The Wanganui Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1879.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XII, Issue 9415, 9 May 1879, Page 2

The Wanganui Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1879.

The Hon. t Wl ll E6s;- ( ha:B;l6ng.p>s¥e"d ! the [meridian of public and political fame, jand had he retired a few years ago hejwould have escaped the mortification of jbrfng^made by turns the catspaw.pf wqrWs, arid: the'generarutility , $M '%f I( Wg^ling'',advehturersi o to [which superior intelligence has consigned him . His speech last night had jail the igerson^l jbatterqess of a philUpic,lajtt^xSPCQ^sM' as t j<i ; was , in raising the laughter of his audience^ ,■ who j ; all through were more amused than impressed, it must be admitted, that as a pbliticW addr^s^, . from .an ex^brienced Hst^tesmahi" as he loves to call h^niself/ |it was a sorry exhibition. He" leered' land grimaced, twisted and twirled with feuch.gr^cility of , movement, .winked his 'eye^ and .'cocked his head, with the -effect jof amusing his audience as much as if jthey were gazing at the " star " from a .troupe of strolling acrobats. Indeed, iAi -ekperience' as? a "'globe trotter " must 'have' given him' lai-ge' bppoftunijties of studying this interesting class of human. character, ,and his own inclina-. jfcions'h.ave evidently prompted him to repeat a .very close imitation of, the circus clown. It is a pleasing contrast in the House to turn from the low icoinedian style of Mr Fox to the calm, Signified manner of the Premier. Mr !Fox's sallies of wit 'are more shining than solid, and are sadly shorn of their lustre, when used, in the presence of Sir, George Grey, who repels .them in the House with xeprisajs, of scorn, defiance, and disdain, hurled with an eloquent force, of which he is so accomplished a master. On such occasions our junior member is cowed and silent, and presents ' that mournful ' spectacle of a "done to -death politician " that he pourtrayed so successfully on the stage last night. He divided his BpeecH into three Heads, and mingled his condemnation of the Government policy with lavish abuse of the Ministers. He labored hard to prove that the three financial measures enunciated by the Treasurer should have been : treated as a whole, and that the loss of ,one, should have brought about either a 'resl^n'at.ion or a . dissolution. He accused' the Treasurer of putting a tax "on land and dropping the compensating taxes on beer and companies, which were drafted so as to avoid the charge of levying what might.be ternied a vin-. dictive tax if charged against land alone. This was a heavy iitem on^ the indictment against the Treasurer, preferred in the classical language' of Mr Fox, in which " political tyro " and ." hobbledehoy financier" found a place. But why were the compensating taxes dropped ? Because Mr Fox sacrificed his consistency, treated with disdain an honest; attempt to equalize the incidence of taxation, and to secure a party triumph, and the downfall of the men he personally hated, voted against the very measures that he blames the Treasurer for dropping. When taxed with hp inconsistency, and forced into a corner, by a constituent,, who very admirably tore away the mask of flip.pancy that the member put on, be says, " Why should I not have voted against ;the Beer Bill. Was I going to help the Government to equalise the taxation?" There showed the cloven foot. 1 was the welfare . of the country to Mr ,;Fox ,iri .comparison, to defeating iiis opponent? He told .the story of, his vote against the Beer Bill in a hazy, disjointed, and contradictory manner, in the first' place showing a readiness .to sacrifice his declared principles to the stratagems „of parliamentary, warfare, 'and in the next breath making bis teetotal proclivities the cloak for his poli■tical sins. , There are.m,any other points in the hon. gentleman's address which will bear pomment as opportunity offers.

\ Mr Fox's speech was intensely amusing. .The pathetic picture he drew of the poor sick Marchionesscompelled to travel iv a "common passenger steamer," iri a "confined cabin," beoause the Premier would not sanction the use of the, Hinemoa was ajmost ,enoughi to soften the heart of a stone. Mr Fox modulated his voice to the ; tones of exquisite tenderness; the enormity - bf refusing a real live Marquis any boon he was asking, and the fearful hardships, resulting almost in death, that was suffered in consequence, and here the solemnity, of Mr Fox's voice and visage was positively painful, were told With all the tricks of the experienced .orator — and aotor; ' Shorn of the sickly sentiment that surrounded the story the facts are simple^ The Marquis of Normanby with his lady travelled from this Colony to Victoria in the steamer Eingarooma, probably the very bast steamer to'be found in Australian waters. The " confined cabins" and the danger to the health of the Marchioneps is nothing 1 but " twaddle" pure and simple.- '■■ '•'' "r" r " ' ■ ' On Monday '• last »&t ! "Wellington, 11 'William Hamilton Ininan was charged with .having, 6n 22nd March. las,r, obtained, a,s,um,of *J,los from Sylvestey' .C6lman f at Palmerston North, by mean's of'fajse pretences.. s He was also charged with 'having on tbe r same J aate Obtained £l«Sfe by. ialsV pretences fcom'J.'O. Batohelar at Palmereton,;^o|'fch. He was remanded tqPalmereton." «j v « ,. r [ • , Sottjtejidea^oi the value of the utterances of the Hob. \ ffi, , F.ox, when jpn.the iplatform before his constituents may be gathered from followpD[g.?/ f Peferringdiqtn,e f ; iqueßtion of the ; r,edji?tribntion ,of '^a^s -he, [payl;:-^* J^ook - at' Tarahaki. tt' has ( jttoee members, while Wanganui has only tTroiye^Taranaki is not half so populous' as Wang^adui ." We are not going to advocate the 'right 1 "of Taranaki to have three members, but yrhzn a public man is before his constituents it is only'reasbnable * , to expect, '^hatjhe .will hftve regard for, the ; truth/ According to the last .census return.

v the,popalation of the three electoral districts o#aranl|H>infnnted to 90t, whiie-Wanga-, ntt£hadW7.H6w Mr Fo£'managed |0. make 94i7 thl>half p'fi72fo7 K woug!bern interesting, study fpi| thf :bhild|k of ? ithe ■'elemehtaryj fjj\ '-,'t*'^ -\-JjA N he lilt of Shooting licrasesr is'publishett for general information, 70 sportsmen have paid the neoessary fee* to the^. Acclimatization Society." ' * •" ■ ■"■""* f ■ -'- ■ 'The returnof an Opposition-candidate for ■ the G6leridga' ; eleoi6ial distriofc does' not 0-, turbjhs relative, rßtrengthr Btrength rt^the parties. The retiring member, Mr Wason, jwas 'an Opposition whip. The love felt by the junior member for Wanganui for the licensed victuallers of the Colony receive J full proof during his speech last night. He was referring to the Licensing Bill that w t as? Introduced iast-r sejsaidji, but ultimately withdrawn. He aauT:— "The organ of the licensed victuallers, the Sun, 'stated in commenting on the Bill, that if it became law it would ruin half the licensed tfietualletffl'ifc the Colony. You may be sure I rom this that the Bill pleased me greatly." Mr Fox states that any measure calculated #> ruitr a very large,, number ; of -men would give him great pleasure. The Kindness, the charity of such a feeling, is truly remarkable. Comment on the statement is unnecessary, jts intolerance is almost past belief., , . , „. Theiull details' of the pirating' of -tb^e fepe&aT London messages is given byHtfe 'Sydney^ agent of the federated evening journals of this Colony. The bogus cablegram concocted in Auckland and sent to Sydney like a marked flhilljng, wa.B nqt pub-/ lishadrjn the Sydney ' Evening News, but "printedon slips and plaoed in the way of the pimesV'who were hovering round waiting for the issue of the paper. The "marked shilling " was picked up greedily and cabled to New Zealand, and' t'here'fburid 1 iriUhepossession of the Association, Although the Pf ess. Agency had no hand in " conveyanc- ; ing" the message from Sydney, yet it ' annexed " it on arrival in this Colony, and sent it to its clients, our local contemporary , among. the number. The story about' the ' forgery' of the cypher was evidently raised to spoil' the scent, but the crime has been brought* home clean. The Manawatu Times says T— " According to the dictum of Mr Fitzhtebert, the' Crown' Prosecutor for the Wanganui District, neither lawyers or journalists are professional gentlemen. Indeed, we would not be astonished to learnf rom that erudite oracle that tt^e tabooed; professions have no gentlemen among their ranks, although the ruling is somewhat rough upon himself, seeing that Mr Fitzherbert is a magnate of one of the professions he rates so low. At a recent case heard in Wanganui, in which a barrister of, the Supreme Court and aijournalistwere brought sixty miles to give evidence, the Crown Prosecutor instructed the clerk of the court to pay each the minimum Bum of 5s per day ; and the worthy coadjutor of so worthy a master, a Mr Marshall, informed the astonished witnesses that neither the law or the Fourth Estate constituted a profession. What makes the case the* harder is that both gentlemen were not bound over to give evidence as to facts, but as experts to a document, the committing magistrate allowing, a guinea, and .specially^ marking the services on His memorandum as those, of an expert." , • On enquiry at the Post Office this after* noon we find that there is no word from Wellington as to when the > English, Mail will, ■ arrive here. ' * '