The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1910. AN ABSURD AGITATION.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 May 1910, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1910. AN ABSURD AGITATION.

Aucici;ANi)'s persietenico with, tho Knyvott a.gitaition is bec/jining ludicrous; an.d ifc is tinio for the other ooiiltres of population to take advantage of their coming opportunities to administer unmistakaiblo rebuffs to tho .notoriety seoke-ra who are causing th# stirrings-lips of unconsidered wraith in tbo northern capital. It has been said before in thttse columns—but tho truth will always bear repetition—that the chief offenco committed by Captain Knyvett was liis insubordination t-o properly constituted authority. This aspect of his offending is generally i ignored, and when not ignored it is glozed over by 'tho champions of his cause; but they are unable to explain away tho fact that Captain Knyvett did fail to do hie duty in this respect, and by so laid himself open to grave censure. Tliero can. be no successful system (yf military control without proper and strict discipline, and those who by their support of the KnyvWtt agitation are tacitly binding themsolvee to a contrary opinion are pursuing an ill-advised course. If there was at any time a good'easo ito bo made out for Captain Knyvett —and we- do not wish to be taken as inferring that there was—that case was utterly destroyed by tho subsequent aotione of this misguided young man. The last course he took was what the ancient Romans described as "a passing of the Rubicon"; ho "burnt his boats behind him, and having failed in his desperate expedient, he should acknowledge defeat and accept \fche position with some pretence of dignity. Very shortly there will be attempts made by Knyvett agitators to stir up sympathy in Wellington and Palmerston North, and some other populous towns. In the interests of right principles, we suggest that the citizens of those places should muster in sufficient force to makewell evident tho widespread consensus of public opinion that there does exist in these parts against tho at-

tempts of a noisy Auckland minority

to niisrepres'eoifc the feelings of the population throughout New Zealand. Knyvettism, to be blunfb, is a manifestation of tho absurdity in which irresponsible advocacy wiJl land itself and those who consent to be carried along by its waves. Wb liiave no brief for the other side, but if we did have one wo would try the effect of holding in each largo centre anterior meetings to those called by tho agitators. A series of hostile resolutions, carried in orderly manner by orderly meetings, a night or two before tho northern .speech-makers came along, would l)e exceedingly dispiriting to them. Will Shakespeare and Josh Billings remarked, with intervals of about three hundred years between tho two linos—

" Thrice is he armed that hath bis quarrel just," " But four times ho who gets his blow in fust "-— and it is in full recognition of tho pmetical nature of the advice given by tho American philosopher that "Tho Chroncle " makes the suggestion embodied above.