The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1881.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 488, 22 March 1881, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1881.

The Governor's tour h;\s so far been an uneventful one*. At Invercargill, some disrespect was shown to the Premier by a few ill-advised individuals who apparently knew no better. The Lyttelton Times refers to this incident as the only instance of bad taste exhibited during . His Excellency's tour. We are sorry to have to differ from the verdict of our contemporary. The conduct of the (Southland roughs was iv bud taste, bu^ that of one of the leading lights of the Christchurch aristocracy was far worse. Probably the same saving clause of what the Irish peasant lad called "ouconsaiveable ignorance" might be pleaded in each case. At the dinner given to His Excellency in Chnstchuieh the Hou Colonel De Renzie Brett, M .L.C., J. P., etc etc, took occcasion, in the presence of Her Majesty's representative to sneer at one of Her Majesty's Minis ters, a member of that very Cabinet to which Sir Arthur Gordon owes his appointment to the high position which he now holds. The objections entertained by the honorable gentlemen to the Minister in question appear to be twofold. One is that he possesses the intensely vulgar name of Smith, not even Smythe or De Smythe. Another is that he once sold books, and cheap ones at that. The reverses lately sustained by the British arms are fully accounted for to the mind of the gallant colonel by this lamentable conjunction of calamitous circumstances. Here is what the honorable gentleman has to say on the sbject. "A Mr Smith, a bookseller— (laughter)—of trashy railway novels, had been mada High Admiral of England and Ireland. (Laughter.) Look at that vile play Pinafore."

Kow we contend that such remarks, reflecting theoretically on the Queen for her choice of Ministers, were in the very worst possible taste when made in presence of Her Majesty's representative.

But the colonel s allusions to the office of Lord High Admiral of England in the same connection is singularly unfortunate. Does the honorable gentlemen lyiow who last filled that office 1 Presumably not, or he would not have ventured on the allusion, bitterly sar-

casiic as he mea'it it to b». For the benefit of those who, like the Colonel? are shocked at " Mr Smith," we may mention that the last Lord High Admiral of England, was James, Duke of York, afterwards King , of England.

during his life he committed many

•landers and not a few crimes, but he

never descended so low, or did anything so useful as to sell books or contribute in any way to the advancement of human knowledge. This Lord High Admiral had in fact nothing plebeian about him. He was the son of one king, brother of another. He became king himself, and

he was the father of a king de jvre and a Queen de facto. What a contrast to

'Mr Smith "! And yet during his

tenure of office, what happened ? The Dutch Admiral De Ruyter, sailed the channel with a broom at his mast-head,

in token of his being prepared to sweep

the seas clean of all rivals. For the first and last time m English history an enemy's guns were heard upon her shores. The Dutch sailed up the Thames entered the Mcd way, and destroyed the fort of Sheerness. The reports of their guns could be heard in the capital itself, where the Royal Lord

High Admiral was holding high festival with his Royal brother and the ladies of his Royal Court.

Common people, who perhaps have the honor and well-being of their country as much at heat as Colonel de Renzie Brett, wl)l probably be induced to accept even a '• Mr Smith "' with all his bookselling faults thick upon him and leave

to pinchbeck colonial aristocracy the task

of lamenting days when Royal Dukes could alone hold high offices, and by their *'plundering and blundering" could leave their country exposed to be ravaged

by its enemies.