Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, JULY 25, 1905. MINISTERIAL EVASIONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3551, 25 July 1905, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, JULY 25, 1905. MINISTERIAL EVASIONS.

In’the course oi an article published by “Truth,” Christchurch, some caustic comment is made on certain Ministerial methods, The paper says that gT'oul still surrounds the dark byways of Seddonism. Since the session began Mr Drnui; has asked a number ot pertinent questions ot the Government concerning the Ministerial habit of using the Telegraph Depart merit as a Tammany machine, and die Seddonian practice of whirling round the country delivering speeches in aid ot Tammany at the public expense, and similar interesting Seddonian customs. On Wednesday, in reply to an inquiry by Mr Duthie concerning, the Government’s refusal to answer these inquiries, the Premier said with a gall almost beyond belief, “ The motions referred to are of a debatable character, and are unusual. .Some are incapable of being given, others lead to a wrong assumption as to fact.” From this reply we are to assume, we supp >s e, that the Government cannot answer questions which are of a debatable character, which, seeing that nothing is of an undebatable character, implies that the Government will not answer anything except inquiries as to the sum of 2 and 1. It is not even true that the questions were unusual, since they are only samples of a thousand questions (lint the devious tortuonsucss of Seddonism suggests to the most casual individual. The allegation that the questions are incapable of answer is the sort of reply that might be accepted by a Choctaw Indian, but not by anyone who is aware of the extensive private secretary detective staff of the Premier. Wc do not profess to understand the last phrase of the alleged reply of the Premier quoted above. Tha reply is a characteristic wriggle, but it has this moral—namely, that members of Parliament may as well understand that the Premier’s arrogance has blossomed into cynical insolence, and that a political seeker after truth must henceforth consider himself open to insult from the individual who roars and rants about the white flower ot a blameless life, as he plunges through the sewer of corruption with the Imperial flag in one hand and a volume by the poet Bracken in the other. It isn’t a very comforting sort of moral, but it is a useful one, inasmuch as it may save the time of the optimists who arc opinion that Mr Skppon will answer kuestions, even if it is in a wrigglesome fashion.