THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1881. MR. HOLMES AT THE GAIETY THEATRE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2353, 18 October 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1881. MR. HOLMES AT THE GAIETY THEATRE.

The story of Narcissus is one of the most popular of mythical legends. He) was a youth who fell in love with his own image as reflected in the water. Mr. Holmes has apparently imitated to a certain extent the infatuation of this individual, for he has fallen in love with his own qualifications as a candidate. Nothing can be more na'ive and refreshing than the manner in which Mr. Holmes on Friday night pointed out to an admiring audience his own eminent suitableness for the seat for Christchurch South. He) was the man, he wished his hearers to believe, whose opinions fitted to a nicety the present crisis, and whose ability was such that he would be able to place those opinions in the most attractive and forcible manner before any body either in heaven or in earth. If a man could not talk what was the use of him P Let him be as respectable and as intelligent as he might be, without the " gift of the gab'* —or as Mr. Holmes euphoniously puts it, the ability to maintain his opinions—ho was absolutely nowhere.

So far in Friday night's speech everything went smoothly. Mr. Holmes had placed on record his belief in his own powers, and the audience had commenced to cheer lustily at intervals. But the candidate then began to give a taste of his quality, and, mayhap, some of thosewho were listening may have thought that ho was somewhat hasty iu his estimate of himself. To begin with, he gave what he considered should bo the profession of faith of every true Liberal, meaning, we presume, that the principles weresuch as should distinguish a man of Mr. Holmes' thinking from everybody else. The first item was that the will of the majority should prevail Mr. Holmes made this assertion just as if he had hit upon a new truth, and appeared quite charmed with the discovery. The next doctrine ho propounded was that in framing the laws they should aim at tha greatest good to the greatest number. Here, too, Mr Holmes was just as pleased as when Mr. Chadband discovered that Truth wbs not a Bird or a Pish. The

third article of belief, however, w possibly more open to question than the other two. We say "possibly/ because it may mean a good deal, or it may mean nothing at all, like the two first. The third article of faith consists in^this- that the lands of a country were the inalienable possession of the people of that country, and conld not be so parted with that any individual should have an absolutely proprietory right in them. Looked at from one point of view this assertion is just as unassailable as the two Chadbandian truths just before propounded. Nobody has aver asserted, or ever conld assert, that the tenure ef land is such that the proprietor is freed from

obligations to the State with respect to it. If the public requires it, he has, of course, to waive his claim. If the general welfare necessitates it he has, for instance, to allow a railway to pass through his property, and it is more or less absurd to go back to the days of the early kings of England to find examples in proof of the assertion. Nobody in his senses would think for an instant of disputing it, and it can no more be called an article of faith belonging to Mr Holmes and his party than it can be called an article of faith that a spoon is not a fork. But perhaps this third item in Mr. Holmes' confession of faith may mean something more than this very rudi-

mentary proposition. There exists an Association called by the very appropriate name of the "Land Ho Association." The image which has given rise to the name is apparently that of a mariner of old who has set sail from some populous country in search of land to settlo on. Having no property of his own in the old country he determines to try abroad, and is prepared to dispossess by force or otherwise any inhabitants that ho may find in the new country, provided only they are weak enough to be turned out. At last the coveted spot is sighted from the forecastle, and a joyous sound of Land Ho ! is raised. In like manner this Association would appear to be formed of gentlemen anxious to acquire property at the expense o£ those who are already in possession. The Association, standing on the forecastle of the good ahip Impecuniosity, sights through its telescope the broad acres of the rich man: it alters the focus and sights the small holding of the poor man: in either case it raises the joyful cry of Land Ho ! The proprietors of either should be treated as the Spaniards treated the Mexicans and Peruvians. They should incontinently be kicked out into the cold, and the Land Ho Association should share in the spoil under the protecting aegis of the State. Perhaps Mr. Holmes is a convert to the doctrines of this association. Mr. Holmes is such a superior candidate, and is, according to his own account, in possession of snsh mental powers, that his third article of confession at least should mean something, and, if there is any point in it at all, it must mean that he has a yearning to shout Land Ho! on the first available opportunity. We have no space to go through the remainder of Mr. Holmes' utterances at length, which is a pity, because we would wish to ask for enlightenment on some points which may be considered remarkably hazy when emanating from such a source. For instance, when speaking on education, he states that technical education and instruction in the principles of art, should be substituted for Latin and Greek. Now Latin and Greek are not part of the syllabus of the primary schools, and when we come to the High Schools and Colleges, we find that there exist already ample opportunities for gaining technical and art instruction. We would recommend Mr. Holmes to visit the Museum, Professor Bickerton's department in the Canterbury College, the Lincoln Agricultural School, and the Art School. We can assure Mr. Holmes that he is misinformed when he thinks that Latin and Greek are-taking a too prominent part in the educational course adopted for the rising generation. Then again Mr. Holmes' view with regard to the future construction of railways are peculiar. He praises the Railways Construction and Land Act in particular connection with the West Coast Railway and in the next breath declares that the Go vernment should make the said railway itself. His views on the Maori question are even more obscure. These children

of the forest, he says, if left alone, would quietly die out, and the difficulty would be settled. By way of aiding this operation they are first to be allowed to have their little ding, and then to be soundly thrashed! On Mr. Holmes' ideas on taxation and other matters we may have something to say on a future occasion. We began by likening Mr. Holmes to Narcissus, but we may trust that he will not share the fate of that worthy. Narcissus died out of sheer self-love, and in the place where he died sprang up the flower that boars his name. We have no wish for Mr. Holmes' political extinction, though we may be allowed to doubt that, if he expired, the political result would be the propagation of anything so beautiful as even the common daffodil.