Lecturing Premiers.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1676, 20 February 1885, Page 2

Lecturing Premiers.

A year or two back, Major Atkinson, at that time Premier of the colony, tried a sort of political lecturing tour in the Middle Island, more especially with reference to his pet scheme “ compulsory thrift,” and a national system of life insurance. The gallant Major however quickly came to grief in his crusade, The Press and people carefully considered his compulsory insurance scheme, and ultimately declared dead against it. In short, the people of this colony emphatically declared that they would have nothing to do with a scheme which was unsound in principle, and subversive of public liberty m practice. Major Atkinson therefore quickly dropped his scheme, abandoned his lecturing and returned to Wellington to attend to his ordinary i Ministerial duties. Another Ministry is now in power and the Premier thereof, Mr Stout, has also taken to lecturing all over the colony. Mr Stout started with a speech on the general condition of public affairs, which was not of a sufficiently practical and informing character to give the people of the colony much satisfaction. Mr Stout should have supplied what was wanting by making one or two supplementary speeches of a plain matter of fact land, dealing with the leading political questions of the day. Instead of doing so, Mr Stout has been lecturing on all sorts of abstract questions, and dealing with every conceivable subject on earth. Mr Stout speaks well and delights his hearers as a lecturer. Nevertheless Mr Stout is not doing that work to which the colonists expect he will devote all his brains and energy. It is not the business of the Premier of the colony to turn peripatetic lecturer. He is urgently wanted to deal with the business of the country and the many important practical questions therewith, Mr Stout should drop lecturing and pay proper attention to his business as Premier. “Life is not all beer and skittles ” —no more is it all banqueting, speechifying and lecturing on things in general.