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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1202, 23 February 1880, Page 2

The denial has come at last; the Government organs have at' length spoken upon the appointment of General Davidson, to which •we have referred at some length. The explanation given by these media for " official utterances" is that General Davidson has not been appointed commandant of the Volunteer Force; that he is to receive no salary, amVthat heis merely to draw travelling allowances for his trouble in inspecting the Volunteers of the Midd'e Island. So far as it goes, the explanation beara the appearance of being satisfactory, but we very much question whether the whole truth has been told. Had it not been for the action taken by two or three journals—ourselves amongst the number—it is probable that not a single ■word of explanation o£ the extraordinary action of the Ministry would have been vouchsafed, and even now we shrewdly suspect that only so much of the truth has been told as is calculated to serve the purposes of the Ministry. We are glad to find, however, that General Davidson is not merely a pensioner dependent upon the charity of an exceedingly liberal Ministry, but a man independent of a salary, who can only be accused of accepting a comfortable trip through the island at the expense of the Colony, in return for performing the duties appertaining to the post of Inspector of v olnnteers. We congratulate the Colony upon the possession of so distinguished and disinterested a visitor. But while we are willing to accept the explanation given as a modicum of the truth, and to admit that the serwees of an Inspector have been obtained cheaply, we are not prepared to budge one iota from the position we took up with reference to the action of the Ministry. We still maintain £hat they have not acted in accordance with promote' the well-being of the Volunteer force, while they have shown an unmistakable desire to do unnecessary honor to a stranger, whose claims to distinction are not matters of hiEtory, or even household words.