The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1883. The Truth of the Matter.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1016, 4 December 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1883. The Truth of the Matter.

Our contemporary the Mail in an article published this morning waxes very indignant over some alleged delinquencies on the part of the member for Ashburton in connection with the visit of the Minister for Public Works to Mount Somers yesterday. This is an old game of Mr Joseph Ivess, and when he wishes to blacken the character of Mr E. G. Wright he is not disposed to consider such a trifling matter as adhering to the truth. He lias, however, outstripped most of his previous efforts on this occasion, and has put together as many barefaced misstatements as could wellbecrammed into half a column of type. In telling a story, of course, a good deal depends upon the point of view taken by the' narrator, and when we know that the narrator in this instance is Mr Ivess, it need scarcely be said that every fact is perverted to suit his own private feelings. And a very pretty story it is ; but the moral attaching to it, when the real truth of the matter is disclosed, is not exactly what the member forWakanui would have the people of Ashburton suppose. According to the Mail, the proposed visit of Mr Mitchelson was intentionally kept a profound secret, and the readers are asked to believe that had not the lynx-eyed Ivess happened accidentally to he on the way to Christchurch by yesterday’s train some grievous wrong would have been done to the County by the Machiavellian Mr Wright, who was, this veracious chronicler hints, carefully shepherding the Minister for the purpose of persuading him to carry the Mount Somers line in some particular direction detrimental to the interests of the settlers. This is the plain English of the Mail's article, and those who know the tactics generally pursued by that journal will understand that no efforts are spared to convey a wrong impression of what took place. Mr Mitchelson, we aie told, responded to the expressed astonishment of Mr Ivess at the intended visit with the answer that he had communicated with Mr Wright, who, he expected, would have informed the settlers of the district, and the infernce is that the member for Ashburton purposely suppressed the information. Then again the assertion is made that the new Minister expressed a belief that the Royal Commission promised by his predecessor in office would be dispensed with, a remark which we are in a position to say was never uttered, as it is not likely that Mr Mitchelson would deliberately break a pledge made a few months back by Mr Johnston. We have given the gist of the Mail's lucubration, and if the facts existed anywhere but in the fertile imagination of the writer, we should be inclined to sympathise with his indignation. But, unfortunately for Mr Ivess, the facts of the case are quite otherwise from what our contemporary stated, and when we have given the plain truth it will he seen upon what a shadowy foundation this last exhibition of vindictive spleen on the part of the member for Wakanui rests.

First, as to the arrangements for the Minister’s visit being left in the hands of the member for Ashburton, we can give this a distinct and emphatic denial. Mr Wright was in Christchurch on Saturday, and the first intimation of a final decision on the matter being come to was contained in the public press, and he accordingly saw Mr Mitchelson on the subject, and was invited to meet that gentleman at Rakaia on the following Monday. Even had there been any necessity for Mr Wright to inform his constituents of the affair, time would have been wanting to have done so; but as a matter of fact there was absolutely .10 such necessity, as quite sufficient publicity had been given. As everybody knows, the new Minister for Public Works is at present making a flying journey through the South Island, for no other purpose than to cursorily inspect the various lines. It s no part of his intention to determine what routes particular railways will take, and had the notification, the absence of which the Mail so indignantly deprecates, been forthcoming, it is simply nonsense to suppose that Mr Mitchelson would have spent the few hours at his disposal in listening to evidence got together hastily. It pleases Mr Ivess, for reasons which are as deplorable at» they are obvious, to attempt to raise a false issue by deliberate misrepresentations, but it is not likely that the people of Ashburton will believe that their member would do anything so gross as to take advantage of a friendly invitation of the Minister to unfairly further his own ends. Then, again, we have the picture drawn by our contemporary, of the member for Wakanui happing by chance upon the discovery of what he pretends to consider a diabolical plot. What a grand opportunity this gives him to blow that trumpet of his ! Private business called upon him to go to Christchurch, but on the journey thither he determines to sacrifice himself to his public duty and frustrate the deep laid schemes of Mr Wright, and accordingly he attaches himself to the party at Methven. But why does he suppress the most dramatic part of the story ? Experience forbids us to put this down to modesty, and we must fall back on the supposition that he found his pen not graphic enough to do justice to the episode. Still, we are not inclined to let the light of Ivess be hid under a bushel, and will let the Wakahui constituency know what an energetic representative it has. Arrived at Methven, it is recorded, Mr Joseph Ivess lost no time in bestriding the steed provided for him, and dashing past his more quiet companions, he soon left the buggy containing the latter in the rear. What was the reason of this haste ? The ) member for Wakanui was hurrying to I

carry a flaming sword through the land of Alford Forest and Mount Somers. The arch-enemy of the settlers was coming, and if some effort was not made to defeat his plans, the Mount Sorr.ers line would be extended in the wrong direction. Away hied the gallant Ivess to the homestead of the trusty Macfarlane, there to be met with the doleful tidings that the man he sought was absent. This was, however, not a time to spare horseflesh, and soon the estate of Mr Smith was reached, and here, alas, disappointment was also awaiting the member for Wakanui, and when he arrived at his destination the only gentleman whose presence it had been possible to secure was Mr Peache, who came armed with a large map. Even then the victory gained does not appear to have been a very brilliant one, for when it was triumphantly pointed out that most of the land on'one side of the river belonged to the Hon. W. S. Peter and Mr Wright, the latter said that he was willing that the terminus of this much canvassed line should be at the township. This must have been gall and wormwood to Mr Ivess, whose constant endeavor has been to spread abroad an idea that the member for Ashburton wished the line to benefit his own land —a statement which has as much foundation as most things coming from the same source. We have no intention of saying more on this subject at present, but our readers will see that the accusations of the Mail against Mr Wright are from first to last only those of an unscrupulous enemy, who leaves no stone unturned to injure one whom, had the member for Wakanui a proper sense of his duty, he should assist in furthering the interests of the district. We are glad to say that this petty jealousy on the part of a representative towards his neighbor is exceptional in the colony, and it will be a good day for Ashburton when it ceases to exist here.