Political Portraits.

Manawatu Herald, 9 August 1892, Page 2

Political Portraits.

tEy,ery>r paper .^ foxm W^sji^B political pertr&itv&6rae4foo<vaitnai"s the reverse. Still they are all good reading. From those pusggpef)l>y the Christchuvch P resit we clip the following portions i— HON MR EOLLESTON. No longer young, he is called upon to face a poHUcal foe who#e tatties are not the tactics of Mr "Bolle'stWir day. Prior, to the. advent of the^^G^t Literal" party as af prerfeflP etastituted political warfare,, however envenomed, was waged' after * the i manner gentlemen fight. Men did

not take advantage of the privilege of membership or their positoin as Ministers to say within the House what. they were far too cowardly to say outside it. bfr Rolleston has seldom, if ever, been called upon to contend against a Premier whose highest- idea of statesmanship is dodgery, who boasts of his political trickery, and is as proud of it as a horse coper who has " worked] off'" a» spavined horse. Nor has Mr ' previously had to beau from a Minister of the Crown the ? low and personal jocosities common in the playgrounds of caddish schools and among football barraekers, but not in the mouths of gentlemen or of those who have any genuine regard for the decency of the House. Not that Mr Rolleston is dismayed by the new tactics, he U simply taken aback, as a clean, wholesome, fair-fighter might be if opposed by a foe who kicked, bit, and scratched. HON J. G. WARD. Mr Ward is a variety of Minister. He is, however, as yet only in the chrysalis stage. He does not draw a Ministerial stipend or house allowance, or heavenly things of that sort. But if he is not precisely a full Minister of the Crown, he is at least a Minister of the halt-crown. He is emphatically what ladies call a " nice, young man " — one of those enviable young men without whom ho evening party is complete. He could hot be truthfully described without frequent use of the word " nice." He is well-looking, smartly caparisoned, gives a general impression of modified glitter, and possesses an adorable moustache which he worships with the rapt devotion of a Hindoo contemplating , the problem of nirvana. .... As Mr Ward had once occupied a position of no excessive loftiness in the Telegraph Department, he wa.-> peculiarly fitted to run the the Post Office and Telegraphs. Doubtless his tenure of office has been already signalised by perfectly splendid reforms, but the only one which so far has been allowed to leak out is his substitution for telegraph forms on which it was posaib'e to write a little, of other forms which it is impossible to write at all. "This is a recondite and unique - specimen of administrative states -m'enship, as it materially lessens the rmmber of telegrams sent, and ■ thereby saves much trouble to the department. MR W. McLEAN. He is a smallish, saturnine look- j ing man,: hairy,, and bound together with much watchehain. He carries into .everyday life black clothes, a soared look, and a pallid face, as if be expected the ghost of a deceased borrower to come round the corner suddenly and pay up arrears of interest. .' Mr 'Motiean is a Land Nationaliser, a Single Taxer, a sworn foe to the larger financial institutions, and the Secretary of a small Loan Company,. Prior to his political translation he might frequently be seen in the R M. Debtors Court in company with a big ledger, the Court Testament, and sundry .promissory, notes. Hy is a rapid, but not fluent, speaker, orating in a high, strained voice, as if tired with Jong summoning of a spirit that would not come. He is fairly intelligent, is shrewd, and has, a keen eye to the main chance, despite his table'turning and single taxing. As a representative of a city like -Wellington he is almost as much a joke and as harmless as are some of %\i fads. No one has yet given a feasible explanation why he was elected, and no one is less capable of -offering such explanation than Mr W. 'McLean; He will not write his- name large on the sands of time, 1 ' MR E. M. SMITH. \Natuve intended him for a clossal man, but there is a good deal of ingrained " cussedness " about Hem Smith, and' at the age of fourteen ..years he felt sufficiently monstrous in statue and determined to remain at that. -He remained at that. He has subsequently grown an imposing amount of black fringe around his jjlppd-natured but. determined-looking ' face. He still pears: the bob-tailed velvet jackets pf his youth, a silk pre.-Raphaelite hat, and on State occasions a white waistcoat. Mr Smith in addition to being interested in mineralogical studies holds J the office of lamp lighter, and performs other civic functions in -New Plymouth, and no man could possibly be less ashamed of his .njsth.ods:.,of earning an honest livelir hsod than the fierce, busy, good'patured, pompous, unaffected, wordinventing Hem Smith. It is nmnoured that he loves not the present : Government* may at any time "denounce them. When he does begin Mr Ballance would pro- . bably feel more comfortable facing a Malay running amok or a Ghoorka sharpening his knife . preparatory to commencing carving operations. k%> $P U S^ r Smith may not be, oratorioally speaking, a Burke or a Demosthenes, he is quite capable of " givin' them fellers particular goss " when he commences. When he does may I be there to see.