THE DISMISSAL OF MR REID.

Evening Star, Issue 3041, 16 November 1872, Page 2

THE DISMISSAL OF MR REID.

To the Editor. Sir, —An admirer of the ex-Reid Executive put into my hand a copy of a printed paper, containing certain correspondence that passed between Messrs Macaudrew and Reid, on the subject of the latter’s dismissal from office. 1 belong to no political party, and therefsre refuse to express an opinion on the question in dispute But, Sir, there is one point on which I may offer a few words. When a man aspires to be a Minister of the Crown, it is reasonable to expect that he should at least be able to write a few lines of correct English. I will not take up a large portion of your paper with. Mr Reid’s elegancies of diction. I shall just simply quote the last clause of the last letter of the ex-Minister of Public Works:—“A sense of the respect which is due to myself, and a consideration of what is due to the important constituency whom I have the honor to represent, compels me firmly but respectfully to decline to accede to your Tequcst.” Sir, I know with what scorn Colonial magnates speak of a classical education, but surely men who aim to lead the debate in the ; egislature, and to administer the affairs of a nation, should be able to write the closing paragraph of their correspondence without perpetrating two very egregious offences against the established rules of composition, Verily, a sense of self-respect ought to prevent an ex-Minister from exposing his own ignorance, and degrading “the important constituency whom he represents” before the public gaze of the outside world. I am, &c., J. G. S. Orant. Dunedin, Nov. Ift