THE PELORUS GUARDIAN, AND MINERS' ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25TH, 1895. Hon. R. J. Seddon.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 6, Issue 8, 25 January 1895, Page 2

THE PELORUS GUARDIAN, AND MINERS' ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25TH, 1895. Hon. R. J. Seddon.

Premiers have come and gone, during successive years, in this Colony, and each one has left some mark, for good or for evil, on the sands of time. Son'll have worked very hard to attain the high position, and others have had greatness thrust upon them—in each case the result has proved what wisdom was shown in the selection. Now, in spite of the harsh names and f toliah prophesies of what would occur when the Hon. R. J. Seddon was selected by his colleagues, and their choice ratified by the electors of Ne y Zealand—yes, in spite of all the unusual mud-throwing by those who were supposed to know better, and should have shown a better example—our present Premier has now proved himself worthy and able to occupy the loftv pinnacle of gn atness as Premier of New Zealand with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public. In his recent speech at Napier he made some very trenchant remarks, all the more effective from their homeliness and appeal to the true manhood of those who were listening to him. We all know abuse is not argument, and it js a great pity when men of Captain Russell’s calibre so far forget their gentlemanly instincts, and use slang terras to express their personal illfeeling against their successful rival, but, as a rule, such tactics generally recoil on those who adopt them, and we wish to remind that gentleman not to forget that he is speaking of the people's choice , and, unless more definite charges can be brought forward and substantiated, these wilful misstatements are only an insult to the intelligence of the electors. That the Hon. R. J. Seddon cannot satisfy all shades of opinion in politics we have little doubt, but his greatest political enemies—for he has no others—will readily admit that he is every inch a man, one who has always been valued in private life for bis sterling qualities, and one who is earnest in carrying out what be considers the best policy for his adopted country, while some of the measure passed since he has been at the helm, are already bearing good fruit. His graphic description of the Hawkes Bay district, and how the land had been divided among the twelve Apostles, was a worthy picture that few will forget, and we can readily imagine his detractors crying out in a wailing voice “p' cavi ” (it is enough.) Now, we say, “ fair play is bonny play," and before the members of the Opposition should rush into print in their eager endeavour to damage the present Government, we would advise them to carefully wait until something worthy of notice occurs to dilate upon, and never overlook the fact that higher motives than mere personal or jealous feelings should guide their actions, and also recollect they owe a grave duty to the Colony first, so that in all their utterances let them weigh their words well, and not commit an act of greater injustice while trying to cure some imaginary wrong.