The Globe. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1874.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 114, 12 October 1874, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1874.

It is an old saying, but nevertheless a true one, that we have to go from home to learn the news, and certainly one of the most striking instances of this truth is furnished by the columns of the New Zealand Times , published in the Empire City. That journal has a correspondent in this province, whose letter, published on October 7th, is a curiosity in its way. His hete noir appears to be the Christchurch papers, which he accuses of all sorts of crimes. Those “ public prints,” as he calls them, are in the habit of assuming a “ mantle of high respectability,” evidently extremely distasteful to one who has apparently been accustomed to a very different state of things. Again, those journals are “in the hands of a “ few —a very few—men whose dex- “ terity in pulling the right strings at “ the proper moment has been mar- “ vellous,” and the want of a “ free “ and unfettered organ,” it is stated, “ is becoming more and more felt.” The gentleman, however, does not state in what way the present Canterbury journals are fettered, nor does he tell us what kind of freedom he wants. Perhaps he would like to see our morning contemporaries sell a column or two per day, to any one who wishes to purchase them for the advocacy ot some pet opinon, just as his own journal, the New Zealand Times, has done to Mr Eox, The following extraordinary heading appears in a portion of that journal; —“ Edited b)

“ the Hon William Pox, M.H.R. The “ Editor of this journal is not respon- “ sible for the opinions herein ex- “ pressed. The column is solely under “ the charge of its special Editor.” If this is the sort of freedom the correspondent of the New Zealand Times would like to see introduced into the journalism of Canterbury, we are afraid he will have to wait a long time before his work is realised.

But let this pass. It is to his remarks regarding Mr Kennavvay that we wish to draw attention. That gentleman is represented as a statesman of the highest order, a shrewd representative, the best debater the Council has seen for a long time, and the ablest departmental administrator in the whole island. Really this is too good. Even the people of Wellington can scarcely be taken in by such stuff. They must have heard something of the huge mess which Mr Kennaway made of the police department, and of the inextricable confusion into which he got the affairs of the railway. If Mr Kennaway has made his mark in this province at all, his notoriety has been acquired chiefly as a persistent office holder, and on whom no amount of defeat and humiliation had the slightest effect, so long ns he was permitted to serve the province as Provincial Secrelary. But Mr Kennaway’s panegyrist is not content with placing him in the first rank of our Canterbury statesmen. He next claims for him the high honor of being the father of our education system, of being the man who conceived and successfully carried out the present education scheme, of which Canterbury is so justly proud. Good Heavens ! What next P Why the agitation which has resulted in the adoption of our present system was begun, and taken up by our leading men long before Mr Kennaway was ever heard of in the province, or at any rate before he was heard of in public life.

But we now come to the most startling assertion of all, viz., that Mr Kennaway is the leader of the party in Canterbury who are in favour of the abolition of provincialism. Fancy the Hon E. W. Stafford, Sir Cracroft Wilson, and the Hon E. Richardson, placing themselves under the guidance of Mr Walter Kennaway ! Even Mr Kennaway himself must be ashamed of such fulsome flattery.