The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3862, 10 July 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1875.

Auckland is just now the centre of political excitement. The Superintendent has set the example of somewhat eccentric, if uot unscrupulous, partisanship. iiiy views, however, are confined to the bearings of Provincialism upon the Constitution, and he carefully avoids that vulgar declamation characteristic of the stump orator, who seeks to exalt himself by vilifying public men and existing institutions. Among the outcrops of stumpery is a certain lawyer, Mr Pees, who appears to have been committing himself to statements as false as they are mischievous. Mr Uei.s is uot altogether a stranger to Dunedin, for it was here that ho passed the necessary examination for a ( practitioner in the law courts of .Sew Zealand. Shortly afterwards he distinguished himself by the manner in which he conducted a certain case, when he appeared as a sort of Don Quixote, and ran a tilt against Bench and Bar. Transferring his talent to Hokitika, he resided there until the glory of that ephemeral port faded • and when gold in Auckland Province tempted men to congregate in large numbers there, Mr Rees fell in with the tide and brought himself to an anchor in that city. Mr Ref.s is a man of showy talent. He is n fluent speaker, and possesses energy and courage that, if subordinated to the control of sound and enlighten* id judgment, would eminently fit him to lead an army to battle, or place Ir im in the front rank as a reformer. But, unfortunately, ho has zeal without judgment, and on more than.. oin3 occasion has shown that he writes itnd says what he imagines, rather 'than whu't he knows. Not many months

back he wrote a short pamphlet bristling with figures, the bearing of which he had evidently not troubled himself to comprehend. Yet they were put forward to show how corrupt and untrustworthy our public men, and especially the Premier, are. Mr Rees aspires to a higher walk in exposing public abuses than Master Humphrey; but he lacks the elaborate plodding that marked the mysterious manipulation of figures by which the Dunedin growler deceived himself and others. There is something dashing, sparkling, and impudently daring in Mr Rees’s treatment of politics and finance, while Master Humphrey’s writings always conveyed the impression of morbid grubbiness. As a rule it is the grub that carries the greatest weight with him. People give him the credit for patient investigation to the very root of a matter. Figures, to the mass of mankind, are always distasteful, and they become especially so when presented in the technical form of public accounts. Very few are sufficiently interested in them to master the details, and the many are very obliged to anyone who will take the trouble to render them comprehensible to them. Thus there is a fine field in which a man may distinguish himself. If he should happen to interpret them falsely, he most probably escapes detection, for those who know better seldom think it worth while to expose him, and those who do not, have faith or not pretty much according to their political bias. Mr Rees’s latest exploit is an onslaught upon our Government Savings Bank system, which has proved so great a boon to the Colony in facilitating accumulation of small sums of money which, without risk, become receivable by the depositor in any branch in the Colony. Mr Rees has the folly to affirm that the deposits are unsafe because invested in Government securities, when he should know that so far from weakening the safety to the depositors it is the highest guarantee for their money. In common with a few others, he foolishly extols the superior advantages of private Savings Banks, ignoring altogether the fact that while depositors have never suffered through default of a government to meet its engagements, there have been failures of private Savings Banks and consequent loss to creditors. Mr Rees ought to have known that the funds in which Savings Bank deposits are invited are beyond the control of the Executive, so far as current expend! ture is concerned; and that this was done in order to create additional con fidence in depositors. Wo do nol undervalue private Savings Banks, bui their utility is very limited compared with Post-office Banks ; and when Mi Rees tells the public that the private are safe and the post-office unsafe, we ask, how does he know ? He does kno\i the manner in which the funds of the Government Savings Banks are in vested, and that depositors have the country to look to as their security but how are the funds of the private Savings Banks invested ? Does he Know that? Is it not possible that they, too, may be invested in Government stock. Does he not know that the success of private Saving Banks depends upon the business talent of the actuary and the directors ? It is at al] times the height of folly to institute comparisons of the sort in monetary matters, and therefore we shall pursue the subject no farther. Mr Rees, like many other rash men, asserts what a moment’s reflection should tell him was literally untrue, but which, if generally believed, might do immense mischief. We trust in this instance the only damage will be to his own political reputation.