Correspondence.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 28, 10 November 1893, Page 19

Correspondence.

(We are uot respouoiUc lor tho opinions expressed by our Correspondent" ]

THE POLITICAL COMEDY.

TO THE EDITOB N.Z. TABLET.

Sib— lt is evident that in some parts of the Colony we are likely to have a plethora of Parliamentary aspirants. Judging from various newspaper report?, we have legions of heaven-born geniuses among u», who have hitherto wasted their sweetness on the desert air lacking the suitable opportunities to enlighten their fellows as to the latest and beat means of caving the worid in general and our own little corner of it in paiticular. Now their opportunity has come, and in the general rush and scramble that is likely to ensue (in these dull times) for a three years' job, plus £240 a year, all the indications point to a plenteous supply of patriot?, generally of the usual character, and all prepared to sacrifice themselves on the altar of their countTy for the modest remuneration noted above, and their changes of any odd scraps thrown to them from the Ministerial table. To those who love the country they live in, having a deep interest in its welfare and prosperity, and something of a stake in it beyond a carpet bag wth two shirts and an assortment of paper collars, it is but a sorry spectacle to note the class of men who rush into the political arena cere, and poae as the saviours of the community. And their utterances and speeches, as they are called ; oh, how can you describe them ? They are generally fearful and wonderful concoctions, like a rambling tale told by an idiot, all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Neither knowledge of political economy, argument, logic or common-sense being di6cernable in the faiatest degree in many of them. Such is about the general stamp of our politicians iv this 19th century in Npw Zjaland. The usual formula is to rave about John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Henry George, Bob Ingersoll, and other advanced thinkers (I believe that is the correct phrase;, with frequent pathetic references to the unborn generations, and the unearned increment, not forgetting yells of indignation tgaiust capital and the bloated owner thereof. If sufficiently accomplished on these various pointp, and able to blow iheir own trumpet with a pair of leather lungs equal in capacity to that of a piper's windbag, and carrying with them a front of brass, tell me what more is n quired in our pollticians, or what more do we get 1 A man properly gifted with these various accomplishments, is he not according to our notion of the eternul fitness of thing?, a born legislator, formed specially to lead and command ? And gieat shall be his reward. A few nights ago a couple of our brilliant and gifted city membeis were safely delivered in the City Hall, after immense effort?, of their usual burden of political prodigies aad wonderful creations, they hal brought forth (amid many groanings) with a view to the salvation of the Colony. Both speeches ran like a coaple of crudely canned stone?, told by two ancient grandmotherly ladies;; neither common-sense, wit, nor humour in «ither of them. One of the speakers hid knowledge enough to say as little as possible, and all in vague geaerali.ic. neither point nor detail in it from fiist to last, aud m this he showed some glimmering of sense, for where the mind is a complete tabula ra,sa as to political matters, the less detail ventured on the better, M- sutor ultra creptdam. The other speaker, as befits the man, is a complete spjeimen of the unctujus, garrulous twaddler, a la Pecksniff, aod hia advice to the ladies, with its covert inuendo, to elect oaly men of moral character and sound standing on the Rialto reminds me of the story of the Pharisee who went into the temple to pray, and think >d the Lord he was not a sinner, like the poor publican, who in a humble attitude etojd behind him, but waaa good man who gave to the poor, and paid his shot when it was due. This speaker being a Scotchman, and a great admirer of the national poet Burns, n ) doubt sucked m his first Pharasaical lesson, from Holy WillL's prayer, an i it haß left a lasting impression on his mind as a woithy model tc follow in these matters. In strong contrast to this miserable slush of diehwater comes the speech of theHon J. Mackenzie, delivered at Naseby, and, notwithstanding all the abuse levelled at htm by the Press hcie and elsewhere in this Colony, be appears to make out a very faircise for his Government. His speech is bold and manly, as bih'ts a Mackenzie of that nk, and he throws down his gage of battle without reservation against all comers. What a deluge of ponderous claptrap we may look for in reply »to the Hon lan Mor Mackenzie. With some of his legislative efforts I eouli not agree, but I firmly believe he is thoroughly honest and earnest in his desir<B and aspirations to do the beat he can for the Colony in the position he occupies. And I will add this, that no Minister of Lands during my 85 ye.rs experience in this Colony has dealt such fatal blows at land rings and big money-lending concerns which infest thes3 parts, as this gentleman has done. Ho who runs may read, and they will understand the reason of the abuse so lavishly heaped on his head by certain newspapeis. It ia very easy co explain how he in particular of all the members of the Ministry is so often pilloried in the Otago Dally Times and other papers of that clasa, It is well known why it is

done and in what interest. It is not merely a question of one candidate against another for the Waihemo district. Oh, no, it is a question of far larger import than that. It is a question of getting rid of the Hon J. Mackenzie in the interests of large money-lending instiluiionf, land syndicates and companies whose business he has ruined and whose land securities he has depreciated by at least fifty per cent through bis general reduction in values of unsold lands and Government leaseholds etc., and the various ea9y terms of acquiring Government lands. I know exactly what I am writing about, and, without the slightest hesitation, I know this to be the festering sore that rankles against the Mackenzie, and no etone will be left unturned to put a stop to his career if at all possible. It is true the Hon J. Mackenzie did not initiate this general reduction in Government land values. This was commenced by the late Atkinson Government, who, on attempting to pass their first Bill for the relief of the rack-rented settlers of the Colony, were met by precisely the same opposition and from the same quarter as the Hon J. Mackenzie has now to contend with— that is, the monied and lauded interest as represented by the Otago Daily Times and the Evening Star newspapers, both of which, in a particularly virulent manner, attacked the Ministry ol the day for proposing to pass such a measure, and so wrought the oracle as to have it defeated in the Upper House. As a general rule no question of patriotism or the general good of a struggling community ever inspires the lucubrations of either of these papers in political matters, the sole end and aim being self and party, and it has become a question of life or death with that party to stifle at once the Hon J. Mackenzie. In a very short time the saturnalia of a general election will be with üb, when the variousu s patriots will be largely in evidence at the street corners and elsewhere, each bawling out the merits of his latest patented nostrums, warranted to save society from further dilapidation, and to perfect all unborn generations both here and elsewhere. For do wo not lead the world in ideas and fads of all imaginary classoa and colours? And are not the eyes of all mankind, and womankind also for that matter, fixed on us with tremulous admiration, waiting anxiously for the latest grand specimens of flapdoodle our multitude of political quacks may give to an admiring world? Specimens of the Codhn and Short order will be as numerous at all street crossingsjshortly as ever were bramble berriea in a Scotch hedgerow in summer. And, to complicate the position still more, wo will have in this elec ion a no* and unusual element, that is the poli iciaa io petticoits th s newly enfranchised ladies of New Zealand, God bless them. I owe them no particular grudge. They are a necess.ry evil, and it appears we cannot we'l do without them somehow or other. I have no desire to pose as adviser to the ladies of this Colony as to the disposal of the new power placed in their hands, but I earnestly hope that the many thousands of good well living earnest Protestant women of this country who are wives and mothers, will do their utmost to secure for their children at least some semblance of a Christian education in the public schools of the Colony, which under the present system are a disgrace to any country callmg itself Christian, — 1 am, etc , H. C. McCobmick. [Our readers will understand that by the publication of this letter we do nothing towards pledging ourselves to support the candidature of the lion J. McK'dz c. Where the Catholic claim ia concern? dhe also is our determined opponent.— Ed. N.Z. Tablet.]