A BAD MEMORY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1995, 28 February 1914, Page 4

A BAD MEMORY.

It is to bo feared that the Lender of the Opposition is becoming very careless iii his statement, at facts or. that bis memory is failing him. In his Winton speech h.- was guilty nf a most, extraciftdina-j-y misstateiiv-ut concerning the increase of tasqtinft which has taken placo nndnv the

Massky Government. Bis memory apparently played him a very shabby trick ;uiti[ Jed hitn to believe that ho left office iii 1911, whereas' he was Prime Minister up to March 28, 1912. It led to him charging the Ilefovm Government with increasing taxation Uy JO's. 3d. per Head ol tho population between 1911 and 1913, whereas the real {act was that his , rowu Government was responsible for Os. lid. of this tiicfcniio<~inoro than double the increase in .1012-13 when the Mackenzie and M.issi:r Gyvemments wera in turn in officii. On his misstatement b.oitig exposed, Bin Joswa \V»R» some days later at Dunodio ueknflwl.Qcl.gcd bis inatcn-rac-y, but in the meantime his misrepresentation had been circulated throughout the country and, received all tbs emphasis possible from tho comments of his newspaper allies, Now at Dune din ho would seem to have grown careless again, or his memory has ( again behaved treacherously. In seeking to find an excuse for his conduct at a. rritieal stage of the strike he is reported to nave said:

■He hail brought up the matter iiil tho House, Itav.vnr. because he hail teen itllaraicd that when the "specials" s<iltoped bpe.k [in Post ()flice Scfuare] they did so lint through the strikers, through ami cliildr&u, And ivkttt was thti romlt at' his pftfert? 'Such a tiling neve? hn.ppc.ijq4 ugaiii.

It is unfortunate that the Leader of tho Opposition should have sought to defend himself 011 these lines. The inference to he drawn from his remarks is that his utterance in the Hon so was fully justified and had good results. _ Instead of displaying it proper penitence for the grave hi- ■ justice he did tire special constables he even seeks to claim credit for his. mischievous and unwarranted at- . tack on them. Sir Joseph Ward must nob think that the memory of the public is as unfruslworthy as his statements would lead one' to believe his own. must he. Apart from the light and airy fashion in which lie 1 seeks to pass over the injustice he I did the special constables who had come 'to the- aid of tho law-abiding portion of the community, Sir Joseph Ward grossly ■misled his audience at Dune din when he stated that the result of his protest was that "siwh it thing never happened again," Tho result of his protest. , judging by the events. Which followed, was cxaetiy the roverse. ''Such a thing" did happen again and again, what are the actual facts ? a The mounted . Constables ohargod their cowardly st.ons-t-hrow-ing assailants in Post' Office Square on the afternoon of Thursday, October $9; Sin Joseph Ward made his attack on the special constables in the House of Representatives the same evening. On the Monday following (November 3) the Taranaki Street riots occurred, when the spa-, ciai constables, were bombarded with stones, avid pistols were fired at- them from the crowd. Has Sir Joseph Waiui forgotten this / Has ho forgotten how the special constables endeavoured to disperse the howling mob of, riolors at the' Buckle Street Barracks, in face of a veritable fusillade of missiles of all descriptions? Has lie forgotten, two days later, Wednesday, November 5, when the special constables riding through the streets of the City on their way to the waterfront were mercilessly peltfid with stones, lumps- of scrap-iron, afld pieces of timber by a cowardly, mob which Kent-tied like rats for shelter every time, tlm ''specials" turned on. them? Thirty .persons were, injured and cif.'ht arrests were made that day. Has Sift J own Waito already forgotten' the ornery which was raised throughout tho country over the dastardly behaviour of tho mob towards the. special constables iii Ecatherston Street on that occasion I If so he is probably tjie only person in New Zealand wljo has done so. These- _ lapses of the Leader of the Opposition may lie d;io to carelessness or to a had memory, but. he should remember that iu his responsible position he cannot play fast and loose with facts without the risk of doing injustice and laying himself open to censure. So far as the Strike is concerned tho less lie. says about it the better it will be for bis own political prospects.