MR DUTHIE'S ADDRESS.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 104, 30 October 1893, Page 2

MR DUTHIE'S ADDRESS.

TO THE EDITOR OF TUB STAB. Sir,— Hating read your and other's reports of Mr Duthie's Feildrag address I must say it reminds me much of the Maori proverb which says i •• Though the crayfish is smeared with ochre, like a gentleman. nls uea( j centt j Di OD | V tilth." Mr Duthie's address is smeared with figures and abuse, but his bead contains only Tory trash. If our Premier had him in band be would, as he often has done, brush his war paint off him in ten minutes' time, and anyone can see the Huff in his head— the Pro* perty Tax, a great tenderness for Land Companies, etc, and a sneer at " grandmotherly " legislation. Now mark well, and avoid the man or party who sneers at •' Grandmotherly " legislation for the bern fit of the needy, for they invariably wish the legislative power to be left in hands of a very conservative &randfather, and they much resemble Old Back Daddy, though they paint themsolves ever so bright. He begins his address by congratulating himself and Ims audience on the fict of their being Conservatives, and further on he actually puts the white hat of '» Liberalism "on his own head ; but Cobden and Bright, poor fellows, have to assist him to do it. Of course it is his bid for Liberals' votes; but Liberals despise men who attempt to set voles on false pretences, and Mr Duthie's party will get hone of their votes here. Mr Duthie mnst have been " 'oo gathering on the Came," when^contrasting the Property with the Land Tax, and when stating that it was the men lately appointed to the Legislative Council who had introduced party feeU ing there. The Mr Stevens tit*bit is delicious ; but we happen to know more about it than Mr Duthie seems to know. Tt is a miserable quibble to bring against Mr Sreyens, for when correctly told it only shows his business ability, and how well he can serve his country, and may afford him an excuse for trot* ting out the Mr Bryce bungle in purchasing the Otamakapua Block. *' Oh ! they sing sweet, they sing sour, Oh. they try every double, But the Liberals stand firm as a tower And mock the sophist's trouble." I am, etc., Scotchman.