THE CANTERBURY PRESS UPON MR BALLANCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 78, 25 May 1880, Page 3

THE CANTERBURY PRESS UPON MR BALLANCE.

> :. +.i< i — r-. ■ If anybody listened to Mr Ballance, or placed any reliance on him as a financier, he Would be a dangerous man fron^o^e infirmity alone. Wo hjar of Engine drivers Smashing trains through color blindness. Mr Jiallance. is one of ihoße tmfortunates who suffer from chronic money blindness. He cannot distinguish the shining signal which indicates " All safe—Go ahead —Full speed " from the gloomy warning to poll. up short becanse the end of the metal Jis near. When put to the test, he- insists ; 'tbtit, tjie financial prosjWe^^ Jgbi^en, when everyone else sqp%,jtr is :paiticulaHy blue." Luckily^thib defect Wai discovered by ' bis employers at a: very early stage, and he is* h6t likely to be intrusted the c^ftf^e, of the. pablio roliin^ stoc^gwni /He- drives bis own little trolly now^'bttt fhe^ijlj', njoiive power He has & wind, he runs off the line when any heavier machine corner W^witfrnotlry our readers', pa- . tien<fe%'sa#ini&g/at any length }/Lx Balla^B singular speculatioas on [ gene^l politioff. He

himself a financier, and though, of course, no one seriously assents to that delusion, \ve think it only courteous to him to fall iv with lii.s whims as far as trivial externals are concerned. Thus when we meet a harm less creature with straws in his hair, and a broomstick in his hand, assuring us he is a King or a Pope, wo pay him a good humonrec 1 reverence, aiul tbstain from hurting his poor feelings !>y letting him see what we know of him. Hut, having granted his special claim to that extent,! we - cannot be bothered to follow all his meanderiags through wider topics, fie may be sensible enough on some ot them, or he may not. But Hie straws and the broomstick are enough to excuse us from supposing that he is onuny Mr Ballanoe's grotesque 1 figure as a financier destroys all interest -in him as any other sort of politician.