNIVERSAL TRUTH.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIII, Issue 2846, 15 June 1896, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1896. A UNIVERSAL TRUTH.

With which are incorporated the Wellington Independent, established 1845, and the &e,w Zealander,

It is the morning newspaper th# reaches, and is read by, the substantial and intelligent people who have money to spend and know what they want. Hence superiority as an advertising medium.

TUB PREMIER AND SIR ROBERT £TOUT.

It has long been tna <)? the Opposition organa and speakers to .define that the Premier and hia colleague? SfffSF make any reply to their criticisms. Tbeae criticisms have been shown over and over again to be fanciful, baseless and puerile. For the last time the Premier repeated that service to the Liberal cause last Tuesday, on which occasion he paid particular attention to every detail of Opposition assertion, to the very .minutest. It took him some time, but he went through with a task which from its frequent repetition must have been wearisome. It is singular that this should have been picked out for condemnation as the weakest feature in Tuesday night’s speech. The speech, we are told, is weak, because

it has an air of too much defence : men on the defensive always uppers at a disadvantage ; and other information of a similar character. One Soatbern oracle went so far as to quote the old French saw about the guilt of these who excuse themselves. It comes to this then ; one day the Premier is weak because he does not defend himself, and the next day he is weak because he does. Evidently they do not believe in their ov. a charges. The fact is *hat the charges of the Opposition have been so completely disproved that they dare not grapple with the answers. Their safest conrte was to ridicule the Premier for condescending to defend himself against them, but the public memory is too good to miss the point. It has long been plain that Sir Robert Stout and his Conservative allies of the Opposition have been relying not on the merits of their case, but upon the dements they could heap upon the character of Mr Ward. Our evening contemporary. Sir Robert’s organ, leaves us in no doubt about the point. It echoes with submissive subserviency his airogant demand for a committee of enouiry into Mr Ward’s affairs. This request for more is typical. Between them Sir Robert and his organ have been shouting to the public that the awful dreadfulness of Mr Ward would be discovered the moment his affairs came before the Supreme Court. No sooner, however, do they get into the Supreme Court than Sir Robert and his faithful organ begin to shout for a Parliamentary committee to find more information about the awful dreadfulness. They have, in fact, got so accustomed to threatening discovery at the hands of all kinds of tribunals that they cannot leave off the bad habit. It was not for men of their specially bad practice to blame the Premier for his reference to Mr Ward’s affairs on Tuesday. It is absurd on the face of it to contend that, because a part of Mr Wards case is before a Court, that part of it which is not before the Court must not be commented upon. But this absurdity is the only thing which is put between the Premier’s comment, which was a reply to the charges insinuated by the other side, and the public judgment. The insinuations were that the banking legislation was much of it devised for the purpose, and nith the intention on both sides, of saving some rotten business of Mr Ward’s by means of the colonial guarantees to the Bank of New Zealand. The very searching proceedings in the Supremo Court have proved that there never was a single word of truth in those insinuations. The Premier’s statement of that fact absolutely crushed Sir Eobert and his organ. No wonder they are howlingfor another enemy. But the public will not forget that the tribunal they relied on has swept away their charges. Not content with one absurdity to divert attention, they have devised a second. It is that Mr Murray must he summoned to the Bar of the House to admit that he made such an oifar as was alluded to by the Premier. But the point is that offer was refused by Mr Ward. What more is possible? We now know that he might have got all he has been charged with scheming to got, and all by a simple " I will ” j and that he refused absolutely. Financial safety in his grasp, he put it away from him. That simple fact will not be altered by all the bowlings for more enquiries of all possible kinds. And these howlers ! What do they want more information for ? If they are not satisfied with the details of a great business collapse, they must be gluttons at scandal and morbid on the subject of persecution. It is amusing to read that Sir Robert's meeting was disturbed at the bidding, presumably, of the Premier. There is about this an assumption of general acceptance of Sir Hebert Stout as a political divinity, to be approached only with the unquestioning bated breath of adoration, much as he is approached by his organ, which is screamingly funny. But ft is not more funny than the notion that the crucial /question put to Sir Eobert about joining Captain Bussell on the Government Benches, if over hq gets a chance, was parried. Sir Eobert, in avowed the possibility of a coalition. The answer threw strong light on a career remarkable for contradictions and coalitions.