MR. GEORGE DONNE.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 122, 20 June 1868, Page 6

MR. GEORGE DONNE.

This celebrated gentleman, who once upon a time made some little stir in Marlborough, in connection with the long since defunct Marlborough Times , hasthoroughly sickened the Kelson public since he was elected a member of the Provincial Council; during the late Session of which, he has frequently moved for the expulsion of reporters and' the public, because he considered he was reported either too much or too little. Accordingly the press has given him a few reminders, of which the following, from the iJolonist , is a specimen : “A Case of Seaxdeu.—Mr. Donne, finding, we presume, that the character of clown did not bring the applause for which he longed, adopted the other evening a course which we might have looked for from a scoundrel, but not from anyone having the slightest pretensions to the name of gentleman. Full of revenge because the press will not report his empty and interminable speeches, of which a score on a night is no rarity, he made the vote for printing and advertising the pretext for aiming a slanderous and defamatory statement against both the Government of the province and the proprietors of every newspaper in this city. He had the audacity to say that the Government of the province spent the public funds for “the support of three newspapers, when one would do;” that advertisements were put into the papers for the mere sake of “ spending money on the newspapers ;” and that “ if the Government were to withdraw its patronage in advertising and printing from any ono of the three newspapers in this city, it would go down and die.” Mr. Donne has before now been publicly charged with falsehood, as witness Mr. Tyler’s scathing charges on the hustings at Westport, in presence of Mr. Donne; and here we now, in reply to this disgraceful assertion, tell this oxstroller that he uttered a wilful and malicious falsehood. The man who acts thus, who, out of a contemptible spirit of revenge, attempts to traduce the commercial credit of respectable men, puts himself beyond the pale of respect. He told the Council also that he was up to “ newspaper dodges,” having been at different times connected with newspapers; and the sad fate of some, for which he did, we believe, the “ outdoor” business—whatever that might be is the best proof how “dodges” meet with their reward. “ Thinking that, in the heat and hurry of debate, this foolish person had used words for which he would afterwards be sorry, we gave him an opportunity of apologising and retracting his defamatory statement; and, had he done so, the tiling would have ended. But he acted after his kind, and refused. ; / “ It were useless to waste serious argument on a man like this, ou whom the lessons of experience are totally thrown away; still, though such absurd and false statements as he made bear their own refutation, the spiteful man who utters them merits punishment. One thing is clear, if the Government does spend money on unnecessary advertising to support papers, it certainly does not get from us that return which is expected from papers in the pay of a Government; and as for “dying,”— well, Mr. Donne will have some cause to remember our liveliness, and to regret his own malicious stupidity. He should be the last man to talk of economy. By his manifold speeches, his useless divisions, and’his utter waste of time in Committee, Mr. Donne has contrived to retard the sessibn for weeks, and as each sitting day cost# upwards of £2O, Mr. Donne’s vagaries must have cost the Province about £3OO, without doing an atom of good to anyone, although Gt prolongs the period during which Mr 1 : Donne draws pay as a member. And here we leave the slanderer.” The Evenhig Mail says:—“From private information received from the West Coast, we learn that Mr. Donne’s constituents, disgusted, we presume, at the strange ahtics which their representative has played during the present session of

the Provincial Council, propose convening a public meeting at an early date, for the purpose of calling on the hon. member to give an explanation, if possible, of his conduct, and in case of such explanation not. proving satisfactory, insisting on the resignation of his seat.”