The Wanganui Herald. (PUBLISHED DAILY) FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1884. MR WAKEFIELD'S SPEECH.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 5488, 5 December 1884, Page 2

The Wanganui Herald. (PUBLISHED DAILY) FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1884. MR WAKEFIELD'S SPEECH.

Turn hon and versatile member for Selwyn has been about the first to meet his constituents and render an account of his stewardship since the close of the session. Mr Wakefield met a partly hostile assemblage but by his undoubted oratorical powers completely disarmed their opposition and got the coveted vote of thanks and confidence. We have no doubt but that he told his story as only the member for Selwyn could, and that he made the worse appear the better with a skill all his own, but however he may have succeeded in carrying his audience with him by his undoubtedly fine speaking, lie has failed to do so outside of that narrow circle, as a calm examination of his speech as printed shows the old, old, glossing over of ugly facts and unblushing distortion of everything that could be turned to his disadvantage. It is no part of our purpose to follow Mr Wakefield through his clever but misleading speech at Leeston the other evening as the only part of it we have either space or leisure to devote to it, is that in which Mr Wakefield denounces Sir Julius Vogel's sinking fund abolition scheme, which the member for Selwyn glibly dubs as living on our capital. Now what does Mr Wakefield mean by this, are we to lock; up the proceeds of the loans and pay interest and sinking fund until the colony is bankrupt, or does he mean that it is good political economy for the present overtaxed colonists to go on paying not only interest but principal, at a time when they are actually borrowing fresh loans every year for public works and other purposes from which not this generation or the next will get the full benefit, but those who come after us in another fifty or sixty years. Mr Wakefield perhaps thinks we ought not only to reclaim the soil from the wilderness and bring it into a high state of cultivation, but that we should build up a mansion, so to speak, of the handsomest proportions, and have it superbly furnished as a free gift to our descendants, and in order to do so should squeeze the credit and resources of the colony to the last drop. That may be very good from a Wakefieldian point of view, as he owes much to his ancestry, but the bulk of us have had to make our own way in life, and see no necessity for putting our descendants in a position that would eventually cause their ruin, for does not all history tell us that what one generation hoards and gathers another will squander? With respect to the sinking fund

[ system, every financial expert of any note has declared it to be a clumsy and dangerous expedient for the repayment of loans, as it really means a ruinous rate of interest, and so cripples any body corporate or Government that is foolish enough to adopt it, as to bring about a similar state of things to that now existing in this tax-burdened colony. Why should we pay off loans borrowed and spent on works and purposes the good effects of which may possibly not be properly felt until our time has passed and our successors are in possession : is it too much to ask them to bear a fair share of the burden, coneidering the grain they will reap from our exertions on their behalf? Mr Wakefield may be a very clever taking public speaker, but he certainly does talk great nonsense at times, and evidently does so to carry the applause of the unthinking, whose ears he adroitly tickles, with high sounding phrases and nicely rounded sentences, which sound well but mean nothing. When he is making one of tbjese speeches he ought to get the reporters to retire, as it spoils them utterly to subject them to the strong light of day in the columns of a newspaper, and causes their utterer to be looked upon by thinking men as a mere speaker of sweet words of infantile inconsequence' and want of sense. That Mr Wakefield can do better, those who know best make no doubt, and all we can say is, the sooner he leaves off speaking when he has nothing to say, and only rises when he has a well-digested and thought-out speech in his mind, the better it would be for his reputation as a would-be statesman of so good a stock as the hon. member for Selwyn.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Friendly Societies Picnic Committee will be held in the Oddfellows' lodge-room this even* ing at 8 o'clock.

The regulations for the formation of special settlements are gazetted. The committee for the Industrial Jixhibition. are also gazetted, and number 100.

The nominations for the election of the Government Insurance Association Board are fixed for the 20th December, and the election shortly after the Rew Year. Mr Wakefield having resigned the editorship of the Timaru Herald, has been succeeded by Mr W. H. Triggs, formerly of the Wellington Post.

The barquentine Waireka, Captain Johnson, with a full cargo of coal from Newcastle, crossed the Waitara bar on Wednesday evening in tow of the s.s. Waitara.

The half • yearly inspection of the Alexandra Cavalry takes place on the Racecourse to-morrow. It is expected that every member of the troop will be present on that occasion, so that the company may earn the full capitation.

The first professional medical examination in connection with the Otago University was held on Monday and Saturday last, when Mr William Christie, of Warepa, passed the various examinations, Mr Christie is the first medical student who haa paßeed a professional examination in this colony.

The contract for the conveyance of mails by direct steamer is for a period of five years. The contract time for the voyage is 42 days on the trip Home and 45 days outwards. The contract with the Union Steam Shipping Company for the distribution of the mails is not signed, but is expected to be in a day or two.

A typographical error in our notice of Meseors s trachan and Chaldicott's bottling establishment last evening made us say that *' carbolic acid gas " was mixed with the beer ; this was written and shouldhave appeared " carbonic acid gas," which is the gas used in the production of all aerated waters and beverages.

The Dunedin Herald says : — " We understand that it is the intention of the Government to place the charitable institutions of all parts of the colony on the same footing, as far as State aid is concerned, as those of Dunedin. That is, each is to receive a pound from the Government for each pound raised locally."

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Fire Brigade was held last evening in the station. Foreman Thurlow occupied the chair, the captain and lieutenant being absent. After a new member had been proposed, and the resignation of a member accepted, a discussion took place as to the arrangements required for the New Year's Eve torchlight procession ; a committee was appointed to consist of Capt Cummins,Lieut Spurdle.Foreman Sharpe, and Firemen Hogg and Powell. The team question then oame up, and it was decided that their expenses should be paid, and a committee was appointed to collect subscriptions for that purpose. The committee appointed consisted of the Captain, Lieutenant, and Firemen Eeesing, Hughes, and Hogg.

The Waitara correspondent of the Taranaki News gires the following particulars relating to the Native Minister's visit : — It waa intended to get up a dinner in honor of the Native Minister, but, unfortunately, he had to leave for New Plymouth during the afternoon, so a luncheon was substituted, which, considering the inconvenient hour, was well attended. Mr Ballance, in the course of his remarks on the opening up of the Waihi Block, said that questions of that nature were comparatively easy of settlement. It was the question of opening up the lands further inland, that required expensive roads to them, that were the more difficult to solve; that, though the Government could do a great deal, he thought more power would have to be placed iv the hands of the Road Boards ; and that without their earnest cooperation the Government could do comparatively little. He expressed himself well pleased with the improvements to the tiver, and the more prosperous looks of the place since he was last here.

During the summer season last year open air concerts were often given by one or other of the local brass bands, and the public generally attended in large numbers, thus showing their appreciation of the efforts on the part of the bands to give them some pleasure and amusement. This season Bandmaster King, of the Wanganui Rifles' Volunteer Band, is to the fore, and to-night ho will render a lull programme in Cook's Gardens, commencing at 7 o'clock. There is one word we would like to add, and it is this : that it is to be hoped that the police will prevent the larrikins from making the night hideous with their noises. The programme is : — 1, Quick march, "A life on the deep blue sea," T. Wadson; 2. Slow march, "On guard," J. Robinson; 3. Quadrille, "Joyous friends," R. Smith; 4. Selection, "lolanthe," A. Sullivan; 5. Waltz, "Still thine own," Metcalfe ; 6. Fantasia, " Field of the Cloth of Gold," Victor Boat ; 7. Schottishe, "Christiana," J. Robinson; 8. Selection "London echoes," R. Smith; 9. Galop, "The Soudan," J. R. Tidswellj God save the Queen,

v Silver Pen," the American correspondent of the New Zealand Herald, is responsible for the following, which, if true, is, as the writer says, M a miracle ":— Miss Spry, known to some friends of mine in Chicago, lived for fifteen years as a girl. She went to school, and was beloved by all other girls, who, however, thought her rather masculine; and, when a little down appeared on her upper lip, and her voice altered in tone, she was sent home to her mother, with whom she confided. A doctor was called in, and Miss Spry was pronounced a boy. . Her se? had changed with years, and, though the Eastern faculty are confounded over the strange discovery, yet they affirm it is true, and a most interesting case. So Miss Spry has donned a boy's suit, gone to college, and taken to her new sex aB a duck does to a pond. I don't believe one word of itmyself ? but my friend cays it is gospel true, and ah.c knows the female-male,