A BREACH OF HONOUR.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 35, 1 September 1887, Page 2

A BREACH OF HONOUR.

The Agent-General, Sir Dillon Bell, has evidently committed a grave breach of those unwritten laws which constitute a code of honour amongst gentlemen. Our readers will remember that in our last issue we published a telegram from London stating that the Agent-General had received a letter from Sir Robert Stout, in which the latter expressed his opinion that the Government would be defeated at the forthcoming election By a Wellington telegram published to-day it will be seen that the Premier has given a very straightforward and on the face of it, an accurate account of the facts. It does not matter much whether the Premier did or did not write the letter, but as to the conduct of the AgentGeneral there can be but one opinion. Whenever a gentleman writes to another on a matter of great private importance to both it is not usual for the recipient to divulge to the Press the contents of the letter, and when divulging them to state them in a totally inaccurate manner. What the Premier wrote was

“That the Government would be defeated if the people listened to the abuse of the OppositionJPress.” This is a very different thing from the bare assertion that the Government would be defeated. When the context is thus., artfully undisclosed a ttjis|wonderfuljwhatj a different meaning is put on the affair,

We are furJJromJbeingjthickZand thin supporters of the 4 Premier, but we cannot help thinking that Sir Dillon Bell in disclosing the contents of a private communication, has exceeded the bounds of good taste, and has been guilty of a most ungentlemanly action.