EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 8827, 6 July 1905, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS

Mr. Taylor is more than ever the petrel I of politics, with this difference, that he not only presages a storm but actually pro-1 duces it. If the member for Christchurch disapproves of anything, he lets everybody know it. He manufactures an enormity just as the microscope discloses the presence of things of which humanity is ignorant without it. His mind and language have immense magnifying power. If he has not himself the faculty to govern even himself he has his ideas on the subject of governing the people which he imparts with a whirlwind of invective that sets everybody thinking deeply and quickly. If the affairs of a country could be purified by hot criticism of imagined or exaggerated evils, Mr Taylor ought to be given the management of New Zealand without delay, with a flourish of trumpets and universal acclaim. He does not like Mr Seddon. He hates Mr Massey. He only likes Mr Taylor. He, at least, is theoretically pure. As time rolls on, there is an accommodation of untoward circumstances which seem to this political flagellator to demand the application of the knout. Mr Taylor, for instance, with all his cleverness, failed in his gladiatorial struggle with the Premier's son over the South African affair. H© therefore, reversed the divine vengeance by visiting the sins of the son on the father. Mr Taylor alleged that Captain Seddon had acted the part of a coward. Because Captain Seddon took steps which proved that he had not, the name of Seddon is anathema. The cackling of geese saved a city. MiTaylor's is designed to produce the downfall of ail Administration that has had no equal in the history of the colonies. As Captain Seddon was not guilty of the crime attributed to him by Mr Taylor, so much the worse for the Seddon Government and the colony. They must be taught that the designs of Mr Taylor cannot be thwarted with impunity. The army of discontents is being mobilised. It numbers something like six, and, emulating the Assyrian, it is coming down on the Seddonian fold. The political atmosphere is darkened by this host whose weapons are in their mouths, poisoned as with the deadly venom of the savage's spear. The earth trembles. All humanity is aghast with profound dread. Even Mr Massey, chief of his Majesty's Opposition, is nearly blown off his feet by the onward rush of elemental disturbances. He wonders more than ever whether the political game is really worth the candle. It is certain that Parliamentary life is not all beer and skittles in the presence of such a devastating tornado of withering scorn. Quite unsuspectingly Mr Massey is enjoying the onslaught on the Government benches when an evil smelling explosive drops plump on his own defenceless head. Mr Taylor is not likely to cause any partiality in the distribution of his favors. Me slashes all round and his audience laughs and cries alternately, as pleasure and pain seize them by turns. The Government are considering the situation, whilst Mr Taylor and his contingent are allotting portfolios to the transcendentalists who are going to manage the affairs of the country with millennial purity. There will be 110 more Ministerial salaries or travelling expenses. No more buriowhr; and spending. No more appointments to th* public service of friends to reward or enemies to~propitiate. No need of any Parliamentary Opposition. Everything will be characterised by Arcadian bliss of which Mr Taylor and his associates will be the central figures clothed in aureoles.