A DECOY DUCK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 32, 8 December 1893, Page 16

A DECOY DUCK.

$||SS|jL Vi:RyoNE knows how useful a decoy duck is to (lipS 81 sportsmen who wish to make a slaughter of 'iWMMf unsuspecting wild ducks. But the use to which %£S||£ the decoy duck is put is not very honourable to 7>jA£& the decoy itself, nor honest on the part of the flfifM; sportsmen ; and it may be assumed that the cy decoy duck, had it reason, would resent the uses to which it is put. These thoughts have been suggested to us by certain manoeuvres at present going on in some political circles. The' last general election has resulted in an overwhelming msjority tor the Liberal party, and the utter rout of the old Conservatives. In this extremity, some at least of the latter have bethought themselves of the device of th c

decoy duck in order to retrieve their fallen fortunes. These have pitched upon Sir Robert Stout as the fit and proper instrument of their astute diplomacy. It is thought that if they could only inanimate him, he could be made tho means of dividing the Libeial majority, anJ thus by the aid of the weak-knetd whom he might influence, could gain sufficient numbers from recreant Liberals to raise their miserable minority to respectable dimensions, and put life into the scattered members of the old Opposition. This accounts for the large number of Tory voters who so efficaciously helped Sir Robert bToar to head the poll in Wellington. He is set up as a rival to the Premier, Mr Seddon, as may be seen from the silly and frantic endeavours of tho Wellington Evening Post to elevate the former on the plea that he is legitimate heir by will of the late Premier, Mr Ballance, and to decry and depress the latter as an impostor and pretender to this heirship. The articles of the Post on this subject are absurd and ridiculous, and if it can say nothing else against the present Premier, he is not likely to be much injured by the opposition and censure of the Post. But the question for all Liberals to consider is, how far Sir Robert Stout is responsible for the immense amount of support accorded to him by the Tories of Wellington. Of course, if he were a party to their conspiracy he stands discredited for ever— either as a Liberal or an honourable man. Bewildered Liberals are now greatly exercised over this question, and they remember how, after Sir Robert had been returned for Inangahua as a Government supporter, and mainly through their instrumentality, as the result of the Ute election clearly shows, the first use he made in the House of Representatives of the favour they bestowed upon him was to make a fierce effort to upset them. It is well known that Sir Robert Stout has the conceit to regard himself aB the natural and legitimate l<ader of the Liberal party. Indeed, he lately publicly expressed himself to this effect, saying that after bir G. Grey, no man had done so much to form the Liberal party as himself. It would have been more becoming if he had left it to another to say this. Bat Sir Robert, it appears, is determined that his light shall not be put under a bushel, and it is no stretch of imagination to affirm that he is greatly disappointed. Mr Seddon, in recognition of his supreme merits, does not step down from his hardly-won pedestal and allow him who is, in his own estimation, the great creator of our Liberal party, to take his place upon it Developments of no little interest may be looked for before long, and people will be curious to know whether vanity has co blinded the Liberal knight as to prevent him from perceiving how the Tory party is endeavouring to make a decoy duck of him for the purpose of dividing the Liberal party. We perceive that the two Dunedin papers would evidently be glad that Sir Robert should allow himself to fall into the trap laid for him. But whether this desire on their part arises from a wish to see him degraded in public estimation, or because they fancy such a fall would help their own party, we, of course, are unable to decide, though it is quite impossible to understand how treachery and back-sliding could help any party.