Pen and Ink Portraits.

Observer, Volume II, Issue 47, 6 August 1881, Page 534

Pen and Ink Portraits.

JSIo. 25.— The Hon. John Hall. If the Premier had not come down from the Council to the House he might have died with the reputation of a statseman. The talents of men are better measured in the Lower than in the Upper Chamber. There are more and "better guages by which to measures them. In the Lower House, as well as in the Upper, a silent man may pass for a wise one ; but no such fortunate destiny can happen to the man who is compelled to occupy a prominent position in public affairs unless he possesses or acquires wisdom. Thus, if John Hall had considered his reputation and his peace of mind he would never have emerged from the elective Chamber. It is very hard to know why he should have done so. He may be possessed of ambition, but it is not apparent in his conduct as a public man. In no sense can he be regarded as a leader of men. A man to be enabled to lead others must possess or simulate the possession of a faith. The advantages of such a possession or simulation are manifold. It makes a man consistent while he is a believer. He has a base on which his actions can rest. He does not say one thing to-day and another thing to-morrow. He knows what he must have said in the past from what he thinks and believes at the present time. There is no dissimilarity in the outcome of his creed. If he is driven by the force of circumstances or the burden of proof to change his views, he makes a public recantation of his heresy, and Ms career as a public man becomes divided into portions. We see how this happened with Sir Robert Peel on the Corn Law Question, and with many other men whose names are familiar as household words. Of the Premier it may be said that he never had any political creed save that which he formulated in 1566, when he told the House that the people had a right to be well governed, but no right to participate in the act of governing. I heard him deny having made this statement not long since, but any person can exhume it from Hansard who pleases. Of course such a creed in a representative Chamber was utterly out of place. Where a man who is an adventurer could have learned such a creed it is hard to conceive. Those who have to woo the peoples votes have to listen and pay heed to the peoples wishes. There was nothing known generally about Hall's political history in the past or his political views until DeLautour dug out this portion of the Premier's utterances. This gave the keystone to his character. After the return of John Hall to the Lower Chamber there was some difference of opinion as to who should lead the opposition to the Grey_ Government. Fox, it was said, was deficient in temper and tact for the task, the man having outlived the fictitous reputation he had achieved. Indeed, it is very hard to know how he had succeeded in acquiring it. So Hall was chosen to lead the forces. No better choice could have been made. He could hoist a neutral flag. He could coin his own war cry. He could espouse any set of principles he pleased. He could either invent or adopt a policy. He could call his party by any name he pleased. He had made no public profession of faith. He had a compact and obedient set of followers. He knew when he took office that a majority was against him, but he was determined to "hold the post." He adopted the tactics of the French woman described by Marryat in one of his novels, who being taken prisoner by pirates, on being asked by her husband some inconvenient questions on her return from captivity, said, "I temporized." How the Premier obtained a majority is well known. The act enabled the public to guage the man. He regarded himself as fit to govern and cared not by what means he achieved his end. His idea of other men's honesty was deduced from his own consciousness. He guaged other men by himself, Had he not a right to do so ? Was he not a respectable man! Was he not a God fearing one, with a leaning towards Ritualism? Had lie not money in the bank and land calling him owner? Was he not one of the leaders of the elite in the most patrician of our provinces? Had he not been called to the Council and been made an "honorable" for life j with a pension of £200 a year as long as he ! chose to keep it? Had he not been a Cabinet Minister in New Zealand before ? and an officer of the Canterbury Executive for a long time ? Who should aspire to govern a colony if he should not ? If he acted coiruptly had lie not a good object in view ! Why should he care for vox populi or heed the clamour of the unwashed ? Who were the hewers of wood and the drawers of water to sit in judgment upon him or his actions ? Had not Walpole bought votes ? Why should not John Hall manipulate them ? He had never made any attempt to keep pace with the times. His views on men, religion, morals, and the science of government were the "views of almost a lapsed generation. ' His moral perceptions were enveloped in a haze the eye of the common people could not penetrate. The " baser sort of men " were not fit judges of what was for their welfare. He was feeble and irresolute, and he trusted to devious and crooked paths to lead him out of any snare his irresolution might involve him in. His judgment was weak, and he had none of the virtues the wastrel sometimes displays. He was a man to whom no one attributed generosity or a grain of sentiment. He was full of petty' spite, malice, and all uneharitableness. He had learned the Church Catechism in vain. He treasured up wrongs and slights, and used his official power to revenge himself on those who judged his conduct unfavourably. Avowing a contempt for public opinion, he Avas sensible of the slightest ripple on the public mind. What object he sought to obtain by holding office no one can divine— the only solution to his Premiership being that he was placed in that position as an automaton, as the 'wires controlling his movement could be easily pulled. He would do what he was told to do. It is questionable whether he has yet made himself aufait with the motives inspiring those men who made him at the same time their tool and the Premier of New Zealand. He was made Premier by a section of

Rolleston's honesty is a powerful adjunct to any Ministry ; while the Attorney-General could transact all the business of the Colony before he went down to his office of a morning. Hall has no idea of feeling the temper of the House. He has a wonderful knack of saying and doing the right thing the wrong way. Atkinson is anything but a sweet tempered man ; Hall manifests the irritating petulance of a shrewish woman. His liver seems to be always out of order, He has had more nasty things said about him than any other man in New Zealand that I know. His word is doubted ; his talents or abilities are sneered at ; no man knows how or when to have have him or to regard his official utterances. Hall works hard. He has a wonderful capacity for work. Were he commander-in-chief of an army he would resemble the Duke of Cambridge in thinking the shape of a coat sleeve a more important matter than a wellordered commissariat. He is great at small, and small at great things. He would be in his element as an inspector of prisons determining by experiment the minimum amount of food a prisoner could live upon. His economies are all petty economies. He objects to be thwarted in carrying them out. When he wanted the telegraphists to work extra time at reduced wages, and a strike ensued, he pursued the men who refused to agree to his proposals to the other colonies, with his petty spite. When the ten per cent reduction took place in the public service he imposed a similar decrease of pay upon his domestic servants. He has no capacity to inspire any feeling of loyalty among his supporters or followers. He is tolerated, not trusted ; placed and held in office to keep Grey out. Of his services as a provincial officer I shall not speak. He became Colonial Secretary in the Fox Ministry from May 20th to 2nd June, 1856. Under the Stafford Ministry, 1865-69, he held the offices of Postmaster and Commis-

the Auckland people, and those who elevated him to power found and kept a majority to sustain him in office. It is all nonsense for Auckland people to deplore the removal of the seat of Government from what Sheehan calls "The Queen of the South, " as Auckland rules, and will rule, New Zealand as long as Frederick Whitaker lives and keeps the sceptre in his own hands. Although not generally known, it was the habit of the Continuous Ministry to dispense with telegraphic messages in their communications with each other, and their friends adopted a system of telegraphic memoranda instead. The reason for their so doing was this : A message became a permanent record. Such memoranda, moreover, were not charged to the Government telegraphic account. A Minister could use the wires without payment or' fear of detection by his successors. The extent to which the Yogel party carried this practise will never be known. The Grey Government never used the Memo, system, and all their telegraphic correspondence was open to the inspection of their- successors. Hence arose the telegraphic scandal through Hall violating the secrecy of the telegraphic office. He could well assume the office of accuser of his brethren, because he knew no like evidence could be brought against himself or his friends. His pettiness of mind and lack of honesty was plainly apparent in this transaction. No public good could result from his action ; no public principle was involved that he had not previously and has not subsequently violated. His aim was to defile the actions of his predecessors. When the Post-office was tampered with in England on a recent occasion there were reasons of State alleged for so doing. No such reason occurred here. Perhaps Yogel did as much in New Zealand to corrupt the Legislature as Hall has done, but then the Israelite had a policy to carry through ; while the head of the present Government has only the desire to retain office. He has able supporters to help him to stand. Atkinson is a host in himself;

sioner of Telegraphs from August 24th, 1866 to February sth, 1869. In the Fox Ministry, 1869-72, he appears as an Executive Councillor. During the Atkinson Administration, 1876-76, he became again an Executive Councillor from the Ist to the 13th of September of the same yeai-, when he ceased to hold office until he became our Premier. KONEKE.