Wanganui Herald. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1879.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XII, Issue 9430, 27 May 1879, Page 2

Wanganui Herald. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1879.

Mr. Fox's last political speech seems to have had ihe pronounced effect of making the judicious grieve in proportion as it made the " unskilful" laugh. He pronounced his doom on the occasion too emphatically for his boon companions, the McMinns, to retrieve. The scurrility which might have been pardoned in a larrikin penny-a-liner ill becomes a grey-haired politician — a grandfather in politics. The whole thing is inconceivably sad. An expremier donning the garb of a buffoon, and, when exposed, finding no more worthy defender than the person whose history was recently delineated in that graphic article of the Wellington Chronicle, to which Councillor Willis has opportunely drawn attention, The Arcadian pair seem to revel in each other's sweet embraces. And thus we might safely leave the holy alliance. Poor Fox lor poor Wanganui ! Was his speech the best thing he could produce ; and did he think it would improve his sinking reputation ? Or, did he really imagine the people of Wanganui were so utterly stupid and ignorant as to be satisfied under the infliction ? His answer to Mr Willis was a piece of unprovoked insolence, and an insult to the audience, which it at once resented. Looking at the speech as a whole, it is no exaggeration to say that the facts were false, the wit turgid, and the tone degraded. While delicate and complex negotiations between the Government and the King natives were actually in progress, the man who poses as a statesman was attempting to cast ridicule on the Premier and the Native Minister, though conscious that every word he uttered on the subject would the next day be carefully conveyed to the, King party by the ring of Pakeha-Maoris at Kopua. The natural effect of his language would be to encourage the King in his preposterous demands, and to render still more difficult any attempt to solve the problem of a satisfactory basis of settlement. To say that the King had been put on bis legs again was at least to assure this potentate that the Government were weak and would have to yield to his terms. It matters not whether the statement was true or false — it was equally unpatriotic and reprehensible. No true-hearted colonist would have so far committed himself by injuring the colony, and no man of ordinary judgment would have made so palpable a blunder in his own interest. But the statement has proved as false as it is malicious. The King has not been placed on his legs again. The truth is that he has been utterly isolated, and has no other alternative in his present position than to accept the benevolence of his protector Rewi, whose friendliness to the Government has been proved, and whose alliance means that of the powerful Ngatimaniapoto and Ngatiraukama tribes. While tbe member for Wanganui was indulging his buffoonery at tbe expense of the representatives of the colony, he was venturing on a prophecy which was soon to prove his folly. He told his falsehoods about the Hinemoa and the Civil Servants, exposed his ignorance of the financial condition of the colony, and stultified himself over the Beer Bill.

On the latter point the honorable gentleman has as much to answer for to his conscienco as he has to his constituents. There is a story going the rounds that when the proposal was first made to pub a tax of 6s 6d a hogshead on beer, the great teetotaller cried out, " Make it a pound, make it a pound " ! He told the meeting he objected to the Beer Tax because it was making the Government dependent on the industry. But he gave his approval to the Distillation Bill introduced by Sir Julius Yogel. He strongly approved the Government connection with whisky, but disapproved any relation with beer, In the House, one position he took up was that beer was a necessary to the working man. We give this part of Mr Fox's speech from Hansard in order that he may not complain of miscon^

' struction, — for he shows some ingenuity in throwing dust in the eyes of the public. Thus :—: — " Another objection I have to the tax is this : It is most undoubtedly a tax upon industry. Hon Members,— No. Mr Fox, — Surely a tax upon a production ' of the country — beer—upon the homo brewed beer of the .country is a tax upon industry. Beer does not make itself : it has to be" made with a certain amounb-of labour, although how many things they do to it Ido not know. More than that, it is a tax upon what some people hold it to be a luxury of the working man. . We were to have a|da pound taken off sugar and some trine off tea, and there was to be a free breakfast table. Well a great many ,working*noen do not care anything about breakfast ; they take a snack and a glass of beer at the first place they come to. So much is taken off, and just about the same amount is put on their shoulders on an article) which they consider, rightly or wrongly 1 , a necessary of life. I think these are quite sufficiently valid reasons for objeo;ting to, the beer tax; and every person oari see how little reason there is in it. Why should a tax be put upon beer ? The only reason is that it is a luxury ; but the working man regards it as a necessary. Nine out of ten_ of them will tell you that beer is necesjaary. So they are putting a tax upon whatj -from,. the working-man's point of view, is a necessary, and upon an industry of the country. ' \ The whole point of this argument is that the working man was made to conjsider" beer a necessarj, in opposition t6 the contention of the Colonial Treasurer that it was partly of the nature, of ; a luxury, Now, it is clear that to supr port Mr Fox's case, it was not what th 6 working man thought it, but what My Fox thought it. He cannot shelter himself behind what the working man was supposed to believe as to the necessity of beer ; for his own avowed theory •was and is that the working man was i wrong in his belief. Mr Fox believed it was not only not a necessary, but a positive injury, and his friend the oppressed beer drinker's opinion does not make his excuse the less disingenuous. But we shall test his sincerity by his conduct in other respects. Why did he not on the same principle oppose the increase of duty on champagne, as to which he was silent and contented ? Here the Government was further " linking itself to iniquity," and Mr Fox was a consenting party. It is to be feared the honorable gentleman's hairi splitting excuses will not save him from the contempt due to prevarication and political dishonesty. The reduction of the duty on Australian wine placed him in another dilemma which he has to explain. This reduction was made ostensibly to promote consumption. It is said it has had the desired effect ; yet Mr Fox was silent on this question also, though his principles were imperilled. Thus deeper and deeper he gets into the^mire. To sum up, he voted against the Beer Bill because beer was a Colonial industry ; yet he consented to the repeal, of the Distillation Act, and so crushed a flourishing Colanial industry. . He assisted to destroy the proposed beer tax, because the working man thought' beer a necessary, while he himself denied ife was a necessary. He assisted to kill the Bill because it " linked the Government with iniquity," while he supported the passing of an Act for promoting distilleries in the Colony — in other words he " linked " himself with whisky, but prevented another Government from' linking itself with beer. He voted against an increase of taxation on beer because it tended to make the finances " dependent upon the consumption of intoxicating liquors," vet he gave his consent to an increase of taxation upon champagne, and thus far made the Government dependent upon the consumption of intoxicating liquors! He opposed the beer tax which was calculated to limit the consumption of an intoxicating' liquor, and supported in the wine duty a reduction openly made to increase the consumption of another intoxicating liquor. This exploded and effete politician in avoiding Scylla is wrecked on Charybdis. The motive of his conduct can without much difficulty be divined. Bis antipathy to the (government led him into all kinds of false positions, and as he was ready at a moment's notice to " hold the candle to the devil " at the instigation of any member of the party with which he was associated, he was ever the willing tool from the violence of his hatred. His laughable inconsistencies thus follow from the facility with which his passions were played off during the eventful session which has diverted him of every shred of a reputation worth the naming.

'That long suffering martyr, the Eev Mr Ross, will have a chance to-morrow of raising his " Voice from the country " in another place besides that of the columns of our contemporary. At the last meeting of the Education Board Mr Ross bemoaned in accents of patient endurance, the hard lot to which his enforced silence had hitherto condemned him amidst the bitter sneers which falsehood had propagated and malice tried to foster. Mr Rosa might have recollected that the experience of the select audience he was addressing had not often reason to complain of being afflicted by his silence. Had he thought of some of those tiresome speeches in which he is perpetually fizzing at the Board, and to which its members would gladly turn a deaf ear, h« might have been more comfortably reconciled to the solitary instance in which he had been called upon to play the part of a dummy. The humanizing spectacle of priests clothed with righteous, ness, despising the grovelling measure of earth and aspiring to things eternal is sadly marred by grumbles at the cruel suspicions of heartless men. Mr Ross has carried hie brave contempt of what he is pleased to esteem unwarranted reflections upon his innocent and honorable association with the award of the Board Scholarships, to a length that his friends greatly admire. We trust he will not be seduced into such ill-natured resentment as will spoil its' self sacrificing character. We cast no imputations on the impartiality of the examiner. But in future examinations we hope to see the example followed that is set by other Education Boards. We need not enlarge upon the superior facilities of such large towns as Chiistchurch, Wellington, or Dunedin for making suitable arrangements for the appointment of ezauiiuers. In places now nearly corresponding in size to Wanganui, — Timaru and Nelson for instance, four or five gentlemen, other than the

members of the Education Board are associated with the Inspector for the important purposes of the scholarship examinations. In such a Board the public has more confidence than^ in the ipse dixit of an irresponsible official who furnishes only a mere statement of the result which his uncontrolled method of examination has induced him to arrive at. But the point of contest now is not what -is-best to be done for the future, but what was right to have been done in the past. A dispute has been raised regarding the claim of the son of the Rev Mr Boss.to obtain a scholarship grant, and Mr Boss is not likely to yield on a question where nothing more than adoiibt is entertained. We shall do no injustice to Mr Ross' courage when we include him in the class described in Butler's Hudibras ;— : " That valiant crew Of stubborn saints, whom all men grant To be the true Shuroh militant.

Our judgment of the merits of the Boss acho|arahip .wil} be controlled' by the prosiac standard of right, and wrong. The Board entrusted the examination for the scholarship to Mr Foulis., lie pronounced that young Boss was the best of 'the'eandidates, and hi&judgmenti is* without appeal. The only question to be decided is whether the boy was qualified by attendance afcjtf public school and previous examination to be a candidate ait; all. The; .'regulations 5 approved by the Education Department require that the candidate' shaUjat a previous examination, have gained a certain minimum number of marks- t -120. Now, as the examination was limited toboya under JO years of age, and Mr f Eoulis' does / not assign marks to the- lower standards, there may; be some little intricacy' here. It may be necessary to determine how many marks are to represent the equivalent of one red cross. If these contortions of the rules cannot be arranged, it may be attempted) to show that Boss does not come under these restrictions— that he was not made* for the regulations, j nor the regulations for him. We have heard something hinted about a resolution which. Mr Boss helped to pass, as a member of the Board which clearly supersedes the laws of the Governor in Council. If the rules referred to really have such an elasticity we hope they will soon be. tightened. Another point of difference of opinion may be as to what measure of attendance a number of attendances is requisite in the case of a candidate for a shcolarship. It is not pretended we believe that tbeboy Boss went to a public school for more than half a day on any one day. It might easily be seen that if this is no obstacle, a boy might by a judicious distribution of his time, and the serviceable use of his railr ►way pass, transfer his patronage to the benches of two or three different schools, so as to comply with the pre-requisites for obtaining two or three different i scholarships, on the ground of being two or three individuals attending two or three distinct pchools. The objections urged are grounded u^on an alleged infringement of regulations framed to check abuses in, the administration of grants of public money ; and it is to be hoped that the Board will enunciate some sound principle .of interpreting the rules tor scholarships for future guidance. If young Boss is entitled to the scholarship, let him keep it. We have seen nothing yet to incline us to the opinion that he can prefer . any substantial claim to it, and, we therefore lodge our caveat by anticipation. ' - ' • ' • .

• '.-,■■ - ' :f ' ' Caglioni Antonio was yesterday committed: for trial at the next District Court for smashing several windows of the Court House some two or three weeks ago, and meanwhile he will have time to reflect on the old adage that " Who breaks, pays." It will be by the evidence, which we publishin another column, thab there was no ground' whatever for the plea of insanity, and the' case is worth studying for the unique manner in which the wrathful Italian wreaked , his vengeance on a public which -had not been' able to provide his modest requirements of; " a good roof to cover him, plenty to eat, andj nothing to do," '

Wanganui is again distinguished by the prowesi Of its champions in the football field, and we think that we have discovered the; reason. On- looking through the list of ; players, we find the names of P. Smith, W. Smith, C. Smith, and a "half-back" Smith., We do not know by what anatomical freak the latter is so called, but it is no wonder that, with so many muscular knights of the anvil in its ranks, the Wanganui team has so successfully hammered its rivals.

The annual public meeting of the Wangann Benevolent Society will be held the Rutland Chambers to-night (Tuesday). The annual report and balance sheet will be presented, ' and the officers eleoted.

A crowded house greeted the seoond entertainment given in aid of the Volunteer Drill Hall. A good programme had been provided, and the audience testified by their hearty applause how much they appreciated the efforts of the several ladies and gentlemen who had given their services. The next meeting of the Wanganu' Teacher's Association will be heid in the High School, Wanganui, on Saturday next. ;' The Lioenaing Court will be held on the 3rd June, at noon, for the Wanganui and Kai Iwi districts. The only new applications are by J, b. Capstiok for the Railway Hotel. Taupo Quay, and Hugh Ross, Provincial Hotel, Ridgway Street; Thomas Poole applies for a license for the Maxwell Hotel, and James Anthony applies for a transfer of his license to Thomas Poole. '

The list for the District Court is an extremely light one, there being only two cases at present, viz., E. Tolly for larceny of five bolts of canvass, and 0. Antonio (committee! yesterday) for malicious damage to Court-house. ■ The following complimentary letter has been reoeived by Mr P. E. Reynolds from the Right Rev. the Bishop of Nelson,, in reference to the fine collection of pictures now on view in Wellington 2 — " Sir — I am sometimes aßked for testimonials which I have some difficulty in granting, in reference to books, exhibits, and qualifications. -" You have not asked me for one, but if itwillbe of any use to you, I write to say that I consider the coming of your collection to the colony of 'New Zealand a great boon. The collection 1 , so far as I saw it, was of a remarkably excellent character, in the best taste, pure, and decent. There *is so much poor stuff imported into the colonies and sold cheaply, that it makes a person think the necessary price for good engravings and pictures rather high. But your customers may be sure they are having what is worth paying for. You ought to be encouraged for bringing within our reach works which have but recently been looked at with admiration fttHome. Notwithstanding the monetary difficulties of Wellington, there must be many who can afford a good picture, and I should be very sorry, to hear that you left New Zealand with any large number of your valua'ble'collection unsold . If you think my recommendation of any use to you, you are welcome to make such use of it as you think best. Wishing you every success in the interests of art and education,— lam, &o-, A. B. Nelson."

Mr John James, Taupo Quay, will tomorrow sell I>7 public auction (per Mr A. Barns) a large quantity of furniture, amongst which Borne good' bargains- are to be found. The sale will commence at 11 a.m.