The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1892

Timaru Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 5338, 15 January 1892, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1892

It is generally understood amongst respectable people when they go into politics or take part m any branch of public affairs that they ought to leave their opponents' private affairs alone. It is a good sound rule and commends itself to the judgment of every intelligent person. Unfortunately it is a rale which the so-called Liberal party m New Zealand disregard m the most flagrant manner when it suits their purpose, though they are ready enough to raise a howl against anyone on the other side who m such matters offends m the smallest particular. Out 1 readers will remember the disgraceful incident of a marked map,, showing Sir John Hall's landed property, being hung up m the lobby of the House of Representatives by one of the leaders of the Ballance party, with the palpable object of creating an adverse feeling against Sir John by showing impecunious members that he was wealthier than he had any.- business*., to be from a sham-liberal or sans culotte point of view. We do cot suppose that Sir John Hall cared a brass farthing about the tna'p incident, but nevertheless it was thoroughly discreditable to the person who was responsible for it, The Wellington election has furnished another incident of a somewhat similar character. Mr McLean, the Government candidate and marionette, deliberately set to work to ferret out the private affairs of his opponent nnd of bis opponent's relations m New Zealand, hoping to show that they would be taxed more under Mr Ballance's scheme than they hare been under the property tax. The figures were paraded by Mr McLean at one of his meetings, with the . double-barrelled object, firstly, of proving that his opponent was too well provided with this world's goods to. be worthy of the support of the working classes, and, spcondly. to raise the presumption that Mr Bell's opposition to tbe new taxation was prompted merely by the selfish desire to escape paying's fair contribution to the revenue. If those were not the objects with which the figures were produced, we should ,be glad to know what Mr McLean intended. Would he have acted the part of a private detective and then spoken about Mr Bell's affairs on the platform, if tbe new taxation had borne more lightly on that gentleman than the property tax bad done, or if Mr Bell and his relations bad possessed no more than working men usually do P It is quite certain that under such circumstances the Wellington constituency would have been troubled with no remarks on the length of Mr Bell's purse. It was at first thought that Mr McLean had by some means or other obtained his information from the property tax returns, but it was subsequently shown that he drew the figures from another source. He took a Government return which had been published m 1889, and from it made a calculation wbioh turned out to be approximately correct m some respects but erroneous m others. That is Mr McLean's statement, but we suspect that he has not been quite frank m his explanation. We do not question his ability to make the calculation, supposing him ta> be possessed of the necessary data, but we do not give him oredit for having thought

of such a method of attack, * and we are quite sure that he would have been at a loss to obtain the preliminary information unless he had been prompted. There is no difficulty m forming a trustworthy opinion as to who suggested the attack and put him m possession of the return. Prom the commencement of the contest he has constantly been under the supervision and control of the Government. First one Minister and then another has been at his elbow, and very often he has had two Ministerial guardian angels at the same time. No Parliamentary candi date m the world has ever been so highly honoured m that respect as Mr McLean has been. And yet perhaps the less said about the honour the better. Mr McLean's merits have not brought all thtse Ministers around him. If they did not want to use him for voting purposes they would not raise a finger to help him. They are playing their own game, and Mi 1 McLean happens to be one of the pieces. That m a strictly true statement of the position. Having taken bira m hand they have done all they could on his behalf, and no doubt it was a Minister who plotted the exquisite meanness of pryiDg into Mr Bell's private affairs for the purpose of making some electioneering capital out of them. To suppose that Mr McLean acted independently would be manifestly absurd. He has scarcely been able to call his soul hiß own since the Government took him m charge. If we were asked to guess which of the Ministers invented this particular dodge we should be at a loss for an answer. Each one of them who has had anything to do with the Wellington election is quite capable of devising such a nasty method of attack. Each one of them would be quite uoablo to see that there was anything objectionable m it, and eqaally nnable to abstain from doing it supposing he did see that it was objectionable, provided that it appeared likely to serve a political purpose. It may seem to be a small matter to bring into such prominence, but from one point of view it is not at all a small matter. Neither was the incident of the posting of the map. If, on the one hand, such things indicate, as perhaps they do, a petty smartness or sharpness which might be found useful m the business of n cheap jack or dealer m old clothes, they indicate just as plainly, on the other hand, a total absence of some great qualities which should go to make up the character of a statesman whom the people delight to honour. It is paiuful lo see support given by a large section of the Wellington constituency to a candidate who resorts to such miserable expedients as Mi- McLean has not hesitated to employ at the suggestion of bin political masters. But the pain and the humiliation are intensified when we recollect that the man is being backed up by all the force and influence of Minis, ters, one or other of whom undoubtedly invented the particular dodge which has Berved as a text for this article. We ask any right-minded man whether he does not think it shameful thnt a political opponent's private affairs should be paraded on the platform, that lie should m effect be denounced because he is supposed to be the possessor of a fair share of wealth, and that he should be subjected to the insinuation that m opposing Ministers he is influenced by the basest motives. What sort of leaders enn they be who countenance such abominations? Ara they likely to raise a people or pull them down — to guide them for good or for evil ?