A Sprig of Nobility.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7177, 30 May 1891, Page 4

A Sprig of Nobility.

OUE LATEST CRITIC ( Under this heading the Wellington Post , writes :— Most, if not all, of our readers will ■ remember the Hon J. W. For tescue, a young gentleman who for a time acted as Private. Secretary to His Excellency Sir William Jervois. Mr Fortescue was supposed to have literary proclivities, and, we think, once or twice contributed papers to the . New Zealand Institute or Wellington J Philosophical Society. He was also : vaguely understood to have written some- i thing else somewhere or other, and on the Btrength of these intellectual achieve- j ments he applied for the office of j Parliamentary Librarian, and by some > occult influences succeeded in getting | the appointment from the Library Com- j mittee. The House, however, was not as I impressed by Mr Fortescue's birth and i abilities as the Library Committee, and . some question was raised aa to Balary. Mr Fortescue thereupon relinquished hia desire to benefit New Zealand by his services, and betook himself to his ancestral and patrician home. Finding time hang heavily on his hands in Englaud after the wild excitement of Colonial life and society, he has fallen back on literary work for amusement, aud in the colums of the Nineteenth Century he expresses his disgust with things colonial, especially in matters of public finance. His cheerful title is " The Seamy Side of Australia," and he begins by denouncing the misrepresentation of all who before him have ventured to write about these colonies. He says they have only one story to tell, which they do in a chorus of cant phrases about— " marvellous progress, indomitable energy, admirable enlightenment, unequalled prosperity, boundless resources, magnificent future, and so forth." It required a Fortescue to look deeper, discover the seamy side and tell the truth. His aristocratic soul revolted and his blue blood curdled when he made the appalling discovery "that State Socialism entirely permeates the ruling classes in Australia, and that Colonial borrowing, Protective tariffs, hindrances to emigration (immigration?) and to the growth of population, the labour question, &c__ are not isolated and detached phenomena, but the natural outcome of that State Socialism." Then, with the technical knowledge of a haberdasher's assistant, for which distinguished role Mr ljortescue was endowed by Nature with all the qualities necessary to achieve distinction had he not been born in the purple, he informs his readers that " tliere is, as we know, such a thing as cottonbacked satin, but the Colonists take care to Bhow na only the face of their goods." He professes to assert his right to show the other side also, and to justify this he recounts the vast benefits which "we" have magnanimously conferred on those wretched colonies. Who the " we " are is not very clearly explained, or how Mr Fortescue claims inclusion in the " we." We might suggest that Mr Fortescue's article will probably cause another question to be first asked and answered — Why should the colonies hospitably receive and indirectly pay young men of the Fortescue class, who, aa soon as they return Home, set zealously to work to misrepresent and malign those to whose kindness they have been indebted, and the country in whose service they sought employment ? We wonder if the failure of Parliament to value Mr Fortescue's abilities at his own figure has had anything to do with the spirit in which he writes. The object of his article is evident. It is to injure the prospects of the proposed measure permitting the investment of trust funds in colonial securities.