THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5567, 16 May 1896, Page 7

THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

CAPTAIN RUSSELL ON TOUR. TBy a Casual Acquaintance.]

A fews days ago I had the pleasure of travelling in the s.s. Penguin with Captain Russell. We had several talks together, andl found him, as he has so ofteu been described, "■pleasant and affable" ; but I could discover no indications of individuality or originality about him. He is simply one of that class which England turns out of her public schools in' thousands, whose worst characteristic, perhaps, is a somewhat exaggerated idea of their own importance and a somewhat too limited appreciation of the rights'. Of others. Captain Russell's appearance has often been alluded to by the Conservatives, as if his tall form, and what ; they call " aristocratic " bearing, were peculiarly the property of the Opposition. Now, on the pi atf orm, in the House of RepreI sentatives, at the saloon table,- Captain Russell has an: aristocratic appearance. He is tall and straight ; he has a hooked nose, and a general air of that English "you be damnedness " about him. Examined closely on anthropological and phrenological lines, Captain Russell is not an ideal man. His head is too flat on the top, too small behind ; his forehead slopes back from the well-shaped brows that lack the "bumps" of wide perception or appreciation. Then viewed from behind, when standing, Captain Russell's legs are weak ; the lcnees have an inclination inwards. Captain Russell certainly has an aristocratic nose. It is the hall mark of the aristocrat, as it is the hall mark of the typical Jew, and indicates similar characteristics—selfishness, assertiveness. I heard Captain Russell speak in the Nelson theatre, and if his speech is to be taken as a fair representation of OPPOSITION IDEAS, then. I am afraid . this country will notderive much benefit from them, in power or oiit of power. Captain Russell spoke rapidly for about two hours, and all his talk was against the Government, in general and the Premier in particular He told us that he intended replying to the Premier's late speech at Nelson ; but his reply, was very much like the boy 's— " Sbu're another, and worser.". Captain Russell's great forte is his happy knack of sliding over facts to convey impressions, and with a careless audience he should be. an effective speaker. But when his speeches are analysed, little of value is to be found. His best ideas aye gained from the newspapers, and given just as if the clippings had been put into his speech without alterations. I easily recognised scraps of old leading articles — all culled from Conservative papers, of course. Captain Russell is generally recognised by friends and enemies as an Upright and honourable gentleman, and his everyday life supports this idea; but I am afraid that if Captain Russell's character is to be measured by his political speeches, he will become recognised as an inferential prevaricator. One has to hear his speeches, however, to fully recognise his power in this direction, for so much of it lies in his tones and manner. Still, it can be seen even in his published speeches. It was 1 somewhat amusing to hear Captain Russell speak on what he called the Premier's personalities. He waxed so righteously indignant at the idea of a Premier indulging in personalities, and all the time he was personally ' ABUSING THE PRF.MIKR. ' « The Premier, it appeai-3, had said (speaking of some charges of the • Opposition) that he would not descend to personal abuse; that he would leave strong language to the poets ; and he quoted Rudyai'd J Kipling's lines, " They lied about the ' , they lied about the purple sea." Captain Russell conveyed to the audience the ! awfulness of the fact that the Premier had called the Opposition liars by the pathetic i dignity with which he protested against the charge. "It might be," he said, " the conduct of a gentleman to speak of political opponents who differed from him as liars, but there were differences of taste, and he hoped that the next person to hold the high, honourable and responsible position of Premier of the colony would have a different taste to the present Premier. It was a great misfortune when public men descended to such things. The man who did so must be deficient in ability. The finesse of the skilful fencer was wanting. We all had our differences, but all who differed in opinion from us. were not necessarily liars." The manner in which Captain Russell said all this would lead the unthinking to believe that the Premier had in the roughest and coarsest manner called the honourable members of the Opposition liars, and that Captain Russell and other honourable ' Oppositionists were martyrs to their honourable political opinions and couldnever, no never, descend to such vulgar and worse than vulgar conduct. And all the time Captain Russell himself was saying the very nastiest things of the Premier in j the very nastiest manner. I wonder if i Captain Russell really knows what some ! of his inferences^ amount to, what his dis ' lortion of facts" really is. If they come deliberately, and after careful study, then Captain Russell can certainly not claim the honourable title of gentleman, for, plainly speaking, some of his inferences are mean forms of misrepresentation. I am inclined to believe that this particular j method is due to the fact that Captain ! Russell, having but few ideas of his own, ! uses the ideas of his party as if they were actual facts regarding the Government's actions. Captain Russell makes

A PRESENTABtE APPEARANCE when he fronts the audience, but I shoiild advise him to prevent anyone sitting- behind him, as from that point of view he does not show to advantage. When he stands with his knees slightly inclining inwards and raises both his elbows with that waving motion, he reminds one of a young Indian game rooster trying to flap, its wings, and upon- my word it looks truly, funny. I said that nearly all the best parts of Captain Russell's speech consisted of extracts from Conservative papers ; but there were parts which, I suppose, the leader of the Opposition can claim as his 6wn original work, and these consisted largely of well-directed sneers. I think it is Macauley who points out with huge disdain a class of people who climb by detracting the efforts of others. It strikes me that Captain Eusaell belongs to this class of detractors, for though he spent nearly two hours in belittling the work of the Government, he did not give one single suggestion that might prove of value to the country. He made his chief points by inferring, that the Government were doing everything in their power to injure the country; that everything they iiad done had injured the country ; but he • could Dot give one proposal for altering 1 anything that the Government had done so as to benefit the country. Now, if Captain Russell and the members of the Opposition are so indignant at the manner in which the Government is wronging the country, surely such patriotic individuals ought to publicly make known nlf 1 ? chemes f <* righting these wrongs, rheir promise to tell ue if we will. put them, m power makes them appear as if they wanted bribing before they would tell ub what can be done to benefit the country. I notwe that Captain Russel virtually announced SIR .ROBERT STOUT'S ACCEPTANCE INTO THE „,, , OPPOSITION. •■ Myself, Sir Kobert Stout and other members of the Opposition " exclaimed the honourable Cai>tain. Of course, this might be a mere slip of thetonguo, but it sounded and is, I should say, direct evidence that the ex-Premier has joined the ranks of the "unemployed." Captain Russell a speech, I notice, fills nearly six columns of the local paper, but I believe only a very small portion of it will reach the Canterbury public, as I near that only 'the results were to go through the Press Association. m! L put)his remarks were as follow:— A. ?PP ositi °n was numerically weak; the Government so strong that it had become i> despotism, an autocracy. New Zealand was under the thumb of men who cared little for the welfare of the people or the advancement of the colony. The Chnatchureh election proved that all who 1

voted for Messrs T. E. Taylor and C. Lewis were antagonistic to the Government. The Opposition charges were all authentic and the Government explanations all wrong. That if the Opposition got into power it would not repeal any Act that had been passed unless the people asked for repeal ; that if the Opposition got into power it would take them three yeai-3 to put the affairs of the colony into proper order, and that after three years of arduous, heavt-breaking work, and when the fiuance and credit of .the colony had baen restored they (the Conservative party) would be ignoniiniously ejected from office. The birth rate in some parts of New Zealand showed a falling-off, and we might have to depend for our population on aliens from Coolgardie and Queensland, and the country would in time become dominated, by those who did not care tw.o pence for it. The surolus was a boast of the Government. The Premier had announced that ■

THE SURPLUS OP THE YEAR was .£150,000. The Premier had ordered a surpius and no doubt a surplus would be made. The revenue, advances to settlers, the, tariff, T3ank of New Zealand, land for settlements and. other similar questions were all treated, as I have said, by extracts from Conservative papers, so are fairly well known. Thestrongest point made by Captain Russell was his complaint that the Premier and two Government officials had joined the Anglo-German gold syndicate. Captain Russell's attitude when prophesying the advent of German labourers and German machinery was awe-inspiring, and calculated to make one think that a German army would shortly occupy our goldfieids. After speaking on the necessity for better legisation and better politician for nearly two hours, Captain Russell wound up by telling us that if we believed we could be helped by Government or politicians, we were mistaken — a statement lam ready to believe when the Government is composed of politicians with as little originality as the speaker. '