Mataura Ensign WITH WHICH IS'INCORPORATED THE WAIKAIA HERALD. GORE, FRIDAY, MAY 18TH, 1883.

Mataura Ensign, Volume VI, Issue 256, 18 May 1883, Page 2

Mataura Ensign WITH WHICH IS'INCORPORATED THE WAIKAIA HERALD. GORE, FRIDAY, MAY 18TH, 1883.

;., NUESB AND CHILD. Messrs Feldwick and Joyce have addressed their constituents, and nobody is any the wiser. That old Tory, the Sun, rises at the antiquated time, and the other conservative laws of the Universe remain unrepealed. Few men have less to say and say it worse than the former of these two. In him silence is golden. We know of no speaker in whom brevity would be nibre readily, excused. He either labors to express an empty nothing, or if he has a thought in view it is anticipated by the hearers some minutes before he gets to it. He extracts his sentences from the pit of his stomach, and in dragging them round an angular bone in his throat he breaks them sadly and has to sort the pieces. The process is like picking a stubborn cork out of the neck of a bottle, bit by bit, and having, when we have done, , the cork for our pains. Yet Mr Feldwick was elected in protest against'a "silent member"! Would that he had that redeeming virtue ! Mr, J oyce, on the other hand, talks ; somewhat more smartly and pleasantly than the" average politician. Both/- however, are alilre ; in a valiant determination : to provide what is wanted- Iv matters of opinion their motto vnight.ho-r" Orders promptly executed." So^/rj^rGeVwith^epresen^sys em of edu<?a ! £ton. '■'■ Both 'want ' to' endow denominational schools; : B6th oppose the Governments ,£ofch, oppose Mr Montgo mery^^tfr oppose I&r Macandrfw. 13o.th:7condemn: the \Land JJiIL Both object^ perpetual leasing. Both think Major Atkinson's scheme foolish. Both think the House is butter since they

got into it. Both believe that Sir Geo. Grey is the only leader under whom they have a chance of office. They differ, however, upon one mighty question, which clearly shows their mental independence. When Mr Feldwiek's sweeping measure for the protection of telegrams was before the House, Mr Joyce voted against it ! Turning now to Mr Eeldwick alone we admit that he sings one or two good songs, and that he fits on to a bar, and drones small talk as well as most men in the House. These statesmanlike qualities have exalted him to the office of whip in a party with three tails and no head. He is an Englishman, he says he's a Protestant, and we know he's an officer in Her Majesty's forces. For these weighty reasons he drinks the health of the Pope before that of his Queen. He is so attached to Southland that he promised to live in Geraldine rather than be out of Parliament. But he saved his character by explaining that he only wanted to gull Geraldine into electing him so that he might represent Invercargill. His literary gifts are such that he has to keep an indefinite staff of editors, who among them produce one of the most poverty-stricken rags in the country. Mr Feldwick's opinions at large need not be treated of, as we shall have, to refer to Mr Joyce. But a flash or two of originality demand our attention. He is of opinion that Parliament and the country lost nothing by the rejection of such men as Fox, Richardson, Ormond, Seymour, Wakefield and Saunders in favor of a set of fellows never heard of before or since. He is also confident that a poor man with a family of six, all between the ages of 16 and 23, would not be able to pay/bwr shillings and three-pence a week each for them into a National Insurance Fund. This illustrates Mr Feldwick's financial capacity, for his weekly payment is nearly double the Major's. It also shows his intimate knowledge of the rate of increase in families, and his idea of the helplessness of co!onial youth. Mr Feldwick also thinks that our schools are being dragged down, to one ''common mediocre level " for want of " competition." State school teachers have no inducement to compete with pri/ate schools. That's true. Neither has Sir George Grey any inducement to compete with him in oratory. But private schools have surely plenty of " inducement " to compete with Government schools, and they don't like it. It ia a piece of originality worthy of the man that a nation should keep a second army, under private control, to afford competition for the first ; that a storekeeper should run a shop, in opposition to himself, to make his servants sharp ; and that there is no emulation and " inducement " among teachers and schools now. We accept the revelation with gratitude. Mr Feldwick also argues that the House of which he is a member is better than the one of which he was not a member, from the fact that in its first session it did more work than had ever been done in a session before. That's true too. It did more work than Sir George Grey did in all his sessions. But that was precisely because Mr Feldwick's threetailed party could not prevent it. He did not say how many of the 107 Acts were passed in spite of him and his whipping ; not did he attempt to justify liis hostility to a Government that, by his own admission, had done so uobly. Perhaps he didn't like to say that they don't advertise as much as Grey, and that they don't build Supreme Courts opposite his sections. We compliment him on his discretion, and turn to Mr Joyce. This gentleman does not wear the blue ribbon, nor hold office in any church. As we said before, he is a fair speaker, and a smart writer ; or perhaps it's ,the contrast between the leaders that ere supposed to be his and the rest of the paper that makes them appear smart. When we say •["smart,* we don't mean logical or true. Truth and logic can sometimes afford to be dull. But sophistry and bathos must be well put to have a chance. We generally read leaders in the 'News' with the idea in our mind that the writer is grinning at us from behind, But smartness is not their only quality. They are often vulgarly personal and scurrilous ; but only when such qualities will gratify the noble rage of the mob. Mr Joyce's opinions on politics are, therefore, it seems to us, mainly one : That men do not wish to be taught what it is right to believe, but that they believe what is right. He, accordingly, tells them that they are right, and the majority believes that he is right. He is the very Peter of the Greyites : "Though a'l should forsake thee, yet will not I." While Grey stalked on in devious paths Mr Joyce was a Pistol shouting, " I second thee,troop on !" But, as soon as the old man deviated to honesty, Pistol stops. He can't follow, even afar off. We are referring to Mr Joyce's lament that Sir George , should have honestly owned that, by the Parihaka campaign, the Government had most cleverly finished the trouble that he began. This of course, strengthened the Government, and ruined those whose only hope lay in prolonged uncandid braying. We conclude with another point that Messrs Feldwick and Joyce have in common. The House has been prorogued for many months, and is soon to meet again. But these lights of the world only dished up a hash of what everybody has known for half a year. They belong to the party that " has a policy," but appear not to be in the secrets, as they did not indulge in the slightest forecast — we beg their pardon ; they did. Mr Feldwick has consecrated his life to seeing that those who are punished for being idle out of gaol are not further punished for being idle in gaol. This is noble of him. He might lose his next election if some of his supporters happened to be detained at a critical time. That's plank No. 1 in' the platform of the Invercargill Radicals.' Mr Joyce has plank No. 2. He devotes himself to seeing that the mo;ney subscribed by the generous public for the relief of the Kaitangata widows is not used so as to prevent their ever

appealing to charity again. ' The two planks match admirably ; but "as we only discovered them at the fag end of our article, they must be held over for the notice they deserve. -