The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1887.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3966, 24 June 1887, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1887.

The final settlement of the great case of Bryce v. Rusden lias been made the occasion for a good deal of unnecessary gush on the part of many of the New Zealand newspapers. Mr Bryce rendered the colony a substantial service m going Home and, at his own expense, bringing Mr Rusden to book for some of the slanders which he had packed into his history. Those slanders, though they more immediately affected the personal character of the plaintiff, re- , fleeted on the character of the colonists ; generally, because a country which could exalt to high places such a man as Mr Bryce was represented to be, • must necessarily be m a degraded con- ( dition. It is certain that the plaintiff could, if he had pleased, kave fought the battle with money found by his friends, but he preferred to depend en- ' tirely on his own resources. He -won ' his case, and was awarded very substan- ' tial damages — £5000, though we by no ' means say that the verdict was too severe. Still the defendant did not abandon 1 hope, and asked leave to move for a i new trial. The Court consented on i condition that the costs of the first i

trial should be paid at once, and tbat the only point allowed to be reopened should be the question of the amount of the damages. A considerable time elapsed, and at length, during the course of last week, intelligence arrived that the motion for the new trial had come on, but that a settlement by a compromise bad been arrived at by the parties. Mr Rusden withdrew m the fullest manner every one of the charges he had made against Mr Bryce, and the latter consented to accept m full satisfaction of the verdict £370S instead of the £5000 awarded by the jury. We have from the first sympathised heartily -with Mr Bryce m his efforts to vindicate his character from the aspersions which had been cast on it, and we were very glad at his success; but we certainly fail to Bee why a lot of gush and fulsome compliment should now be lavished on him for doing what was clearly the best thing to do under the circumstances. Mr Bryce had a perfect right to his £5000 — if he could get it, but that was just wliere the difficulty arose. During the months which have elapsed since the trial he probably became acquainted with Mr Rusden's means, and made the discovery that that gentleman was literally not m a position to meet the demand imposed upon him by the verdict. The next best thing to do was to consent to a compromise, and, as we have seen, that was the conrse which was adopted when the motion for the new trial came on. It was purely a business arrangement, and, under the circumstances, and at that stage of the proceedings, waß advantageous for the plaintiff. It is possible that a new trial would have been granted as far as the assessment of damages was concerned, and it is also possible that a second jury might have placed the damages lower than the first jury placed them. There was risk, therefore, attaching to the further proceedings, and more than that there waß something approaching certainty that, even if the second jury endorsed the finding of the first, the plaintiff would be deprived of the fruits of his judgment by reason of the inability of the defendant to pay. There is an old pi'overb which the plaintiff may have had m his remembrance when approached on the subject of a compromise. It is that " A bird m the hand is worth two m the bush." Mr Bryce very wisely took the £3700, which may be likened to the bird m the hand ; and he rejected the risk of further proceedings, which might possibly have given him lesß, or might even have driven the defendant into the Bankruptcy Court. Throughout the proceedings Mr Bryce has acted as an honourable and public-spirited man, and he is to be congratulated on the happy issue of a very difficult, eoßtly, and harassing business. But to load him with praise and to eet him down as one of the noblest of the human race because he preferred a sure £3700 to a doubtful £5000, is to make him ridiculous. Mr Mitchelson, who held the portfolio of Public Worts m the last Atkinson Ministry, has addressed a letter to the New Zealand Sordid on what he regards as a mistaken rumour which has come to his ears. He has heard of an alleged probable coalition between Major Atkinson and Sir Julius Yogel, and he hastens to contradict the report. He says : — " Such statements are utterly devoid of truth ; and further, I feel perfectly confident that those known as the Atkinson party would prefer to remain m opposition for the next fifty years rather than that such a coalition should take place. It was at one time hoped that a coalition between Sir Robert Stout and Major Atkinson should be effected, but I fear the thing is not now possible." Of course we do not believe a word about the rumoured coalition. At present it can be nothing but idle gossip, without a shadow of sanction from any responsible person, and the wonder is that Mr Mitchelson should have taken the trouble of contradicting it on behalf of himself and his political friends. The Ministry is still m power, and has appealed to the country, and it is far too early to talk about new coalitions. Nor is it at all clear that a coalition will be necessary m the event of the elections going against the Government. In the approaching struggle the electors should make retrenchment, general economy, and as little taxation as possible, the principal watchwords, and should support those candidates who appear most likely to give effect to such a safe programme. The country must await the result with patience, but at the same time it may entertain a strong hope that the new House will provide the materials for a satisfactory Government without recourse being had to any of those gentlemen who at present hold portfolios. But although we have no desire to see such a coalition as that which is deprecated by Mr Mitchelson, we cannot understand why he, of all men m the colony, should hold up his hands m horror at the thought of it. Does he not remember that m 1884 the same coalition was seriously talked of, and is he not aware that at one time during the earlier part of that extraordinary session such a coalition was very nearly becoming an accomplished fact ? Fortunately for Major Atkinson the project fell through, but it certainly was amongst the things which might have been ; and although Sir Julius Yogel was far more powerful m those days and would have exercised a far stronger influence on any Ministry of which he was a member than he would exercise now, we feel pretty confident that, if the arrangement had been completed, Mr Mitchelson and most of those whom he calls the Atkinson party would have put their feelings on one side and would have supported what they would have professed to regard as unavoidable. The strong probability now is that Sir Jnlius Yogel will not only be put out of office, but that he will have to remain out for some years. The country is tired of him, and is bent on having a change, so that the question of a coalition such as that indicated by Mr Mitchelson is not at all likely to arise.