The Hastings Standard Published Daily. FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1896. CANDID FRIENDS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 52, 26 June 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1896. CANDID FRIENDS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance. And the good that we can do.

It is a feature peculiar to the closing session of a moribund LJarliament for the Ministry of the day to be confronted with "candid friends." The present Government is therefore not singular in this respect, that it has had to face the scathing criticisms of its candid friends. The Address-in-Reply which gave rise to the first debate of the session—we omit the sorry scene and scrofulous speeches which began with the alleged defence of the late Colonial Treasurer produced two friends of the Government who spoke in the style peculiar to the " candid friend" order of politicians. Mr Riccarton Russell and Mr Pirani played the role most effectually. Mr Russell took the Premier severely to task for accepting positions on the Assets Realisation Board and the German syndicate, and his remarks were more forcible and appropriate than any that have escaped the lips of the Opposition members. It was a happy hit to say, as Mr Russell said, that the Premier, in accepting these positions, reversed the usual order of things, for being the captain he took care to provide himself with a boat with which to escape from the sinking ship. It was no doubt unconsciously said, but the statement supplies the Opposition with that hope which in the present juncture they greatly require. Mr Russell's '' sinking ship'' is the Liberal Party, and it must have been galling to the staunch adherents of the Government to have had this

reflection cast upon them, and their prospects at the general election so discounted. The results of the elections cannot be foretold by any one, and it was a rash prophecy on the part of Mr Biccarton Russell. Mr Pirani, too, was caustic in his references, the Minister of Lands coming in for a warm castigation. The special settlements which the Minister of Lands declares are an unqualified success are, according to Mr Pirani, absolute failures, and under present administration cannot be otherwise. The member for Palmerston North was quite pathetic when ho said that he saw no hope of improvement whilst Ministers and Under-Secretaries raced all over the country, and left the administration of the Lands Department to cadets who knew nothing about it. The candid friends in a party are very much like weeds in a garden, if not promptly uprooted arc liable to spread and destroy tfhe value of the garden. The candid friend is a wrecker, and if many follow in the footsteps of Messrs Pirani and Russell, the Liberal Party might be wrecked.