Political.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3700, 16 August 1906, Page 3

Political.

| It is mute flabbergasting to see ■ how bold and independent various members of the House have become since the death of Mr Seddon ( says the Christchurch Truth). A lot of emphasis was given to this fad I last night by the statements at Amberley of Mr A. W. Rutherford, who waxed quite eloquent in proclaiming what he was going to do now that autocratic government had been relegated to oblivion in this colon}". Had he made such a speech before the Premier’s death, he would have been called a blatant Oppositionist, or a Conservative, or a poor deluded Masseyite, or a Radical, or an Anarchist, or a freak, or by any one of the names by which the community characterised a politician who dared to stick to his guns and express his opinions during the late Ministry’s reign. Was there ever a more striking confession of weakness ? ‘ Mr Rutherford has made a straight-out admission that he has practically only been a “ dumb dog ” during the time he has sat in Parliament, and now he announces himself as an ardent reformer. But if Mr Rutherford was a “dumb dog,” heaven only knows what some of the abject followers of the Buddo brand were. They must have been deaf, dumb, and blind dogs, who were tied to the “Aye” lobby by a piece of string.