The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1880

Dunstan Times, Issue 932, 27 February 1880, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1880

Benea>h the rule of men entirely jusi (hj PEN i«MIGHTIER than 1,111 sworn,.

Let us take up our parable, and ! rtsiinie our description of th-* devious j and uncertain orbit pursued by tbo 1 political lumiiiiuy which lately dazzled, [ to disappoint, tile earth hungering stargazus of the-e remote regions. ; Rising coincidemly with the sun at | Cromwell, it is not wonderful that ; there were but few beholders of the j Honourable Mr Rolleston on the morning succeeding his advent j Thence chavioteeml by our own beloved in- mber he sped along the track ro Clyde with such lightning rapidity as to heat the telegraph wires—arriving at the Dun-itau Hotel in advance of the message se-t from Cromwell to announce his coming, and c nseqnently before the hens had had lime to c intjdeie their orders for break hist eggs. Whilst waiting for the cackling to It gin, Hie hi n. ge itlcman ex plored Hie vasty reci-s-es nf the Town Hall, and insjicc'ed the Public !.i braiy and Reading-room ihis time by daylight. And it affords ns supreme satisfaction to be able to inform the British p Hie that -we have it on the best authority—he w.ts p 1 eased to expr-ss his appr vt! of these institutions. Then tin- hens aforesaid having done their duty lie has ily swallowed Id- b.eakfas ml harried away t the C.mp, looked into the, Post Office fnt letters, ami into the Court House for Hie U arden. Meantime a desperate attemp 1 wis made to get him to do somethin-' Whilst he was engaged will) \l q r Keddell in ilie Court House a buggy and pair was ot ready and stan ■iU opposite the entrance. The secret of this ma oeuvre was that he pse ce of the Minister was desired ii W i kerikeri Valiev, .when- the operations ol the miners are sadly impeded by an inconvenient freehold wli ch occii pies a narrow gullv, to tin- hindnmre of the flow of tailings, i’.y the perSiuisioiiS < f our member he w.i- in duced to enter the vehiel-, and, again ‘•tooled” by that gent'rnian lie w s driven to the va ley. Tie-n we also started over the terrace in company with the County repre entative of Eaniscleugh Riding, ami, mi ar ivieg at the workings, we f mad all rhe miners nssenilved and anxious to interview the great man. Alas ! for the vanity of human wishes ! As all stood expectant they beheld the buggy coining up the valley cb-sely attended by another, c mvo-. ing the proprietor of the freehold. Every heart beat high- for a few moments Then dull, hut not by any means dumb, despair seized upon the crowd The buggies came to a stand-1 ill. Like another Moses surveying the Promised Land, (lie IT iinnra le MiRoll ston gnz-d fron afar off upon i hat which lie came forth to efc. A few minutes he sat and listened to the explanations of his companions ; then turned away and vanish-d from our gaze. Before (he disappointed people could gadop over to Clyde he had eaten his lunch, and, as the foremost, of his would be interviewers cime over the terrace, he was fleetly careering along the other bank of the river on his way to Roxburgh, and soon was “ lost to sight " ihon.h not ‘‘to memory dear.” We liny as well sny. however, that as Minister of Eilncarion he ex]iended nearly three minutes in the im-pecimi of the t-chool—as Minister of Lands he was for fully five minutes in tie Survey Office—and that as Minister of Justice he ignored the Police, and passed bv the. Gaul in solemn silence. What lie did at Roxburgh we neither know nor are we curious to enquire Ho returned by way of Alexandra late in the evening of the following day. There, as at Cromwell, wax inaiches weic perforce brought, into requisition, and by iheir powe - ful luminosity he ins"octe 1 the public buildings, making in ail a stay of about twenty minutes, dining "Inch ho received a deputation a out. the Waikiiia I inch Road to whom ho faithfully promised—nothing. Then rem nnting his carriage ho d’parted for Galloway Station; and, as John Ft'NVv.v say i. “h 1 went-or bis wav a-.1 ivi nv L, •' ~ ■in• -a

To say that Mr Rollerton lias | left behind him a hitter feeling of dis- r a|i|) intment, is Imt faintly to indicate I the state of the public mind. He lias ( not henelited himself, his Govern- I meat, oi the people, by his nnnec°s- I sarilv, and provokingly hurried flight t through the interior If Ministers ' eannot spare sufficient time during t tlmir visits to make themselves ac- i qnainted with the count r y— its wants 1 and requirements—and to listen to the ' representations of the people, it would | bo better for them nob to come at all. i Such expeditions as that which the t Minister of Lands has just completed, can only be regarded as a wasteful expenditure of public money without aim, pm po-e or result.