MR. REES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 391, 8 September 1876, Page 3

MR. REES.

The public man whose name has been moat abased since Parliament has been in sea" sion is the member for Auckland City East. Every paper in the Colony, with two or three exceptions, has stigmatised their ideal Mr Bees in terms which should not be applied to any man, or shadow of a man, unless clear proof was forthcoming that the strictures were just. Even our fair and generally im partial contributor " Parthian" has given wa to the cry of the injured snobocracy, and levelled one of his keen satirical shafts at Mr. Rees. Now, what has been Mr. Rees' sins ? It appears to us they have been first, that he has Spoken the truth as he saw it ; secondly, that lie has disregarded quack conventionalities ; thirdly, that in tho Assembly ho has sunk the individual instincts of the man, and has had the courage to play the representative, regardless of the' galleries, and those in them whose feelings might be raflled. Now, we aro heretical enough to believe that it is no sin to speak what is true. If any latitude is to be given to indiscreet language, it should be on the side of honest conviction. Well, wo are told that Mr. Bees referred to the hospitalities of private life, and in so doing disgraced himself. The same language was used in condemning the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel when they interfered with tho Queen's household. It is true that hospitality is used in England for political purposes, and that Ministers are suppliod with public money for that purpose. Yet this custom is one of the abuses which England has retained, and is now beginning to cast off in very shame. That Mr. Jleea was true iu what he said was amply proved by the lamentable exposure of an honorable Otago Member which it brought about. Then, as to the Premier's expenses in England, the charges appear as yet to be true, and it appear* likely that the House will refuse to vote the sum required to cover the amount. Again, the gross tampering with tho Judges, the retention by Minister* of their names on the Civil Service List—so that their pensions as civil servants might swell—all these aro true, and much more that we need not again di'ng forward. Wo regard Mr Rees as one of the purest characters in the Assembly. He is a man of quiet life ; whose enjoyiuents are not in the bar-parlor, or at the billiard and card tables, but in the cricket and football field ; whose language, is not highly refined, is not coarse, yet who cannot keep quiet and see what is wrong go unprotested; a man actuated by motives nearly akin to the days of Knox and the Purituns. 'J here ore many men of high physical courage: there aro very lew who combine in themselves the highest moral and physical courage. It is well indeed that a hired p-ess (a disgrace toour profession)should endeavor to stamp out u young man who is the determined foe of Sir Julius Vogel, but it is not well that the country papers should take up the falsehoods at second hand, and condemn one whoso only fault i J that lie loveß New Zealand too well Cor liia ovru good. If there were more Kecs's amongst us it would be a hopeful sign that we hud a chance of being able to shako off the burden of political demoralization in which we are steeped. Depend upon it, a man wbo determines to have no compromise with what io wrong in ourpolitical institutions cannot exjuct to go on his course without, being hitloriy attacked by all those to whom honesty of any kin! is u standing rebuke to fclmir own corruption.' Yet it is not lor the people to asprrso those -wlio are fighting their bat Je, hoping l.i.jrnin nothing, exeent it be t.o put down what is false and oppr ssivc, to the true of li-ow Zealand.