Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1891.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 4994, 8 June 1891, Page 2

Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1891.

The anti-Ministerial papers are in a dilemma what to say to influence the public aaainst the Government. Ever since the la2t e, ejhave seemed to be suffering from attack of hysteria. At one moment .i v.' earessed a Minister most tenderly ; at another they have thrown one of Sir Harry's old hobnail boots at him. When it became known that Mr M'Kenzie was to be included in the Ministry, they could hardly find language in which to express their admiration of such a choice. Now, Mr M'Kenzie is bad enough to bring a blush of shame into the face of even a Conservative. By way of variety, the order In regard to their estimate of Mr Seddon -was' reversed. That gentleman

was, the Conservatives said, a dangerous man, who would bring the colony to grief, if he were not curbed. We are now told by them that Mr Seddon is the strongman of the Ministry. Though the public will doubtless feel much obliged to the Conservative Press for telling them what Messrs M'Kenzie and Seddon are, they will expect not to be coerced into accepting the whole of these estimates of character all at once, and they will be anxious to know which of them the Conservative Press would like them to accept now and which of them to-morrow. The Conservative Press will also, we beg, on behalf of the public, understand that the public had already formed their ideas of Messrs M'Kenzie and Seddon, which have resulted in their becoming members of a Liberal Government, and it would be cvuel to expect the public to abandon these ideas without due consideration, and in the face of the practical evidences of their correctness which the Ministers themselves have provided ; and, then, of course, conflicting Conservative estimates are so confusing to the ordinary unsophisticated Democratic mind. But we have no doubt that we ought to accept the Conservatives' original estimate of Mr Seddon's worth, as ''second thoughts are always the best"; and that we ought to accept their first estimate of Mr M'Kenzie, for, as Tennyson doubtingly asks: "Is it so true that second thoughts are best ?" The public, we think, ought to be very much obliged for these Conservative opinions, for sincere estimates of political character from such a quarter are so exceedingly rare. For this reason, the public would feel probably still more obliged if the Conservative Press would hasten to inform them whether they have any other opinions to offer, so that they, too, may be shaken up together and utilised to the best advantage. The Liberals have never, so far, changed their opinions as to the political value of Messrs M'Kenzie and Seddon. But, if the Conservative Press really disapprove of them, we have no doubt that they will be immediately ejected from the Ministry.