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Otago Daily Times, Issue 13697, 13 September 1906, Page 6

BIASSED BIOGRAPHY. " Biookai'iiv is useless which is not true. Let the weaknesses of character bo preserved, however insignificant or humbling." So declares ail old writer, and the triitli of his dictum will be admitted to-day. Of all biography the most difficult to write is the political, for unless the greatest care is exercised the narrative is apt lo degenerate into a prolonged account of the wrangling of party. And here it is that bias, often of the unconscious kind, is wont to rear its unholy head: the proper perspective is lost sight of, and the product either becomes a partisan panegyric or a carping criticism, according to the colour and temper of the author. Consequently, because truth is made subservient to prejudice, the biography, no matter what other merits it may possess, loses its value bbtli as a record of the memory of the dead or as a proper enamplo to the living. These remarks are prompted bv the announcement that will shortly issue from the press i book entitled " The Life and Work of the Right Hon. H. j. Seddoii," and with which is included "A History, of the

Liberal Party in New Zealand," by Mr James Drumihoml ami J)r Iliglit. When tho .signal service which Mr Scddon ,so faithfully mid devotedly rendered to the land of his adoption is boriio in mind, imd when it is remembered liaiv closely his life was associated with niost of the iuitable happening;* in the colony for the past quarter of a century, it is a matter of the utmost moment that biography of a Ncmi-otficiill charactcr—for Sir Joseph Ward hits undertaken to contribute an introduction to tlio work— shoidd be both anetirate in statementand authoritative in tone. Now' we have ho desire to'prejudge the hook prior to its issue, yet the summary of contents, furnished by the publishers, includes headings to which exception must he taken, inasmuch as they are clearly suggestive of .-in unfortunate bias Mich as is to be deprecated in a work of this kind. We take, for instance, the following:—

" Tho .Policy of tiio Continuous Ministry, Industrial and Commercial Depression, tlio Unemployed, Soup Kitchens aiid Destitution." What is to lie understood from tlii.s unless it bo that tho policy of tho Atkinson Government. plunged the colony into a state of depression and destitution F Wo should have supposed that tiie "Soup Kitchen" invention had been sufficiently refuted and exposed, iind wo must- utter oiir protest against its reftppeariince in this relation. As a matter of fact there were no so tip kitchcns until the Government under which tho late Mr Seddon took otiitio came iiito power. Another heading runs as follows:—"The Continuous Ministry Again, the Slough of Despoudj tlio Unemployed, tho Maritime Strike, National Discontent, Crippled Industries, the Exodus." There is no need td comment upon tho spirit of such language; it speaks for itself. Wo would, howover, appeal to tho publishers, it it he not too late, either to exciso or modify the objectionable pliraSes, in order,that tho biography may appear in n form to ivliicli every New Zeiilander, whatever his political opinioits, may conscientiously subscribe. There is not a man ill tlio colony who vill liot he anxious to preserve in book foriri the memory of tho statesman who lias taken so prominent a part Jh guiding the affdirs bF New Zealand; and all classes of tlio bommunity, Mr Seddon's bitterest political opponents not excluded, are anxious to pay iiim honour for everything he has accomplished. Nothing, however, is to bo gained by overstating tho ease, or hy employing terms calculated to give offence to those intimately acquainted with tho political past. Wo should like to see this biography couched in sucli language and brought out in such n mariner tluit it may fittingly find a plaeij in every Now Zealand home; but; unless the actual contents belio the forecast that has been issued, wo fear that a considerable section of tlio public will bo inclined to pass it by aiid wait the time when an unbiassed biography can be written.