The Premier at Parihaka.

Opunake Times, Volume II, Issue 94, 28 May 1895, Page 2

The Premier at Parihaka.

(Evening Post.)

" We have frequently pointed out the absolute unreliability of the Premier in dealing with figures, and his habitual recklessness of assertion in dealing with facts. His interview with Te Whiti affords a striking example of both characteristics. He told the' no doubt astonished Maoris, aud the probably scandalised clergymen, for whose presence he had contended so strongly, that it took seven days to make the world. The Maoris are great students of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, and this conflict of authority between Moses and, the Premier must have surpii ;ed tliem not a little. They would turn to Genesis, and there read :

■ And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.' Kespect for the Premier's word would scarcely be increased by this referenee. When Mr Seddon was about altering and improving the Biblical account of the Creation, we cau only wonder that, having the fear of his colleague the Minister of Labor before his eyes, he did nut declare that the world was made in five and a-half days, the afternoon of the sixth being observed as a halfholiday. Iu this way a valuable preceeuent for, and argument in favor of the Shops and Shop Assistant Act and Saturday closing might have been established."