THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1882. MR, JOHN HOLMES, M.H.R.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2633, 14 September 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1882. MR, JOHN HOLMES, M.H.R.

The simple-minded electors of Christchurch South who, at the end of last year, took Mr. John Holmes at his own price, must hy this time have come to the conclusion that both ho and they were rather ont in their calculations. The line of argument used by Mr. Holmes on the memorable evening on which he opened the fire of his big guns at the Gaiety Theatre on October the 14th, will be well within the recollection of onr readers. He was, he declared on that occasion, the man who was exactly fitted

for the then existing crisis, and what is more, his ability was snch that he would be able to place his opinions before Parliament in the most attractive and forcible manner. It may be conceded that hewas not ont in his assertion with regard to the forcible manner in which he was capable of laying his views before Parliament, because nothing very much more forcible than his early speeches has ever been delivered in the House. And luckily too that we are able to record this with regard to the speaking in the Assembly. But as to the attractiveness and persuasiveness of his method of enforcing his ideas there will, no doubt, be two opinions. From all that we have heard and read, the speeches he delivered neither attracted nor did anything else useful. The members and the strangers in the galleries were wont to lift their eyebrows in amazement that a section of such a very aesthetic city as Christcharch should have chosen as an exponent such a very violent man as Mr. Holmes, and one who appeared to be altogether devoid of any sort of good taste. "If a man could not talk," said Mr. Helmes at the Gaiety," what was the good of him." His audience at Wellington, more experienced than the simple minded Liberals of Christchurcll South, recognised the fact that there is more than one way of talking, and that Mr. Holmes had not chosen the more desirable or the one most adapted for gaining his point. Perhaps, however, Mr. Holmes was hardly treated with fairness in Wellington. Perhaps his strong point is abstract subjects, and the Wellington audience, being not incined to waste rery much time on such, he was at an unfair disadvantage. Mr. Holmes made his great hit in the Gaiety Theatre by enunciating his profession of faith as a Liberal. " The will of the majority should prevail," declared the candidate, and he enlarged on this somewhat worn-out truth with great gusto. Again, " the lands of the people were the inalienable possession of the pec pie, and could not be so parted with that any individual should have an absolutely proprietary right in them." A second fine broad principle, but one that evidently the House and the country do not endorse in its entirety, as witness the result of the leasing proposals in the Land Act Amendment Act. The third principle of Mr. Holmes, that " in the passing of laws the greatest good to the greatest number should be aimed at," was yet another abstract subject in which he made very severe running. But all these wide principles were not such as he could dilate on before the gentlemen he met up in Wellington. Mr. Holmes found himself in tho position of a preacher who had been accustomed to hold forth in a pulpit snd suddenly discovers himself on a platform, confronted by opponents who are ready to take him up, and who are not willing to accept worn-out information as god-inspired oratory. Consequently Mr. Holmes, after a frantic but unsuccessful effort to inspire notice by his forcible style of delivery, has throughout the session found himself compelled to take somewhat of a back seat.

Now this evidently weighed upon his mind. To revisit the scene of his first triumph unaecked with a laurel of some sort was an unbearable thought. And consequently, at almost the last moment, Mr. Holmes determined to have one other little try at fame. Tha railway tariff question had been before the Canterbury public for a length, of time. There had been a very considerable outcry about it, and enough stir bad been made to reach the ears of the powers that be, and frighten them into the bargain. Consequently a promise was elicited from Government that before the next grain season a reduction in the tariff would be made, and affairs were in very good train to carry the matter out to a more or less satisfactory conclusion without the interference of Mr. Holmes. But that gentleman was not going to lose his chance. He summoned a caucus of Canterbury members to review the subject, long after such a caucus could possibly have been of auy use. But then it was Mr. Holmes' caucus, and to that caucus he would be able to point for all time with very considerable pride. The less said about the result of the summons, however, the better. But five Canterbury members attended, and only one of these belonged to Mr. Holmes* party. We are sorry to observe that Mr. H. Thomson allowed himself to be made a catspaw in the matter, but he was certainly there, and seems to have taken some part in the calling of the meeting. A.nd of the five members present, two openly declared that they only went there to watch proceedings, and to exercise, if possible, some degree of wholesome check on expected vngaries. Mr. Holmes started off with proposing that the Canterbury members should interview the Government to ask for a revision of the railway freights and rates. This was negatived, and,after a short discussion on the South Island Trunk Railway route, which led to nothing, the meeting broke up. A more lamentable fiasco it is impossible to imsgine. Again, Mr. Holmes was out in his calculations. He can talk, no doubt, in his own peculiar way, bnt, for all that, members were not one whit more inclined to be utilised by him with a view of gaining him a little cheap popularity. Mr. Holmes has yet to learn that something more is wanted for a. legislator than what he euphoniously called at the Gaiety Theatre the" gift of the gab." If Mr. Holmes does not return from Wellington garlanded with laurel, myrtle, or the branch of any other sort of shrub, his spirit will at least, we imagine, be partially clothed with a new and unaccustomed garment, which. is eaid on high authority to be most becoming—and that garment is humility. This much Mr. Holmes may have learntduring his stay in Wellington, that he is not exactly the man to carry everything before him at all times and places. If he has indeed gathered so much, he is to be congratulated on having discovered & fourth abstract truth.