THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 29

THE WEEK.

" N'unquam aliud natura, aliud sapientia dlxit."— Jvvbkal. " Good nature and good lease must orcr join."— Popb.

The question of whioh one hears most nowadays indoors and out of doors Who and I» that of the true locus of Which 1 the responsibility for the, real position of the Colonial Bank in October last, as now known to a bewildered public. It is really a question of very great concern, and it is not in the least a question of the wanton washing of dirty linen er of the raking up of mattere best left to oblivion. It seems to us that the point has to be determined. In the first pla'oe, the Colonial Bank is not actually, as it is officially, dead and gone. Those shareholders to whom in the heyday of realisation a distribution was made of cash amounting to onefourth of the money they had trustfully put in the concern are still turning wistful eyes towards the triumvirate of liquidators in patient— but we fear hardly confidentexpectation of the next instalment. To them, at least, the Colonial Bank is not yet a thing of the past, whereof to say with Christian resignation, "Let the dead bary its dead." But apart from this material point, there is < obviously another reason why the responsibility must be sternly fixed upon the person or persons to whom it truly belongs ; and that reason is that it is imperative to remove it from those direotors, officers, and manager*— if such indeed there be— to whom it belongs in no degree whatever. Take the current talk of any knot of average men discussing the matter (no one will have to go far to discover such a knot of disputants, for they are wherever men do congregate). Divested of the extravagances and lurid comparisons inseparable from such discussions, it will be found that, roughly speaking, half the debaters are inclined to make things exceedingly uncomfortable for the late general manager and the late inspector of the bank —now located (in inverted order) at the headquarters of the " purchasing bank.' 1 Half the remainder express the opinion that the directors would find their proper quarters in a locality we prefer not to name, and that ths officers wore controlled by the directors according to politics and not according to banklrjg. The remainder will be divided between those who attribute the entire disaster to the unscrupulous acnteness of Mr Ward and those who, preferring what may be called a wholesale line of thought, make one grand heap as it were of the direotors, the inspectors, the general manager, Mr Ward, Mr Seddon, and possibly even Mr Itiley, and express highly-coloured Ideas as to where these clever persons, would all find themselves were the entire conspiracy brought crashing down, and they and all their minor accomplices "in one red burial blent."

Here, then, if our rough estimate of the

average opinion is correct, is The Way to the a serious dlff xrence among Truth. thinking men upon matters

which vitally concern not only the pockets of the hitherto wonderfully patient shareholders, but the honour of some of onr leading citizens. The resolution of tha truth is therefore exceedingly important, and the point to be specially noted is that the truth, at present bidden— for men are really only groping in the dark just now, with a fe«r chinks here and there making the murky blaokness visible,— is quite within the grasp of all if only the right stop 3 are taken to get at it. Mr Seddon's professed ideas of the light steps "we, of course, like all men who are either honourable or sensible —we might almost say who are neither dishonest nor idiotic — dismiss at onoe, quite aware as we are that among all the readers of the Witness there is not a single one who does not scout the whole unclean deception of the Concealment Committee with disdain and disgust. The direction in whioh the truth is to be sought is sufficiently obvious; and at present we dimply await, as the first step towards it, that politico- commercial event which must directly- reault from his Honor's judgment in .the Ward case if a soandalons political interference with the ordinary course of justice is not to follow the no less scandalous sham' of the Concealment Committee. If justice is baulked and burked in the Supreme Court by the same influences that have already baulked and burked it in "the highest court in the land,'? then we must look to the liquidators of the Colonial Bank to sternly set their faces to the blast, and do what good men can to bring the rotten and waterlogged craft, whose battered hull it has become their destiny to steer, to euoh an anchorage as will enable at least a full inspection to be made on behalf of its betrayed underwriters, the people of New Zealand. Those underwriters want to apportion the blame for the disasters that have occurred in the^past. They want to do that, not from any spying and prying spiritnot from any unhealthy relish for sordid finanoial scandal3— bnt solely in order that the present indiscriminate shower of blame may give way to a due apportionment of the real responsibility among those who at present share it in common, and of whom some may have been unjustly denounced. That iB an object absolutely good, and *re only hope that it may yet be attained.

It is very doubtful whether a more purely

mischief bill was ever inTho Murderer troduced in the New Zealand

and Parliament than that which His Friends, has for its main object the

granting of a new trial to the murderer Ohemis. When all is said that can be said for the proposal, it amounts to no more than that Mr O. H. Mills, the Government whip, has ardently taken up the case of Ohemis, and that the allegiance of Mr Mills is at the present time, while others are falling away from him, of value to Mr Suddon. By the "Criminal Code Act 1893 " a right of appeal was given in. criminal cases where it could be shown that the verdict was against the weight of OY&g&oe. By

a later act Ohemis was specially granted the right to apply for a new trial on the same ground, and application was made on his behalf, but was refused, if we remember rightly, because his counsel was unable to say that tho verdict was againat the weight of evidence. What is wanted now, apparently, Ib that Ohemis should, on leave being granted to him, have an unrestricted right to a new ttial. There is, apparently, no pretence that there is any new evidence now. The man was convioted of coldblooded murder after a perfectly fair and impartial trial. His counsel, it is true, died very shortly afterwards, and may probably have had the seeds of disease in him while the trial was in progress, but there is no reason whatever to believe that his condition interfered in the least degree with his conduct of the case. Ohemis simply wants another chance of escape, and has managed to induce a soft-headed member of Parliament to assist him in the scheme. Hitherto Mr Seddon, to his honour be it said, has refused to leni his follower any assistance in his mischievous scheme. This session, however, there is a complete turn about in hii attitude. There is no pretence of a reason for his volte face) he falls back simply on that last resource of politicians who have no reason to offer for the line of conduct they propose to adopt— the general desire of the country. There is, he said, a general desire in the country that Ohemis should have a new trial. There is nothing of the sort. So far as the conviot himself is concerned, there is no desire one way or the other ; people are quite content to leave such matters in the hands of the law as it exists and the courts. The general desire is that courts of justice should not be tampered with for political purposes. Mr Seddon knows perfectly well that a new trial for Ohemis must of necessity be a mere farce — a farce leading to acquittal, however. Years have elapsed since the first trial took place. Many of the witnesses have gone, and the facts must have faded out of the minds of the others. There would be nothing for it bat acquittal, and acquittal under such oircamstances would be a grievous wrong to the community. In considering the question it must be borne in mind that a past sentence can at any tima be reviewed by the Executive. If there is the smallest reason to balieve that Ohemis has suffered an injustice the Executive, under the gaidance of the Attorney-general and with the oonvioting judge's notes and all the written evidence before it, can set the man at liberty in 24 hours. That would be better than introducing a most dangerous precedent and at the tame time going through the farce of a mock trial.

We are really sorry to find ourselvei com* polled to say that Mr Ward's speech on Monday night at Invercargill is not one whit better either in tone or matter than tha notorious one of which he unburdened himself in the House. The Invercargill speech is a replica— a shade paler than the first perhaps, but taking its root in garbage all the same. Moreover, it was from his own point of view highly injudicious in its suggestiveness. There were passages in it whiob show that Mr Ward's mind was running on what must be to him exceedingly disagreeable subjects. " His opponents," he said, " were trying to get him not only out of politics, but to get him out of the country or into a place in the country where he would not have freedom." There is in this expression a delicate euphemism which we need not imitate. The idea must have at once arisen in the minds of bis hearers that a man's opponents can't get him into gaol unless he does something wrong. The conspiracy theory was flimsy enough in all confidence when It applied only to politics, but a conspiracy of politicians to get an honest man in gaol is just a little too muoh. It really won't go down. At a later period he got so far accustomed to disagreeable associations as to be able to deolare that if he went to gaol, he would go in " most respectable company." Most earnestly do we hope that It will not come to that; not only for Mr Ward's own sake, but for the repute of the colony in whioh he has held so high a position. But if, unfortunately, it shpnld,' we cannot say that we fsel at all surprised at Mr. Ward's anticipations as to the company he may keep. Por the rest of the speech, there was the usual stuff about the "Tory" press and Tory wolves, whioh doubtless was rated at its true value even by bis sympathetic hearers. One little scrap of information Mr Ward gave which is worth noticing. He again took credit (It is really.oddibat he abpojd fasten on to. this as a defence) foe not allowing the celebrated bogus draft (to go forward or to be radebited to the Mfoofation, bat. added that it had since been," paid off In cash," Setting aside the fact that Mr Tigers distinctly swore that the draft had been redebited.to the association, it would be curious to know where the money came from to pay it off in cash. We presume that no one would be surprised to learn that the payment consisted in an entry in the books of the Colonial Bank. Every word that is sajid by Mr Ward only serveß to sink deeper the belief that there is a vast deal more to be disclosed than has yet been revealed.

As for the speech of Mr A. Lee Smith, there is scarce a line of it that does not suggest the idea of "save me from my friends." Mr Smith tried the "Torypresß" business too, but it was a dismal failure. * His display of radicalism is like the dancing of a domestic bear ; be has learnt the lesson after a fashion, but it has been by a painful process of imitation. His patronising tone about Mr Ward must have been rather offensive to that gentleman ; and the offenoe was not reduced when, not without skill, he blended with his more direct patronage asseverations of what he had done, was doing, and was prepared to do for Mr W&rd— all out of pure sympathy and admiration. Mr Smith has been all bis life a phllauttiropist, though nobody seems to have been aware of it; perhaps, indeed, he was not aware of it himself. We should not be sarprhed to find that even his dispute with the farmers over their bags arose out of pure love and sympathy for the farmer. Mr Smith, from \h* pedestal he bad ertoted for himself, bore testimony to the " superior abilities " of Mr Ward. He had " devoted himielf to extracting him from his difficulties," and, although so far not vary 6uooos3f ol, he H had bo inten-

I tion of abandoning him.** On the contrary; he " meant to prosecute bis endeavours," -and all oat of "pure sympathy for Mr Ward'a unfortunate condition. Ho saw $tr Ward bad been unfortunate— undetervedly so— and his goodwill to him arose out of that feet." Finally he had the atrocious taste to call for a public subscription for Mr Ward while that gentleman was sitting beside him on the platform. Let us hope that Mr Smith, who" has already had a trip to Oanada and Europe out of his "Liberalism," will now get his. reward for bis " sympathy "' with, say, a seat in the Upper House (there are many there infinitely less qualified), to that: the public may no longer be nauseated with his fulsome sympathy or his* grotafiquo liberalism.

Major Stewaiid's mental agitation over the success (so far) of his Eleotive Exeoutiva Bill would be broadly humorous if it wer* not too deeply pathetic for a joke. One does not like to see a fellow creature in distress, even though that fellow creature be a politician, and an abjectly Seddonian one at that.; When distress rlsas to the point o£ acute mental agony, as it has in the case o£ poor Major Steward, one feels that the situation borders on the tragic, and the snigger of the nnregeoerate is stilled. To think (the penitent Major distressfully cogitates) that by my ever-to-be-doplored preoipitancy I should have very nearly carried a bill that meets with the displeasure of my lord and my king 1 What can Ido to show my deep contrition and atone for my thoughtless, if momentary, independence.? Major Steward, excellent man, is wont to 09 lachrymose, and when he wants to be especially earnest it is bis misfortune that bis hearers are alwayi conscious of a near approach to the maudlin. Now that, after for years wearing the white flower of a strictly Saddonian political life, he has fallen from graoe and been visited with the discipline due to the rebellious child, who shall find fault if he humbly acknowledge bit erring ways and meekly accept the penance which hie justly-offended master may impoM? Not we, at any rate : we would even rather hear no more this session of the Eleotive Executive Bill, excellent in many waya as we believe the aim and object of that measure to be;

Considering that most grown-up people aro married, and a good many of those (tho Naw Woman writers say most of thorn) are unhappily married, the general reluctance to pay attention to propound alterations in the law of marriage and divorce is remarkable. Probably there are still a large number of persons, of a theological oast of mind, to whom all alterations whatever in the marriage laws are unholy. Such people have no occasion to consider any special effort at amendment, and with such at any rate there is no arguing, There ar« also many people who find tha whole discussion distasteful, and who, knowing of no cause for anj change in their own case or in the case of their iraraadiato friends, regard the constant reopening , of the question as a wanton stirring up of muddy waters. Thore is, however, a seriouß residuum of persons who recognise the enormous, the vital, the univorial importance of the subject. Tueso will find it worth their while to read an exoeediDgly able and thoughlf al letter in the D*ily Times of the 4th inst., over the signature of " X." The main contention of the letter is that the present system of almost confining tho cause of divorce to either adultery Itself or «omo crime coupled with adultery it immoral in its tendenoy, inasmuch as it drives innocent but tortured victims of the marriage laws to open a means of escape for themselves by that very gate. Tho contention is not now, but it is forcibly and temperately put in the letter wo are noticing, whioh is worth careful perusal now that the subject is once more under discussion in Parliament.

These was one remark made by Sir Robert Stout the other day in his interview with the correspondent of the Ot»go Daily Time* whioh Is worthy of attention just no.w. "If," he said, "we are tojhave a neoond chamber at *11, the s»cond ohamber must have the right to veto measures, or It would be useless. ... It is absurd to rail ag»i»Bt the Council for throwing out a m«a»ure." The truth here stated it so much of a com-, monplace that no formal; statement of ; It ought to be required." But it is required very much Indeed. A»d by way ol addlWon something, else ought td'bft very plainly said at the same time— namely,' that Mr B«dd.onno doubt recognises the -true function of the Oounoil jost as cleatly^as-anjrone, and makts his preposterous claims for new councillors to carry his policy simply at a means of providing rewards at the colony's expense for speolal persons amoog his followers. If the Oeunoil is not there to rtject measures, what is it there for? Especially on the eve of a general election is the rejection of a measure a safe and propar procedure, foait enables the opinion of the constituencies to be taken upon it almost immediately. Tha Council has never be«a known to go on rejecting a measure it ter tha wish of the colony on it bad been plainly mada known. Should it persistently do to, then would come the time for creating b«w councillors, or for taking the constitution of the Council into consideration. But to regard it as an evil demanding remedy every tiate the Council rejects a msaiure is to introduce an entirely new element into the oonfititntion. Nor can the very dullest mind remain blind to tho absurdity to whioh tha Innovation would lead. If one Government must be able to ensure the passage of every bill through the Council, so must another. The growth of. the Council would therafora b» , interminable. Mr S«ddon knowa this perfaotly well, but he has a game to play whioh obviously takes no aocounfe of constitutional principle or any other kind of principle. What ha says to himself is : " I must have billets and positions to give to people, and the Council oom«s in handier for this than anything else." And of oourae when the game is played oat it does not matter to him what the result may be to the colony.

The co»l export from Westporb last week wa» 6938 tons. During the put month the export by the Westporfc, Cardiff, and Mokihinui Com* panics wm 26,637 tons 2ovrk