The Globe. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1878.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1301, 21 May 1878, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1878.

The annnouncement made by Mr. Donald Reid, at Mosgiel, on Thursday evening, that ho had made up his mind to retire from public life, will bo hoard with regret by all who are anxious that the tone of the Houso of Representatives should bo kept as high as possible. Men of his stamp are not by any means so numerous that wo can witness his disappearance from politics with unconcern. For many years his name lias been more or loss bofore the colony, although it is only of late that ho has taken a conspicuous part in colonial affairs. But during the wholo time ho has set a high standard before him, and ho has acted up to it with remarkable sincerity of purpose. The consequence is that ho won the respect and confidence of all tho best men in the House. His constituents, too, tho other evening showed tho high opinion in which he is hold, in passing an unanimous vote of confidence in him at the close of a speech in which Mr. Reid found it necessary to say many things which are not supposed to bo agrooablo to an Otago audionce. He began by referring to the last timo ho addressed his constituents, and to the controversy between himself, the Otago Guardian, and Mr. Stout, which followed its delivery. He vindicated the courso which ho took after tho passing of the Abolition Bill, to which he was opposed, and explained why he could not work with tho Grey party in obstructing the public business of the country. In the course of his remarks on this subject, he did not spare the conduct of the Opposition in 1876 under Sir G. Grey's leadership. "If there is to be party Government," ho said, " the party must have principles, and those principles they must adhere to, and not require members to fight simply for party without respect to principle and without regard to the objects which they wish to achieve. Gentlemen, I would say that the system of party government, being initiated or introduced by Mr. Stout and his friends, is one which will have a most injurious effect on this country, and it is the ono which will degrade politics. The system of party government they have established is that members for no principle of thoir own are to follow one or two great leaders, and to support them whatover they bring forward." After referring to tho Otago Convention fiasco, &c, and his reasons for joining tho Ministry, ho went on to say that members who have been addressing their constituents recently have been giving thoir reasons why they voted against the lato Government, and so ho would give some reasons why ho opposed this Government. " In tho first place," ho said, " tho opposition that was offered to tho lato Government was unconstitutional and dishonestly conducted. By unconstitutional I moan that they had no platform, no principles that they had agreed upon, so that when they came into power they were forced to accept the policy of the Government they had ejected. That is ono reason why their opposition was unconstitutional; why it was dishonestly conducted was this. Thoy first endeavoured to undermine the private characters of tho members of tho lato Government by insinuations and assertions which it was impossible to refute, because those insinuations and assertions were not made in a specific form in order that they might bo refuted, and by leading tho people throughout tho country to believe that tho members of the late Government had been dishonent and had been guilty of transactions which would not bear tho light of day." Tho speaker thou wont on to quote a sories of charges made against tho late Government by the Daily'Times, and statod that fully a month after tho publication of the article ho asked Ministers in tho House —"' where was all this damning evidence; whero wore all those hidden secrets which were to be extracted from pigeon-holes of tho Cabinet room, and what had become of all the charges that were so freely levelled against tho late Government in tho House F I have not yet received a reply to those questions." With reference to the sale of the Piako Swamp ho said —" I think it was probably a wrong thing to have sold the Swamp —I do not say I am sure it was wrong —but it was cold some years ago, when I in opposition, by tlio Vogel Gouernment, aiul was suppoiwi by some who blamed us for it. Why do not they take some of tho blame? It was sold when Major Atkinson was in England. It was sold, I believe, in the best interests of the country at the time." With reference to tho exchange of the lands at Puninga, ho quoted the report of a Committee of tho House, which said that it appeared to have been a judicious transaction on tho part of the Government, and should bo completed without loss of time. That report, ho said, was brought up just before tho Assembly broke up, and aftor the searches for

hidden things had boon in office for mouths. Mr Rcid therefore maintained that ho had proved his assertion that the opposition to tho late Government was dishonest. Ho then goes on to solemnly warn the country against tho course upon which it is in some danger of entering. His words are so much to tho point that wo quote them at length: —"What I do contend against is tho continual making of charges which are in no way specific, the making of charges that cannot bo taken hold of or enquired into or reported—such as has boon pursued among mombors of tho Opposition during the last two years. I ask you, gentlemen, to sot your facos against that course, or a Fury will rise up that will destroy tho private character of a political opponont. I ask you whether wo ought not to have such a strong, independent, and healthy public opinion as would donounco and put a stop for over to the cry that all is fair in politics. Let it bo understood that any man who has published a slander, or uttorod a lio for tho sake of party, has boon guilty of conduct as roprohensiblo as if it had boon done towards a private individual; that nothing will justify a man in departing from the strict lino of truth, and that what is observed in private conduct should be observed in tho conduct of public affairs. I say, gentlemen, let good men of all parties unite in insisting that wo should have probity, integrity, and morality in our public doalings. Thon in public affairs you will havo those influences folt and maintained just as strongly and [as well as they aro in private lifo. If you do not do that —tho genius of our Constitution is such that ovory man is moro or less mixod up in public matters —tho worst of slandors and tho utterance of lies in regard to public matters will permeate tho whole community. Men who will not hesitato to lio in politics will lio in trade. I ask you to donounco and put down your foot on such conduct, which I regret to say is too prevalent in the Parliament of Now Zealand." How true tho above words aro, thero are few, who havo watched the progress of events, will douy, and thero is great danger of our best men, one by one, retiring in disgust, and leaving tho management of public affairs in the hands of those who stick at nothing. We must leave to another issue our remarks on the romaining portion of Mr. Reid's speech.

We published a few days ago a narrative of a visit to ono of our charitable institutions, which is but slightly known to the general public—wo refer to tho Old Men's Homo at Solwyn. From that account wo gather that tho buildings in which tho inmates are at present located aro far from suitable for tho purposes to which they aro devoted, and that though thoso who havo chargo of it do their best under the circumstances, tho internal arrangements aro far from satisfactory. Tho institution is ono of a character which wo cannot ignore as forming part of our system of charitablo aid. Tho inmates of it are not able to work, from misfortune, or it may be their own improvidence, they aro without home or moans. It is obvious, theroforo, that we cannot deal with this class as vagrants, nor can we utilise their labour, as is the case with many who apply for charitable aid. Under these circumstances, the only method of dealing with cases of this description is by tho establishment of an institution having the same aim as the Sclwyn Homo, but placed upon a more satisfactory footing. There is no desire to impute blame in any way to the officials connected with the Homo. They have done, and are doing, their best with the scanty moans at their disposal. But the present unsatisfactory state of things cannot be allowed to continue, whoever may bo the responsible and controlling power in charitable aid matters. As wo havo poi.ited out, whatever arrangements aro made for tho future, must include this institution as an important part of our charitablo aid system, the necessity for tho existence of which will increase every year. This being so, every care should bo takon that the arrangements aro such as will boar favorablo comparison with thoso of similar institutions in other parts of the colonics. At present this is not so, and as thero is some probability of local bodies having, to a certain extent at least, a share in tho management of charitablo aid, &c, wo havo thought it necessary to call special attention to tho necessity which exists for a complete alteration at tho Selwyn Homo.