MOKAU AGAIN

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7974, 4 December 1911, Page 6

MOKAU AGAIN

It is not at all surprising to learn that Messrs Mason Chambers, R. D. D. McLean and other people, opponents of the Government though they be, have emphatically repudiated the campaign of slander and misrepresentation pursued by the Opposition in regard to Mokau. This thing has gone beyond all bounds and, as the signatories to the communication we publish, this morning very rightly declare, become a disgrace to tho politics of our country. Against Sir James Carroll and Mr Robert McNab charges of the most

disgraceful character have been made by suggestion and innuendo in various forms. Mr McNab has suffered particularly in this way. The evidence given at tho inquiry, all of tho relevant facts in connection with tho salo and purchase of Mokau, have been disregarded. Indeed the inquiry might just as well not have been held so far as tho charges levelled against tho Government are concerned, tho evidence has boon thrown to tho winds, and the electors invited to believe that public men and public servants had throughout this business behaved in tho most unscrupulous manner for their own personal profit. There exists not a shadow of moral excuse for this. Tho whole “caso for tho prosecution” regarding Mokau has rested upon tho frail basis of credulity and malevolence.''No scandal in connection with Mokau exists so far as tho Government is concerned. The real scandal is in tho conduct of the Opposition and its obedient tools for whoso behaviour during tho last few months no word of oxouso can be found. Tho sharp rebuke to tho Opposition from Hawke’s Bay and repudiation of tho tactics followed during this wretched exhibition are most richly deserved.