THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1896. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 3006, 18 December 1896, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1896. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

With which are incorporated the Wellington Independent, established 1845, and the New Zealander .

"An Employer,” in our correspondence column, invites us to publish the name of the " boas ” of the shearing-shod mentioned in the New Zealand Times as having coerced his men in connection with their exercise of the franchise in the general election. Our correspondent is in a position to know that were we to do so we should be compelled to run the risk of an action at law for libel—as that law stands at present. We are, however, in a position to prove our assertion, and will, privately, give-to our correspondent the name, place, date and all other circumstances connected with' the regrettable incident. At the same time we will supply him with the facts concerning the dismissal of a man from a station in the same district a' week or so after the general election of 1893. In that case only one vote was recorded on the station' for the candidate who was not favoured by the sheepfarmer, and the man who was suspected was discharged from employment: J

Mach has been said and written of late concerning l the value of our securities in the London market. On this subject the New Zealand Journal of Insurance, Mining and finance has this to say:—" Recurring to the August ‘slump’ in the , more favoured securities in the English market, we find the prices of stocks of four of the colonies as follows < —Queensland, 35 per cents., .£103; New South Wales ditto, JJXO7; New Zealand ditto, 4JlOd; Victoria ditto, £lOl. There seems to us very little to complain of in this list, and that not* withstanding the determined efforts of the opponents of New, Zealand finance, both’ within and without the Colony, her debentures hold an excellent position amongst the more favoured securities on the London money market.”

“ Still harping on my daughter. ’ The fact that the sum of half a million has been subscribed locally for colonial purposes appears to have completely upset the calculations of the opponents of the Government, and, notwithstanding the fact that we have compelled these people to change their ground time after time, they return to the work of fault-finding with a persistency worthy a better cause. At the outset these unpatriotic individuals declared that the money could not be raised; then that it had been secured from State lending institutions; but when this was proved to bo an untrue statement, another attempt was made to discredit the Government, That also failed. Then a threat was made that a question would be asked in the House concerning the transaction, and we at once recognised who it was who was behind the would-be critics. The failure to prove the right of anyone to, be informed as to either names or amounts in connection with the subscribing of the loan is now folio ved by personal abuse of the Premier. Such unworthy tactics will not, bo without their effect upon the minds of the thinking portion of the comrnunitj. •

The Opposition as a body," say these unworthy colonists, “ have the interests of the Colony more at heart than the spurious patriots who now hold tho reins of government." Let us examine this assertion In the light of truth. Jt is known,

not only to the business men of £his, but of every other city and town of the Colony, that a combined effort has been long sustained by certain capitalists to block any movement which, if brought to a successful issue, might reflect credit on the Government of the day. Men in high positions have been heard to declare that ! so long as the Seddotl Government remained in office everything calculated to promote enterprise in indicated directions would be discouraged. That plan of campaign has been adhered to with a tenacity which proves how deep-seated is the hatred of a section of the community towards a Liberal administration. But even these unreasoning.detractors of the Colony have been made to realise that "it is hard to kick against the pricks/’ and in the returning tide of prosperity and the restoration to power of the Seddon Government we all realise the futility of such unpatriotic, conduct.

.--It is only too palpable that the Opposition "as a body” have not the interests of the Colony at heart. All that money, influence, scandal, and detraction could do was tried to compass the downfall of the Liberal Government, and not even the Fosf, we venture to .think, will defend some of the means employed by the people it now declares to be concerned for the Colony’s welfare. "The Opposition as a ■body,” if it had the interests of the Colony at heart, would not be for ever raking in mud-heaps for material with which to bespatter bur public men, nor would it seek to injure the credit of New Zealand both at |home and abroad. "The Opposi- ' tion as a body ” should accept its defeat at the hands of the people as an indication that money cannot purchase a majority, though it may do much to debauch constituencies. Long prior to the " contest of the fourth” the Opposition declared that the Ministry would bo defeated. We can forgive the chagrin following upon failure to make good that declaration, but nothing can excuse the utter want of loyalty to the Colony which all good men and true should display.

Discussing the question of providing for the aged needy, our evening contemporary makes the following remarkable admission : —" In a young country such as this, with its conditions of high rate of wages ruling, general well-to-do-ness of the masses, and climate favourable to health and longevity, the arguments which apply to older countries have little or no force.” We say that this is a remarkable admission, because any time these five or six years we have been taught to believe that wages were lower, the people impoverished, trade at a standstill, enterprise dead, the country going at a high rate of speed to the " demnition bow-wows.” However, it is cheerful reading in the columns of an Opposition paper that our work people are highly paid, that they live long and prosper exceedingly. Is this an earnest of better and more honest things to com© from Opposition sources ?