THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1987, 7 July 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1880.

How much longer is the “Lyttelton Times ” going to keep up the farce about the swamp on tho road by Parihaka ? It is all very well for that journal to bo loyal to its own correspondent, but it might well reflect on the fact that some amount of loyalty is duo to its readers. At tho outset, no doubt, our contemporary was mystified by its own creature. But time has passed, and tho history of tho last fow months has becomo clearer and clearer. There is no longer any possible doubt on tho subject. Mr. Hamlin has paid his visit, and has reported tho result of it to tho House. Tho road is now perfectly open to anybody to travel along, and tho veriest “ new chum” might hire a hack and travel tho length of it. And yet tho “ Lyttelton Times” allows such rubbish as tho affidavit of Gustav Sehlierike to appear in its columns, and it gives to readers the remarks of its own correspondent on the Mr. Hamlin’s journey, and lots him popper Mr. Hamlin’s narrative in his most approved fashion. There is a limit to all things, and wo fancy that limit has boon pretty well reached whoa the affidavit alluded to above and Mr. Hamlin’s report are put in in evidence of tho news supplied to our contemporary. Por tho utmost that even the “ Times ” correspondent can make out of these two sources is that tho two-chain road is not complete, and that its continuation, as a track, 20ft. or 30ft. wide, goes right through tho “bottomless swamp,” about which all this fuss has been made! Mr. Sehlierike, of tho city of 'Wollington, in New Zealand, has solemnly and sincerely declared that ho was workingintho pieceof road loading through the swamp, and that it did not agree with him, and that he left in consequence. Mr. Hamlin wont along this track with perfect comfort and ease, and makes no comment whatsoever on tho nature of tho country, although ho went to tho West Coast for tho solo purpose of looking into tho matter. He has stated in Parliament that apparently the reason why the Government abandoned the two-chain road was that it was too expensive, and took too long a time in tho making. Ho never mentions a swamp in any way whatsoever. Even after all the exertions of ®ur contemporary, the only [evidence on which tho existence of the swamp rests is the letters of its correspondent and the affidavit of tho gentleman with tho outlandish name. The latter might well have thrown in another affidavit as to the state of his health when he joined tho road makers. Our own impression is that ha was a sickly sort of individual if the making of a road through such a country as Mr. Hamlin traversed caused him to leave his employment. Or his nerves might have been unstrung, and his digestion impaired, because he was at the front. “ But,” tho “ Lyttelton Times ” would say, “he was working in the bottomless bog of our correspondent.” Poor man! So this was the reason why he and many others applied for and obtained their discharge. The bulk of the labourers, however, according to Mr. Sehlierike, stuck to their work by hook or by crook. Why have not a few affidavits as to the hardships they underwent been forthcoming? With what a Sourish of trumpets might not our contemporary have produced such instruments.

Summing the matter up, the affair has reached this position. The greatest discredit has been thrown upon tho reports of the correspondent of the “Lyttelton Times.” He has been placed at tho bar of public opinion, and a member of Parliament, a member of tho Opposition, has himself gone to tho scene of action to report. Tho correspondent himself has naturally moved heaven and earth in search of corroborative evidence. The result of all this is as follows-Firstly, Mr. Hamlin says not one single word about any swamp, but merely that the Government abandoned the two chain road because it was found to bo too expensive; and, secondly, tho only corroborative evidence that has been published is tho affidavit of one totally unknown roadmaker out of the numbers that have been working on the spot, the said affidavit plainly stating that tho road was not abandoned, hut that the signer and a few others left on account of their health. | And this paltry evidence our contemporary expects is to ontbalance the mass of evidence on tho other side, the evidence that Mr. Hamlin has been totally unable to upset, and which is supported by men of known probity and local knowledge. It seems almost too ridiculous to imagine that the Gloucester street organs can hope to keep up the farce. They might just as well start a Cathedral square ghost and diligently write it up. It would bo just as merciful to their readers and would save affidavits. Of course everybody recognises that it was enterprising to send a special correspondent to tho front, and all are quite willing to give tho “ Lyttelton Times ” all credit on that account. But tho affair has unfortunately turned out a complete fiasco, and our contemporary may just as well recognise that fact. At the breakfast tables of the reading public, in tho lobbies of the Houses, in fact everywhere a universal caehiunation is heard whenever tho affair is mentioned. The pertinacious, not to say unprincipled manner in which tho “ Lyttelton Times ” has thought fit to holster up tho "Waimate blunders of its correspondent can only have the effect of lowering journalism in the public eyes, and can subserve no useful purpose.